My first attempt at an original pair of socks!

DH has been complaining for a while that whilst I've been knitting plenty of pairs of socks for myself he has to make do with shoddy shop bought pairs so I finally decided to be brave & knit him a pair. The strength was needed as he has big wide feet with long toes so I knew that they'd be a lot of stitches involved.

However before I could even get to that bit there was the small problem as to the choice of yarn. I decided to use DK yarn as that would mean less stitches & also that they would be walking socks as we'd just booked our summer holiday to the Highlands of Scotland. Stripes with any colour in them were deemed 'too girly' & I couldn't face the agony of pure black socks just yet. Eventually we settled on this:


Regia Country Style 6 ply in Korsar & Granite

Due to the size & breadth of his feet I decided that I had to go toe up & after my fiasco with the Yarn Over Cables I wanted to go toe up + two socks at the same time - gulp...

Yes, a totally new concept for me but Susoolu has assured me many times that it isn't that hard.

After an evening spent on the sofa, swatching with a variety of needles I ended up with 3mm which gave me the chance to play with the Knit Picks Classic Circulars that CL gave me at Christmas. These needles are 16" long so not quite long enough for two socks at once but are totally workable to start with.

The toes reminded me of an odd shaped bikini:


DH socks - toes

I had originally planned to use a pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks but with 10 stitches per inch & a foot width of 10" the yarn didn't 'carry' any of the available 5 stitch patterns. The fleck dominated & the patterns just didn't work. So I settled on a boring 3x2 rib. However that didn't last long as I got bored after 5 rows so I threw a cable in for good measure & repeated it every 4th row.

Here we have the feet in progress:


DH socks - feet

The 5 stitch patterns in Sensational Knitted Socks are all cuff down but I wanted to go toe up, so reused the heel that I discovered when knitting my Oriel Socks as I have found them really comfortable. This meant a bit of tinkering on the heel but I got there in the end. There are no more in progress photos I'm afraid as our house move interfered with that. They were mainly knitted together on a 24" Knit Picks Classics Circular once I got past the toes but separated for the heels.


Toe Up Walking socks

I reinforced the heel by using a slip stitch so hopefully they'll last in his walking boots. The socks fit his wide feet perfectly & the cable serves to pull the fabric in on his slender calves!


Toe Up Walking socks

Pattern: My own made up with the aid of Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Regia Country 6ply in Granite
Gauge: 10 spi
Needles: 2x 3mm Knit Picks Classics Circulars
Technique: Toe up using the Turkish Cast On, two socks at once on circular needles. A reverse slip stitch heel flap & finished off with a stretchy bind off (scroll down to the red text).

Amazingly I even managed to get the stripes to match:


Matching stripes

These socks were finished about a month ago & DH has already worn them but proved to be a reluctant model. He loves the fact that they fit him so well & was so lavish with his praise that I've already started another pair for him!