crochetme sock pattern troubles

[viggie]

I'm trying to start my first pair of socks, but I'm having trouble with this pattern. It's the only one I've come across that uses sock yarn and want to try it. But it's a very generic pattern. Has anyone else tried this that may have some tips? What size hook did you end up with...how many rows...that sort of thing?

 

I finished the cuff and got into the foot portion of the sock. It has you single crochet twice around...with no talk of whether or not to join or turn or mark rows or anything! Then it seems to assume that you are on the side of the sock instead of what the pattern has already defined as the back.

 

I guess I just need someones notes or a link to a more specific pattern. I still need to be told what to do, and this pattern just doesn't do that!

[Stacey]

I've made one and three-quarters pairs of these...

 

I found it impossible to match the gauge, but it didn't matter much. I'm a tight crocheter, and I used I think a G hook with LB Magic Stripes and the pair I'm making now I think I'm using an E with, I think, Plymouth Sockotta. I just did rows on the cuff until it was the right size. The pattern calls for 8 inches of cuff, which was too big for me and for other people who've tried it, so definitely try it on to make sure it's not too loose. What turned out to be right for me was something along the lines of 7 inches.

 

The seam is at the side, not the back as stated in the pattern, unless you fasten off and start at the back. I didn't bother--I am lazy that way--and the seam doesn't seem at all awkward to me at the side, and it didn't affect things further on in the sock at all.

 

You're doing rounds without joining after doing the cuff. No need to mark, except maybe those first two rounds so you'll know where they end and where to do the heel thing. My number of stitches around was also different from the pattern, so I just tried them on to make sure it fit.

 

When you get to the decreases, just flatten the sock to decide where the sides are. I did more decreases than the pattern called for to get them to fit me, but I have weird feet Just keep trying them on as you go to make sure they're fitting right. (It really is possible to try on cuff-down socks as you go--just be careful not to stretch them out of shape.)

 

I also had to make more decreases than called for in the heel. I think this might be because my stitches are never quite as tall as other folks. Also, I did the heels in hdc, made them cushier and faster. (The pair I'm doing now, I'm making the entire body of the sock except the cuffs with hdc. The pattern adapts just fine.)

 

As I went along on the first sock, I jotted down notes since I wasn't following the pattern very closely as far as numbers of rows and stitches, so I was able to make a second sock the same as the first.

 

All that said, I know a lot of folks here have said they found toes-up socks easier to start with. I couldn't quite get the hang of them and haven't tried them again yet, but if this pattern is stumping you you might give that a try (I don't have a link handy but I think the first post in the Feet Need Socks crochet-along thread has a bunch of links)...

Hope that helps!