Holy Gigantic Space Invaders!!

The Knitty Space Invader socks are finished!!

I eagerly grafted the toe this morning – 76 stitches of Kitchener stitch – euck!!

Hmmmm….They are far from perfect but Ben likes them! 🙂

It really bugs me when I can’t get thing “right”…..

Holy sock heels, Batman! Here’s a problem….

The heel and toe is turned by the same shortrow shaping. I knitted the cuff using a 30cm Addi circ but for some strange reason I thought I’d need to swap to DPNs to do the heel.

I had “not part of the heel” stitches on the Addi and the heel on the straights – with the break at this point between the needles at the corner of the heel…. it pulled the stitches at the corners badly….yuck!

I was a bad, lazy knitter and fixed this by some nifty “lashing together” on the wrong side…. 😳

It dawned on me on the second “Hi-Score sock” that I could leave all the stitches on the Addi circular …

…the second heel was better….

…….by the 2nd toe I’d sussed which bit to give an extra yank to to pull it neat and tight!

Am I going to frog the whole lot and do them again properly ??

There are not enough expletives to express how much that’s not going to happen! 😯

I have also discovered that size matters…..

Remember this post when I worked out which needle size to use?

I’m not as clever as I thought I was 😥 I was so worried that I’d repeat my “look nice but can’t get my foot in them” debacle with these fairisle socks that I went too far the other way!

They are rather large – even for Ben’s flippers!

See how the high score sock “bags” around his ankle?? I must have been getting relaxed with the fairisle on the High Score sock – it’s definitely bigger than the Invader sock?

Bugger. 😥

I think my fairisle has improved over the course of the socks though…

Maybe another pair but with PacMan……..????

Completed Knit Report 
Name:BMP (Space Invader Socks)
Pattern:Knitty by Aija Goto
Yarn:Regia Silk
Pattern Problems:No problems with the pattern itself but problems with me knitting them!Holes at the corners of the heel/toe short row shaping, too big in the cuff after needle size mods 🙁 . 2nd sock looser than first too!
Pattern Modifications:I used Regia Silk on 2.5mm needles (not louet gems pearls on 2mm) to size up for Ben’s feet. With hindsite – 2.25 or 2mm would have been a better choice.
New challenges:Lots of new things for me to master – Corregated rib, shortrow heel/toe, improving my fairisle, changing needle sizes, getting Ben to model…
Washing and Wearing:“comfy for padding round the house!”
Knit It Again???:Possibly……
Difficulty:Hard!
Rating:4/5 

7 Responses

  1. Uknitty
    Uknitty April 23, 2007 at 9:17 pm | | Reply

    Amazing 😀 And for your next trick….

    http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns/charts/starwars.htm

    C x

  2. jam_mam
    jam_mam April 23, 2007 at 10:03 pm | | Reply

    They’re great! I love them and you did a good job, getting to the end is a good job for me, VBG, but these are better than that LOL. I sew up the holes where I turn heels regularly and that’s without stripes and other such sophistication.

  3. Vikki (vixx)
    Vikki (vixx) April 24, 2007 at 10:40 am | | Reply

    Thanks for the comment 😀 I think I’m going to do my first FC in DB silk, but definitely want to do more in the Lana Grossa – my LYS stocks loads! If you wanted, I’d be happy to send some on to you if they had what you want. Just a thought!
    Your socks are fantastic! I think they look really cool, and, well, you’ve learnt something along the way too! Which is a good thing! Vik x

  4. Catherine
    Catherine January 18, 2008 at 9:50 pm | | Reply

    Love them – my OH has requested a pair, along with a matching hat, sigh. Did you have to adapt the pattern much to make then “men’s sized”?

  5. susan crowe
    susan crowe January 19, 2008 at 12:28 pm | | Reply

    Catherine,
    I used Regia Silk and Knit them on 2.5mm needles (My swatching escapades are detailed here… https://susancrowe.co.uk/2007/03/29/fair-isle-space-invaders/ )

    They did come up quite big all over for Ben, especially the leg part (size 10 feet and skinny legs) That could just be my Fairisle though – I’m not very consistent with my tension on fairisle.

    With glorious hindsight, I should have used 2.25mm DPNs.

    Apart from changing the needle size I just knit according to the pattern, obviously making the foot long enough!

    Ben loves them and they have been washed and tumble dried numerous times and are looking a little “loved” but wearing well – I’d recommend the Regia silk.

    Let me know how you get on.
    Susan

  6. Lisa
    Lisa November 25, 2008 at 1:20 pm | | Reply

    wow what a nice post about Socks and retail information.
    Its a very needed information because i need to buy variety of socks.
    Thanks

  7. Elizabeth
    Elizabeth January 5, 2011 at 10:54 am | | Reply

    I knit a variation on these for my son.

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=6125942&l=200b6645e4&id=520222775

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