Rum Paradise Socks

We were up very early to drive up the Gap of Dunloe with the aim of photographing my Rum Paradise Socks. We wanted to be out before the visitors and jaunting cars arrived! The Gap of Dunloe becomes rather busy in the morning. Many people like to park at Kate Kearney’s Cottage and use it as the starting point for their visit to the Gap of Dunloe. Some choose to walk up the steep, narrow, winding pass. Others, opt for the pleasure of sitting in a jaunting car and looking at the lovely mountain views at the jaunty pace of a pony and trap. These normally go up to the ruined house three-quarters of the way up and then turn around and go back down.

We found the perfect spot about half way up the narrow road beside an old cottage with a rusty tin roof. It was cool and the grass was damp with dew. Neil kindly brought the picnic blanket from the car so I could sit on it to change my socks.

We photographed the Rum Paradise striped socks with the Gap of Dunloe behind us. The view was so beautiful!

These gorgeous socks were knit using the Rum Paradise colour 822 from the new WYS Cocktail Range of sock yarn. Although I knit my socks using 2.75mm double pointed needles (my favourite size of needle), I prefer to cast on using a larger sized needle, normally a 3.25mm or 3.5mm needle.

With a self patterning sock yarn I usually cast on at the intersection of two different patterning stripes. But for even stripes like the Rum Paradise, I wanted to have the cast on the same colour as the first stripe, and to try to have no waste of the colour.

To work out how much yarn is needed for the long tail cast on, make the slip knot at the intersection of the pink stripe and the orange stripe. Cast on 61 sts using the 3.25mm needle. Then I unravelled and measured the orange and pink lengths of yarn. The orange length of yarn was the long tail and measured (21″) 53.5 cm long. The pink length of yarn was the cast on stitches (40″) 101.5 cm long.

Next, I measured (22″) 56 cm of the pink yarn for the long tail, made a slip stitch and started casting on 61 stitches. [I added on (1″) 2.5 cm for weaving in the end at the end of knitting the sock. I always leave about (6″) 15 cm long for weaving in the end but only about 1″ to 2″ is actually used for sewing in the rest is normally snipped off as waste.]

I cast on 61 sts, as when I join the cast on stitches into the round, I normally knit the first and last stitch together, so the actual cuff is worked over 60 stitches.

Sock Yarn:

• One 100g ball of WYS Cocktail Range Sock Yarn in Rum Paradise 822
• Approximately 25g of Opal Turquoise Sock Yarn.

Needles:

• 3.25 mm (US 3) double pointed needle (dpn) for casting on
• 2.75 mm (US 2) (set of 5) clover takumi bamboo double pointed needles for knitting socks
• tapestry needle for sewing in ends.

Tension:

The tension for this sock was 20 rows and 16 stitches / 5cm (2 inch) square in stocking stitch (stockinette). 8 stitches / 2.5cm (1 inch).

Sock Size:

These socks were designed to fit Shoe Size UK 5 to 6, EU 38 to 39 and US 7 to 8. The finished length of the sock from heel to toe measures 24cm (9.5″).

Abbreviations:

double pointed needle(s) – dpn(s); stitch(es) – st(s); knit – k; purl – p; knit 2 stitches together – k2tog; stocking stitch (stockinette stitch) – st st;

Cuff:

• Cast on 61 stitches using 3.25mm double pointed needle (dpn). Join the cast on stitches into the round, I normally knit the first and last stitch together, so the actual cuff is worked over 60 stitches.
• Evenly divide stitches onto four 2.75mm dpns. Take care not to twist the stitches when ribbing the first round. (15 sts on each needle)
• Work 16 rounds of k1, p1 rib.

Leg:

• I knit the leg for 57 rounds for my sock.
• What I really wanted to make sure was that I finished knitting the leg after I’d knit 2 rounds of the turquoise stripe. This was because I wanted my turquoise FLK heel to blend into the stripe. So the actual number of rounds knit for the leg isn’t really essential. You just want both legs to match.

Heel:

At this point I was ready to follow Sox Therapist’s instructions for knitting the Fish Lips Kiss Heel from page 9 of her pattern. This heel pattern is very detailed and well worth buying. I worked my heel shaping until I had 8 stitches in the middle and then I continued the rest of the heel.

Fish Lips Kiss Heel is designed by Sox Therapist and is available on Ravelry.com. I read through the detailed instructions and watched the two stitch techniques on Youtube and then decided to use the heel construction with my normal basic sock pattern.

Foot:

• After finishing the FLKH I started knitting the foot completing the rest of the turquoise stripe.
• Knit 46 rounds.

Toe:

The toe is all knit in stocking stitch.

• Round 1: Needles 1 and 3: k to last 2 sts, k2tog; Needles 2 and 4: ssk, k to end of needle.
• Round 2: k
• (After doing the k2tog and ssk I always give a little tug on the yarn I’m knitting with. It helps to tighten up how the toe shaping stitches look.)
• Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until you have 28 sts left.
• Then repeat round 1 until there are 16 sts remaining.
• Making sure that the toe stitches align horizontally with the heel, slip the stitches from needle 4 onto needle 1 and the stitches from needle 3 onto needle 2.
• Graft the toe stitches using Kitchener Stitch.

Finishing:

Sew in the ends using the tapestry needle. You can wash and block these socks if you like or just add them to your sock drawer.