Almost Done
Remember that sock I started on the plane back from Boston? Well, it's done! I've had the yarn in my stash for almost a year now and I've been wanting to make them for a while.
Regia Crazy Colors in color 05402 (Passion)
Toe-up using a Figure 8 cast on. I've tried a figure 8 cast on before but it seemed fiddly on DPN. But this is now my favorite toe-up 2 circ cast on.
Heel - No wrap short row heel from OzYarn. This was a super-easy heel! If you like the look of short row heels but dislike the whole wrapping thing give this a try! No holes, I promise!
I did the heel on 60% of the stitches based on some reading I've done but I'm not in love with it. I think I will go back to 50% next time.
Ribbing - K3P1tbl. This made a nice tight ribbing. It starts way down where the heels ends and you can barely see it in the pic. One tip for the P1tbl - I started out by literally twisting the purl stitches. And then it dawned on me if i wrapped the yarn in the opposite direction I would get the same effect without the struggle to twist the stitch. Once I did the tbl that way the ribbing just zoomed along.
One problem - the cast off is too tight! I'm not in love with the way the pink crept in during cast off anyway so I'll pull back a couple rows, do an increase row, and then bind off (hopefully all in black).
One final comment - the ball band says you'll need 3 balls for a pair of socks. I find that hard to believe. Since I did toe up I thought I'd knit until I was almost done with the yarn, but I finally had to stop because it was as long as I would ever wear them. I had a good 20 wraps left on the ball at that point. Not a ton, but enough to make me think any normal shaped foot would be fine with 2 balls.
A note on the yarn - it's superwash with 25% nylon. It's not the softest stuff around but I'm hoping a couple of washings will improve it. They're a heavier sock anyway, and I don't expect super-luxury softness from them anyway.

Comments
Thanks for all the pointers. I am ready to try different ways for doing socks.
Posted by: Cindy | October 4, 2004 09:20 AM
The no-wrap heel sounds interesting. I was shocked at how much Regia softened up post-wash. (I wash them in a machine and lay them flat to dry.)
Posted by: Lauren | October 4, 2004 10:00 AM
So, I guess that Oz heel works backwards the same as written in that pattern? Funky colors! :-)
Posted by: Eklectika | October 4, 2004 02:00 PM
As soon as Devan is complete I want to start an actual sock--with sock yarn--no more sweaters. Thanks for the pattern. What are you going to do for the cast off? Larger needle or K2tog and put back on the needle?
Posted by: Kathleen | October 4, 2004 06:18 PM
They look great and the pattern sounds interesting. I've just finished some toe-up socks (using Wendy's pattern) for my daughter in exactly the same yarn. I used the leftovers to make some glovelets as well. There's some pics in my blog if you're interested.
Posted by: Emma | October 5, 2004 04:44 AM