Up or down

One of my works in progress is learning to knit socks. (Yes, weird urge but follow the creative urges etc etc).

My first pair was made toe up on two circular needles. My second pair is in progress. It's toe up on one circular (magic loop). Traditionally socks were knit cuff down on four double pointed needles. DPN's just seemed like an invitation for me to drop stitches like a lunatic and possibly stab myself in the process. And toe up seemed logical (plus you get to avoid the dreaded heel flap/turn/pick up/gusset process that made my eyes cross when I looked at cuff down patterns).

But the other day I thought "I should try cuff down just to see". (I think the sil was feeding me knitting germs with the food in Adelaide). I hadn't gone completely insane, so I decided to do a little cuff down sock (the Class sock from Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks).

I've finished it now and can I just say I am VERY glad I started with toe-up. Cuff down is fiddly (of course, your mileage may vary and I accept it might be easier on a full size sock) and some of the instructions almost melted my brain. (I think I need to get the sil to demo some of it to me). But I did it. Turned a heel, picked up stitches, grafted a toe.

Here's the wonky proof (sue me, I couldn't be bothered knitting all the bits full length when I was interested in the how rather than the end result). Also, apologies for the slightly dark photo.



I doubt I'll be knitting many cuff down socks but hey, at least I know how.