Advice on knitting a man's sock.

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Tea
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Advice on knitting a man's sock.

Post by Tea » Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:10 am

( Yes, I know this isn't a knitting forum, but since I'm more interested in the design part of this project then the technicalities of actually having to knit it, I'm hoping that this nice mass of footed persons will do nicely. If you're not too interested in knitting, just ignore anything that doesn't make sense.)

So, as an avid knitter I offhandedly suggested that I knit my dad a nice pair of socks for the winter holidays instead of buying him a present, and let's just say that a few days on the back burner and it's looking like more and more a good idea that I think I can pull off (I have a glove project that's been taking me forever to finish that I really want to get off the needles before I start, and I'm only hoping that I can cast it off with enough time to spare for at least getting some notable headway on the footwear project). I already have the perfect yarn for him (got a pair of balls of a nice, dark, foresty green which is a color that he seems to like to wear a lot) and a backup yarn (I'm no good at estimating how much I need for a project and he has large feet, so if my two balls aren't enough I also have an indigo that I definitely have enough of to do the socks or to augment the green). I'm thinking of working it on either size 1 or 2 (US) needles (2.5 mm-3.25 mm) so I can work a bit of an interesting pattern without it being huge and taking over the rest of the sock.

He's said that he wants something simple, yet elegant. I've been looking at online patterns and have yet to find something satisfactory (most of the differences seem to be in the shaping of the sock, and the yarn but the sock itself is knitted very plainly (if not completely in sockknit stitch!)) And then there's me just coming off of a streak of wanting to put labyrinthine masses of cables and interesting bits of lace or cable and lace patterns everywhere (I'm calming down. I no longer just want to knit things for being interesting and complex, but it had better be a nice mixture of simplicity and complexity or else I'll just find it tedious and mindless and probably realize that I could be doing something way better). My problem is that I want to try to mix the two without it being a complete mess and turn into something that he wouldn't want to wear anymore. And, that's where I'm hoping to get some input since I think I'm pretty much the walking antithesis of men's sock's aesthetics. There's some common elements in the patterns I've been looking at (they've got to be comfortable and nice and warm for the feet), but beyond that, I don't know if there's anything else that would also be an important factor.

Oh yeah, I'm also entertaining the idea of using a theme based on what I know he's interested in. He really likes celtic and mideaval music which would lend nicely to a celtic knot pattern, but that could also easily turn into something that takes up too much space of the sock (lots of cables). Lately, he's been spending a lot of time roaming the wildernesses of Skyrim (he really admires the scenery and has been known to let his character idle for hours just to take it all in) and I'm entertaining ideas of borrowing a motif from that, but a leaf/vine/tree patterns tend to be pretty lacy and I think that would be a bit too elaborate for him. He's also the household engineer and computer programmer, but besides circuit-boards (which make for pretty fascinating designs but not very knittable ones).

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WearsHats
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Re: Advice on knitting a man's sock.

Post by WearsHats » Fri Oct 16, 2015 11:37 am

Celtic knot circuits? Use a square knot pattern to lay out or embellish a circuit board pattern.

I don't know. I generally wear tube socks, and I don't knit.
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RocketScientist
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Re: Advice on knitting a man's sock.

Post by RocketScientist » Fri Oct 16, 2015 12:04 pm

Have you checked out sock patterns on Ravelry? I don't know that guys care much for lace, but cables on size 1 or 2 needles shouldn't look too "girly" if that's what you're worried about. Or maybe try something patterned? Slightly Girly Example if you feel that's challenging enough?

Personally, I like mindless. Then I don't have to pay attention and can marathon old TV shows without screwing it up. :lol:

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Tea
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Re: Advice on knitting a man's sock.

Post by Tea » Sun Dec 20, 2015 12:00 am

Well, now I have lots of excellent ideas for the next pair of socks (so thank you), but ended up with a pretty simple cable and rib pattern based off of an even simpler version of a sock (or, for the non-knitter, pretty much just stretchy, stretchy stripes). Now, if I could just survive these next few inches of working the foot part in sockknit until freedom... well, until I have to start the next foot.

(elapsed time two months: still working on getting to forum with any regularity, or frequency for that matter, apologies.)

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Re: Advice on knitting a man's sock.

Post by RocketScientist » Fri Jan 01, 2016 3:06 pm

Glad your socks worked out. I've been doing mostly hats lately. I've been making balaclavas for the guys here, so they can be warm, yet feel ninjatastic. LOL. I also did a cabled hat and fingerless gloves for my daughter out of some Isaac Mizrahi sparkle yarn from Michael's. She'd made herself a loom knit scarf out of it, and wanted cabled things to match.

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