8-Bit Socks

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It’s yet another pair of stripey socks!  I gave these away as my gift at our holiday yankee swap at work.  I wrapped them up without the heels put in and told the recipient to give them back to me with their shoe size so I could make them to fit.  My boss ended up getting my gift and he will be giving them to his wife.

I experimented with Knitter’s Pride Karbonz needles on these socks.  I typically only use wood dpns because I think the metal ones are too slippery and sometimes too heavy so I get ladders where the needles change.  This is sad because I love the pointy tips available of metal needles!)  These Karbonz needles are like the best of both worlds – they are made from carbon fiber (like space shuttles!) so they are lightweight and non-slippery and they have metal-capped tips that are super pointy and awesome to work with.  Obviously these socks were just straight stockinette so I didn’t exactly need pointy needles, but knitting always goes a bit faster with them so it’s nice to have.  These pointy tips would be great for a pattern with traveling twisted stitches.  I’ll have to try that next.

Here’s a WIP picture so you can see the needles in action:

So, the only thing I didn’t love about the Karbonz is that they only come in the 6” length which was weird for me to get used to since I usually use shorter needles.  I usually knit socks on five 4” dpns (with yarn divided between four needles arranged in a square).  To compensate for the extra length of these needles, I ended up using just 4 dpns (with yarn divided between three needles arranged in a triangle).  This made the 6” length more manageable but it was odd for me to adjust to the new configuration.  I’d be in heaven if they made these in a shorter length!

Then again, I know tons of knitters who prefer to knit on 6” needles in the triangle configuration because you don’t have to switch between needles as often, which makes the knitting slightly faster and there are slightly fewer interruptions to your zen. It’s really just personal preference.

Here are the finished socks.  (FYI, I seriously amped up the vibrance in the WIP pic above.  The colors in this photo below are a bit more true to life).

yarn details
Knit Picks Felici in 8-Bit
Fingering Weight
Dye Lot 35139
75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon
Machine wash/Tumble dry low
$4.19 per 50 g /218 yd ball purchased February 2019

project details
pattern: “A Sock Surgeon’s Afterthought Heel” by Emily B. Miller; available as a free Ravelry download – with an accompanying YouTube video.
needles: size 1.5 dpns (Karbonz)
yarn used: probably around 350 yards (~1.5 balls) – I forgot to weigh the finished socks
size knit: CO 64 stitches
gauge: 8.5 stitches/inch
finished size: forgot to measure – they are for a ladies size 9
duration: July 13, 2019 – January 8, 2020

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