Ask the Knitters

Dear Knitters,

I've started knitting a pair of striped socks using Simply Sock Yarn's Solids in my son's school colors.  The stripes are close to 3/4 inches, alternating with two colors.  I started carrying the yarn up the leg so that I don't have to keep cutting the yarn with each color change and weaving in a dozen or more ends.  But now I see a little bit of the burgundy yarn peeking through the white when the sock ribbing is stretched out.  So I'm thinking of frogging back and starting over and instead cutting the yarn and starting anew with each stripe.

Is there a rule of thumb when striping yarn for socks?  Like, for what length it's fine to carry yarn, or what's the best way to change colors without there being holes between the color changes?  I'm new to making my own striped socks, and while I know these won't be perfect, I also want them to be something I'm proud of, and don't cringe every time he's on the soccer field.

Another concern about carrying the yarn in long lengths on the foot is that when my son pulls the socks on his feet, his toes could snag on the lengths of yarn I carried and that he'll either break that yarn or pull it.  Is that something I should consider?  Or am I just being over cautious?

Thanks in advance for your assistance,

Striping in Springfield

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Comments

[Irene]

I like to wrap the non working yarn at least 3-4 stitches or rows to avoid the long tails to catch fingers or toes.

[Elaine Chaffee]

If you have wide stripes my suggestion would be to cut the yarn and weave it across and you go so that you don't have to weave your ends in later. I find it quicker and so much easier...because when you finish your sock you are done. I carry yarn when I knit flat pieces up the sides because it will be sewn in the seam and will not matter so the wider stripes wouldn't be a problem. Hope this helps. Enjoy your socks. Oh, if you do see the color...don't worry....who will notice on a young man chasing a soccer ball down the field :)

[Jo]

I don't carry a color more than 1-2 rows. Otherwise I cut and weave in. You may notice the rounds are slightly off everytime you change colors. This is not too noticeable in ribbing, but will be when you knit in stockinette for the foot. This is easier to do than explain. Tie on the second color and knit 1 round. Then for the first stitch of the second round, knit in the stitch BELOW the first stitch and then continue around. You will be knitting thru 2 stitches, the old color and the new. Hope this helps.

[Melissa]

If you're using white with a dark color, it's pretty much inevitable that the darker color will peek through the white. You can either make the stripes super-short (do you know the barber-pole method of one-row stripes, which also removes the dreaded jog?) and not cut the yarn between stripes, or make the stripes big enough that you don't have so many stripes on the leg and thus you won't have a ton of ends to deal with afterward.

As far as snagging toes on ends in the feet, remember that most of the time, his feet will be in shoes, so any stripes will be invisible to the masses. You could always make each foot a solid color, with the heel and toe in the other color. (For big-footed guys, I often do the ribbing, heel, and toe in a different color, to be sure I have enough yarn for the rest of the sock.) If he's open-minded enough, you could mirror the colors, to even out yarn usage.

[Renee']

http://knitpurlhunter.com/blog/?p=602
Check out this site...she has wonderful instructional videos on different techniques. Hopefully the link will get you to the jogless stripes video... if not, :) go to knitpurlhunter.com and look up video tips. When you are carrying the yarn do you do the little twist of colors to trap it in? Good luck...