KFI: Trellis Mitts KAL—Socks?

The KAL starts tomorrow morning!

How exciting.

In the mean time, here is another set of vague ideas for altering the pattern. This time for socks.

Using the stitch pattern on a pair of socks was another suggestion thrown out by a Facebook fan. It almost derailed me because I do like knitting socks. I'd been so fixated on making a pair of mitts with a leaf motif that socks hadn't occurred to me.

Once the idea was presented I really liked it and might have to make a pair of socks to match my mitts in the future.

Since I haven't actually made the socks, these suggestions are once again untested, but here's what I can tell you so far.

Ribbing. Smocking. Whatever.
I was surprised to discover that the smocking was much more flexibile than I expected.

Why, yes, I did try to mitt on my foot. :-) My stitch count would be the same.

I think the trick will be not to pull the wraps on the smocking too tight so it can expand like ribbing. You might want to do a little swatch to see how it works for you. If you are going to need to make a sock cuff bigger than the as yet unrevealed mitt I can tell you the smocking is a multiple of 4.

Alternatively, you can ditch the smocking and just do normal ribbing, but where is the fun in that?

Stitch Patterns
The mitt fit my leg rather well and it if wasn't for the thumb I could have easily converted it to a sock.

I think part of the easy fit could be attributed to the fact that the palm of the mitt is 1 x 1 rib. That would have ended up the back of the sock leg. It strikes me as a little boring and I would want to do the Triple Leaf Motif on both front and back, with ribbing between, but I don't know what that will do to the sock fit.

The motif has some stretch to it, but I don't know if two motifs will have the cling that the ribbing provides.

The Triple Leaf Motif is over 15 sts (although as you'll see the stitch count does vary). I have it framed by twisted stitches, adding 4 sts to either side.

If you decide to work a motif on both the front and the back of the leg I would say add ribbing to the sides to make your stitch count work.

Heel to Toe
If you're taking the plunge to turn a mitt into a sock I imagine you are an experinced sock knitter who knows how to work a heel, gusset, foot, and toe.

Why not take the motif all the way down to your toe decreases?

In that case you might want to consider working the gusset decreases on the side or bottom of the foot to keep them from interferring with the motif.

The motif seems to have some vertical stretch to it as well, so you'll probably want to try on the sock regularly as you work the foot to get a good fit.

That's about all I can think of. I hope to see you tomorrow!