Necessity is the mother of invention.
[Pesius Flaccusm, et al]
Unvention is a word I learned at Meg Swansen’s Knitting Camp. When a knitter figures out a technique in the isolation of her/his knitting nest, she/he unvents the technique, unaware that someone else has probably stumbled upon the same thing at one time or another. That is how I taught myself double knitting years ago. I just fiddled around not knowing it was an existing technique.
Here is my latest unvention. By the time I reached the gusset increases, I realized I’d not have enough yarn to finish the sock. When I finished the gusset, I knit back and forth on the top-of-the-foot stitches until I ran out of light green near the toe. I slipped the stitch at the end of each row then knit it as I started back. Then, using the dark green yarn, I worked the short rows for the heel and continued working back and forth on the sole. I knit the edge sole stitch together with the slipped stitch on the edge of the light green top. I slipped that stitch on my way back. Actually, it is very tidy looking and there are no holes.
A while back, I received an email from a knitter who asked how to reinforce just the sole of a sock. This might be the answer. I’ll experiment and let you know.
You already made your green sock! It’s very intriguing what you did with the sole! I have just started on my Pine Tree sock last night, I am very slow 🙂
After I read this, I hunted up EZs moccasin socks and see that they are far more complex than what I did with these. I just took another photo that is better than the last one and will post it. What I did was so simple that I did the foot (top and bottom) in one evening. It was like an extension of turning the heel. Now that you mention it, this foot would be really simple to replace. Thank you for your comments.
Oh, I can’t wait to read how you came out with that sock! It’s a wonderful solution to so many problems with re-soling.
I tried to knit, with a different gauge, EZ’s moccasin socks. I frogged the whole thing. I think I need to try that when I can have my dinner brought to me. 🙂
BTW~you have a wonderful blog and wonderful patterns.
It seems perfect–you sock is very similar to EZ’s moccasin socks. She knit the upper first, (so as to be able to undo the sole and reknit it instead of darning it!)and included the toe area in the moc detail.
I too, taught my self double knitting–nowdays i use it most often for potholders.. but i have made myself a reversible vest.
I learned the word ‘unvention’ from one of EZ’s books – it is so perfect – and so is your unvention 🙂
Very clever solution to a potentially disastrous problem!