Here you see my first attempt at the Zimmerman re-footable sock. This is another one of those improvise off of the mistakes as you go projects (see Bag of Tricks) that seem to be my design method of choice. The yarn is handspun from a roving that I got at work (Portland Fiber Gallery or www.portfiber.com or you can buy fiber directly at www.portfiber.etsy.com). It is a hand dyed super wash merino that looked spotty and, quite frankly, a bit unpleasant when in the roving but spun up into these wonderful shifty blue/greens. And as it was a superwash I thought it would be a safe choice for socks for Devan who has a tendency to wash everything with great efficiency which has had resulted in some unexpected child size socks. So I spun it up in my usual fashion right off the roving. If I had been thinking the long thought I would have split the roving lengthwise before spinning, thereby resulting in a uniformish color for two balls of yarn. Instead I ended up with a wonderful green ball of yarn and wonderful blue ball of yarn, both of which were quite wonderful but neither of which was the right amount for more than one sock. First I tried knitting them toe up on the long circular one sock per ball thinking "This will be lovely and eclectic!" And then I realized that they were not only two different colors, but two slightly different weights. So I frogged them both and stewed for a bit. And then I came up with this sock idea. Incorporate a lovely lace pattern and work some of EZ's refootable socks, saving out the heavier yarn for the bottoms of the socks, and the lighter weight for the lacey tops. Brilliant!

This is the first attempt and it looks kind of good, but I don't like that wodgy bit under the ball of the foot. So, today I am going to try out the further design innovation that EZ suggests and do the spiral decrease on the ball of the foot. More later.......

Yesterday I resolved to solve the problem of the wodgy pointy part under ball of the foot. To do this I again consulted Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmerman and found a promising solution in the Pinwheel Variation on page 5. Here you see it successfully completed. Isn't it lovely? And it perfectly fits the slightly rounded bottom of the ball of the foot.

And then a pic of the back of the heel where you can see how the slightly heavier blue yarn fits niftily into the back of the heel where you need that little bit of extra thickness.

And then a picture of the lacey front of the socks where the colors are related but not identical...and thereby still eclectic.

And then yet another of me trying to do a ballerina point in order to show the sides of the socks and the clever way in which the blue sole cradles the foot. EZ is a genius. But you already knew that.

I will be posting a pattern under Stuff For You which will explain how I made these socks and how I adapted Elizabeth Zimmerman's method to my particular weight and guage of yarn. But for thorough directions on how to make the sole you should get yourself a copy of Knitting Around. The refootable sock is a single item of the wonders that are included therein.