All The Flowers

Back in September, I saw an Instagram post from Amirisu called All The Flowers.  It was an amazing fair isle/mosaic sock pattern.  So amazing that I actually caved and bought a kit for it!😱😁😉🥳  And, I must say ... it was a very expensive kit as it was from Japan and the shipping alone was the price of a skein of sock yarn! 😳🙄

But, I received it today and ... it was worth every penny spent (including shipping).  Here what I got:

Yes, you aren't seeing things, the pattern itself came in a pristine clear folder with a cardboard backing to ensure it didn't bend.  The pattern was perfect - no creases, folds, wrinkles, etc.  It was even printed on heavier weight glossy paper.  

The yarn was also well packaged.  I had initially looked it up to make sure it was a super wash yarn so, when it came in, I wanted to doubled checked the tags again.  And, OMG, you should see!! the tags!😳😱

Aren't the tags so cute?!

Do you see the acorn and cottage cut-out??

Aren't they so amazingly c-u-t-e!?😱🙂😍🥰🥰🥰  I don't think my pictures do it justice and hope you can see the amazing acorn and house cut-out they used to put the tag together.

Onto the actual yarn itself: while it's a Trek base, it says it was hand spun and dyed in Japan:

However, when I look at the label itself, recommends that I hand wash it.  While I'm a little confused if I can really toss this sock in the wash or not, I am looking forward to winding these skeins up and giving my first fair isle/mosaic sock a try! 🤗

Now, here's my tabi no monogatari:

First of all, I modified the toes by using my own tabi toes:

1. Using my Chiagoo US0 needles, cast on a Provisional cast on with a total of 44 sts.
2. K 1 straight row on each side, then join in the round.
3. K 14 rows in the round as part of the foot portion.
4. Started the toes: with 22 sts on each side, splitting it up for 8 sts for big toe, 14 sts for remaining toes.
5. Big toe:

• Row 1:
• Front: k, m1, k to the to the last st, m1, k for a total of  10 sts
• Back: k, m1, k to the to the last st, m1, k for a total of 10 sts
• Row 2-15 (14 rows): k
• Row 16:
• Front: ssk, k to the last 2 sts, k2tog, total of 8 sts
• Back: ssk, k to the last 2 sts, k2tog, total of 8 sts
• Row 17-18 (2 rows): k
• Row 19: same as row 16 continuing to decrease 2 sts, total of the 6 sts on each side
• Row 20-21 (2 rows): k
• Row 22: same as row 21 continuing to decrease 2 sts, total of 4 sts on each side
• Bound off using the Kitchener stitch.

The big toe came out to 4.5 cm (1 3/4").

6. The rest of the toes:

• Row 1:
• Front: k to the end, pick up 4 sts, for a total of 18 sts
• Back: pick up 4 sts, k to the end for a total of 18 sts
• Row 2: k
• Row 3:
  
• Front: ssk, k to the end for a total of 17 sts
• Back: k to the last 2 sts, k2tog for a total of 17 sts
• Row 4:
• Front: ssk, k to the end for a total of 16 sts
• Back: k to the last 2 sts, k2tog for a total of 16 sts
• Row 5-6 (2 rows): k
• Row 7:
• Front: ssk, k to the end, for a total of 15 sts
• Back: k to the the last 2 sts, k2tog for a total of 15 sts
• Row 8: k
• Row 9-18: same as row 7 & 8, continuing to decrease 2 sts, for a total of 14, 13, 12, 11 & 10 sts on each side
  
• Row 19: same as row 9, for a total of 9 sts on each side
• Row 20: same as row 19, for a total of 8 sts on each side
• Row 21: k
• Row 22: ssk, k2, k2tog, k2 for a total of 6 sts on each side
• Row 23: ssk, k2tog, k2 for a total of 4 sts on each side
• Bound off using the Kitchener stitch.

The rest of the toe came out to 5 cm (2 in).

It fits like a glove.

Then I went back to the bottom of the provisional cast on and picked up the stitches to start the foot.

7. Row 15: pick up a st from the “front” side and put it on the “back” side; pick up a st from the “back” side, bringing it behind the st picked up from the “front” and put it on the “front” side. Then k to the 2nd to last st in the round & pick up a sts from below. There should now be 24 sts on each side.
8. Row 16: pick up sts on the 4th, 9th, 15th & 20th sts for a total of 28 sts on each side.
   
9. Row 17-65 (48 rows): Switching to my Chiagoo US2 needles, follow the pattern repeat 4 more times, maintaining 28 sts.
   

Including the initial 14 rows, this came out for a total of 13 cm (5 1/4").

With the foot done, at first, I was stumped on how to create an afterthought heel.  I even picked up a set of Knitting Barbers in hopes I could use that for an afterthought heel.  Alas, I couldn't figure it out so, I decided to just take a chance to just do my standard Fish Lips Kiss Heel method.  Since the method is copyrighted, here's the changes I did to make it work for me:

   10. Row 66: 

• Right side: K the "top" portion, start the heel on the "bottom" portion.
• Left side: start the heel as you're already on the "bottom" portion.

   11. Row 66-106: Follow the Fish Lips Kiss Heel method until you have 9 twin stitch 

         (ts) knits & purls sts on each side and 10 regular sts

It worked as it came out perfectly! 🙂  *yay* 🙂

Turning the heel is always magical and never gets old:

With the heel done, I discovered that I had to switch to a US3 needles to finish off the leg otherwise I couldn't get past the heel!😱😳😔🤦🤷:

   12. Row 107-140 (33 rows): follow the pattern repeat 4 more times, maintaining 28 sts.

Then to finish off the cuffs:
   13. Row 140-144 (5 rows): complete cuff using 1x1 ribbing, maintaining a total of 28 sts for each side.
   14. Switched to US 1.5 needles to bind off using Jenny's stretchy bind off.  The total length of the leg and cuff was 9 cm (3 9/16 in).

And here it is, in all its finished glory (finally):

I must say, making this sock was challenging.  Never in my sock making experience did I EVER imagine that I would EVER need anything larger than a size US0 needle.  It was so shocking to me to have to go up to using US2s and then to US3s for this sock!😱😳🤦  Making this sock was definitely a learning project.👍  I also discovered that yarn colour really does make a huge difference in stranded knitting and that getting into the groove of it made a difference in my knitting.  It's definitely NOT like making a sweater (which is significantly easier than a sock!)!😳🙄 While I had initially fallen in love with the pattern of the sock, now that I actually have a pair of it, I'm not sure if I really love it 🤔 as the pattern doesn't show up very well (it does not look like the picture when it's on my foot!😔😳🙄🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️).  I know that it could be in part due to the sock colour choices (there isn't enough contrast between the 2 colours and there weren't many colour options to begin with kit-wise) as well as my stranded knitting "technique" (or most likely my lack "technique" as I knew that I was not nearly as consistent with my stranding as I am with my sweaters ).  I don't know if I would ever make this sock again after the perils of what I went through (and how long it took me to actually make this sock (nearly 4.5 months)!😳😱🤦‍♀️; figuring out if I should be doing an afterthought heel (much less how to do an afterthought heel) or if I could simply incorporate my standard Fish Lips heel really had me stumped for the longest time!🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️). 🤔😔🤷‍♀️  I definitely learned that until I have much more stranded socks under my belt, making stranded socks while stressed and distracted is not a good idea! 😳😱😭🤦‍♀️😔🤷‍♀️  I can see all of my inconsistencies on these socks as well as can tell when I stopped and picked it up again.😳😔🤦‍♀️  Perhaps, stranded sock are in my retirement future (or for a future job that's not so demanding and that allows me much more free time & ability to focus more!).🙄🤔