Socks, I have a friend who uses regular sewing thread in her husbands work socks. Personally, my DH was told if he wore his hand knit socks to work, I'd never make him another pair! What I have is Fortissima Socka brand reinforcing yarn. The little card it's on just has the brand name on it, not what the reinforcing yarn/thread is called. T. used sewing thread all the time. I'm going to try that next time, so I can match the color to the yarn I'm using. I use it on the bottom of the heel and the toes of DH's socks.

I've never heard of rounding the toes before. I haven't tried it.

Tami

Susan, I've never used any thread to reinforce sock heels, but after mending my share of hand knit socks, I am seriously considering this. I have seen some yarn (can't remember the name) that actually comes with a small amount of reinforcing yarn. But I found this online tonight while looking for something else and thought I'd share the link with you.

Here is a link that might be useful: reinforcing thread/yarn

1. I use sewing thread or wooly nylon. You don't have to use reinforcement thread (I often don't on my socks, but for my brothers, I do!), but when you're darning them later, it helps to have a skeleton to use. I haven't used it on the toes yet, but I hold the wooly nylon with my yarn and work it with the heel flap and the heel.

2. I always do this. I start my decreases about 1.5 inches from the end, and usually they end up all right. :)

~ Kit

Jawoll sock yarn comes with a coordinating spool of reinforcing thread, or you can just buy the woolly nylon. As for round sock toes, see the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sock toes

Thanks for all the great tips, everyone. Donna, that site has a lot of nice knitting accessories.

Finally finished the socks. Worked hard enough on them to have completed two pair. The first sock is bigger than the second, but it is not noticeable when wearing them. I've already started another pair, and maybe I won't have to redo so much, and maybe they'll even be the same size!

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What a lovely colorway! Good job. Practice really does make perfect, so the next pair can only be better. Thank you for sharing.

Colorway? That's Colorway?! I always wondered what Colorway was. The package didn't say it was "self-striping," so I didn't try to match the stripes. Not sure if I could have or not. Thanks for the compliment, Donna. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work, and they are wearable.

Susan

Great socks, Socks! I get mine closer to the same size by working on both socks at the same time. I start them both at the same time on different sets of needles, which helps me get them to match, also. I do a couple of inches on one, then on the other. That way, my gauge stays almost the same on each sock. When I have a ball of yarn that will make two socks, instead of needing two balls, I get out the kitchen scale and weigh it, then wind another ball out of it until I get equal balls. You may have to pull out almost a golf ball size ball until the ends match, but you can use it up at the toe if you run out on one sock. There, no one will ever know they don't match! Keep up the good work. I no longer consider you a novice!!!

Tami

I appreciate the tips!

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"Colorway" just means the colors in a pattern; the color scheme. So, the colorway on your socks is shades of blue. Another yarn's colorway might be green and burgundy. We use the term in quilting, too. A quilt's colorway could monochromatic, or brights. When I design a quilt pattern, I always show the design in two colorways on the pattern cover so that the quilters can see how different it looks when done in different colorways.

Annie

Very good, Damascusannie. I appreciate the explanation.