Scrappy socks...with a little bit extra

Smackerel Socks

In our house there are snacks and there are meals. But there is also an in-between category - a fancy snack which is known as a Smackerel.

And when I started working on these scrappy socks, the word Smackerel kept coming to mind. They are a bit fancier than a plain scrappy, striped sock but don’t require the effort and preparation needed for a full blown meal.

They are the perfect happy medium. Simple to work but fancy enough to show off. And each colour band uses just a hair over 1g, meaning that you can use up the tiniest bits of sock yarn leftovers that you have hanging around.

Fancy and thrifty - does it get any better.

Actually yes it does, as the pattern is written with both toe-up and cuff down options - just pick the option you want at the pattern download stage.

How to avoid 'ears' on toe-up socks

An ‘ear-free’ sock toe

It’s such a tiny thing to worry about in the greater scheme of things, I know. But if you’ve ever been annoyed by that tiny sticky-out ear that you sometimes get when you start a sock toe, then this tip might help you.

I’ve been starting socks this way for so long that I can’t remember where I heard it first. It might have been either via Paula of the Knitting Pipeline podcast, or Susan B Anderson - both fabulous sock knitting gurus.

It’s ludicrously simple to do - you just need to unlearn the first piece of advice you were ever given as a new knitter and don’t start with a slip knot. It is this tiny knit which sticks out in the fabric, no matter how tightly you try to pull it and gives that annoying little lump on the very outside part of the toe.

Don’t use a slip knot when casting on

Instead of tying a slip knot, just drape the yarn over the needle and then arrange the yarn as you would do normally for a Judy’s magic cast on - yarn tail over index finger and the end nearest to the yarn ball around your thumb.

You might find it helpful to give a twist to the yarn before you start casting on - just to anchor it and give you something firmer to knit into on the first row. But once you’ve got that first fiddly stitch into the loose loop out of the way it’s plain sailing.

No, tiny knot and no annoying sock ears!

Do give it a go and let me know what you think.

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