Finished knitting my first pair of kilt hose

[Tobus]

So to be clear, you're using 5mm needles for most of this project? I have a set of 5mm circular needles, but most patterns I've been able to find call for a smaller size.

I use 4.5mm for worsted/aran weight yarn, unless I need a specific gauge to work for a pattern. But since these socks are of my own recipe, as it were, and I adjust my stitch/row counts to size them for my legs and feet, I stick with the needle size I like best for the finished product. And that's 4.5mm on the right needle.

Since I do this on short interchangeable circulars (shifting over to magic loop for the heels and toes), I always use 4.5mm on the right needle and 4.0mm on the left needle. The smaller left needle doesn't affect the stitch size, but it does let the incoming stitches slide more easily as I work. It really helps my speed. And as a bonus, when I start my short row heels, where I'm working back and forth on magic loop (no longer in the round), that 4.0mm left needle is the one that does the purl stitches as I work the wrong side. It helps tighten up my purl stitches to be the same as my knit stitches that I'm doing with a 4.5mm needle. I really like this combination.

That said, on future work where I'm doing stranded colours, I may step up to a 5.0mm needle just to keep overall tension more equal to what I get on single-colour work with a 4.5mm needle. And right now, I just started the watch cap that I mentioned above, so I'm using 5.0mm to get the right finished size.

Honestly, I love my interchangeable circular sets and don't see myself ever knitting on anything else. I have 2", 3", and 5" tips with a lot of different cable lengths and couplers so I can make them any needle size and cable length I want. As my socks get larger up the calf, I can just swap to a longer needle or change the cable combo to accommodate, so I never have to bunch up my stitches or stretch them out as I work.

[Pleater]

I offered to provide patterns for hose - but am in a bit of a quandary as I use needles far smaller than seems to be the usual size for most people.
My last project was a little pullover for one of the grandchildren and I used 2.25 and 2.5mm needles for it. The yarn is 420meters per 100gm, from man made fibre as there are 6 children in the family and garments must be easy to wash.

One advantage of using such small needles and fine yarn is the detail which can be put into a stitch pattern, even on small items such as hose.

Anne the Pleater

[Tobus]

One advantage of using such small needles and fine yarn is the detail which can be put into a stitch pattern, even on small items such as hose.

My first attempt at socks was with baby/fingering-weight yarn and 2.5mm needles. At the time, my knitting was much too tight and inconsistent. And the sock ended up much thinner than I prefer. Plus, those tiny needles were stressful on my hands. So I decided to go with a thicker yarn and larger needles while I gained more experience and developed my techniques. I think I'm to the point now where I'm going to go back to sock-weight yarn for my next project (full Gairloch hose). But still, to get the gauge needed for the pattern, I need to use something more like 3.25mm needles based on my swatches. I do agree, though, that the level of detail with smaller yarn is preferable for some of the stuff I plan to do.

But those 2.5mm needles give me a sense of dread! Aside from the hand stress issue of working something that small for hours and hours on end, there's just the patience factor. That's a lot of stitches and takes forever to get anywhere. The more I knit, though, the more my need for instant gratification starts to wane.

[Tobus]

So I finished the watch cap last night, using leftover yarn from my kilt hose project. I didn't have enough of the green left to do the whole thing, so I had to use some of the blue. I kind of like it!

I made the turned-up ribbed brim wider than the original shown above in my previous post, but other than that it's a pretty faithful copy of the WWII watch caps that were knit in many homes to support the war effort.

[kingandrew]

The socks look great on their own, and coordinate beautifully with the kilt and jacket. I really like the cuffs.

The watch cap is also very nice. Another cool skill acquired.

Andrew