When I reviewed Cookie A’s book Sock Innovation, I mentioned that I’d like to knit the Kai-Mei socks one day because I loved the unique design. Since then, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Consequently, I asked Phil to bring me a skein of sock yarn from the yarn store near his work after I finished the Fisherman Twist sweater.
He chose this self-striping cashmere yarn by H&W Wolle. It’s soooooo soft and feels luxurious on the skin! To be honest, the colours are out of my comfort zone, especially the light turquoise and brown, but that’s the beauty of sock knitting: they’re a bite-sized opportunity to try a new motif, technique, or colour, and even if you end up feeling meh about the results, you’re only wearing them on your feet. Nobody’s gonna see them besides you, so go crazy!
Don’t get me wrong: I really love the result. The pattern lends itself well to the self-striping yarn. Besides, it’s so much fun to knit! Even the boring ribbing is entertaining because you’re looking forward to the next colour!
The diagonal lace band across the feet is such a fun detail. It isn’t that difficult to knit, either. Basically, you “move” it across the foot by knitting stitches together at one side of it, and making new ones at the other side. It’s a good pattern if you have knitted a couple of socks and have a hankering for something slightly different! I followed the pattern straight through, except that I used 2.5 needles instead of 2.25 ones, and reduced the number of stitches I cast on from 66 to 60, adapting the pattern accordingly going forward. They ended up fitting me well.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Pattern: Kai-Mei by Cookie A
Yarn: H&W Wolle Comfort Cashmere Wellness (Fingering, 65% yarn/25% polyamide/10% cashmere), colour 902.04.
3 responses to “Cookie A’s Kai-Mei Socks”
Hey, my fiancée is knitting the same pattern and the instructions she got from Cookie’s book are unclear. She has the Finnish translated version, and we’re not sure if there are errors in it. I see you mentioned reducing the amount of stitches to 60 from 66. In her print, it’s 60, which someone hand-corrected to 66 (library book), which contradicts your pattern/instructions (Not a knitter myself, so bear with me).
Then there’s the curious case of the, uhh… Heel flap? We don’t know what it is in English. Our instructions say to move/transfer 33 stitches/loops (again, sorry!) for the top part of the foot, and the remaining 35 for the heel. That’s neither 60 nor 66 combined, so I wanted to ask what your book says in that part?
She explained the process to me in simplified terms and drew it out. It appears that if both numbers were 33, the heel would be logical, so we’re nearly certain the 35 should have been a 33.
Hi! Sorry your fiancée is having so much trouble with the pattern. 🙁 I have the English version and it says to cast on 66 sts. As for the heel flap, it says “Divide for heel flap as foll: Place last 33 sts worked on hold for top of foot; rem 33 sts will be worked back and forth for heel flap”. It seems the Finnish translation has a couple of errors, how annoying!
Thank you, I’ll pass the info along!