Colossal Nutkins

Yesterday I cast on for Nutkin with some Shibui sock yarn. I was inspired after I peeked in my drawer of hand-knit socks and fell in love with them all over again. And I remembered my goal to knit 12 pairs of socks this year (this is only number 3!).

I cast on and did the funky fold-over cuff, loving the ingenuity of it but feeling very wary of the size of it. I have been consciously trying to loosen up my knitting lately, but this was crazy. The cuff of this sock is enormous! I'm already a large enough person so I don't need to feel extra self-consciousness of having such big socks.

I had to talk myself into it the whole time, but I kept going. There is no ribbing, I said, so it's bound to look larger than normal. I cast on 64 stitches on size 2 needles in sock yarn; this is my standard. I've knit the exact same yarn with the same needles and 64 stitches on some Monkey socks. I counted my stitches like 10 times to make sure I really only had 64.

On Ravelry there are thousands of people who have knit this sock...so I searched and searched for references to the colossal cuff. (I got really creative with my search terms!) Mostly I found people talking about the Nutkin Evil Twins or how amazingly well their socks fit (and they all looked like they have normal feet), but nothing too helpful for me except hints that they will pull in once you get going on the legs.

I hemmed and hawed about it for a little while and decided to soldier on. They have definitely pulled in as I have knit, pretty much to a normal size, but that top is just really big. The worst part is that I put them on and they look fine, which makes me think I have cankles!!!