Top-down anklets

Sometimes after a day of wearing handknit wool socks, my lower calves itch. Yet I like to wear wool socks to bed in the winter. My solution to this dilemma is to knit some anklets.

Pattern: Short-Row Toe and Heel Basic Socks, by Wendy D. Johnson
Yarn: Some kind of sock yarn I must have dyed at a dyeing workshop of some kind
Needles: US1
Modifications: Knit top-down

Ordinarily, I knit socks toe-up, but for some reason I just could not get this pair going that way. So I knit them top-down. The heels are still short-row, but the toes are simple decreases, ending with the Kitchener stitch.

Since there was no way to make them match, I knit each one from a different end of the yarn cake. For some reason, they are loose, even the ribbing at the top, so they don't stay on very well. But they suffice for their intended use. If I were to try again (and I am), I would knit toe-up and make the tops longer, especially the ribbing.