Needlefingers: October 2008

A day late to Socktoberfest

Well, I hoped to kick the month off right, but missed the first day of SOCKTOBERFEST!!!!!!

Eee. That's a little blurry, but I'm too lazy to walk back in to the good light. I promise a better picture at some point. Anyway, that's Twisted Flower sock by Cookie A. The yarn is Louet Gems, originally not purple, but it is now. That's some of the lovely yarn dyed the weekend Ragged and Cynical came to visit. I am very, very pleased with this sock. I must be, to knit it top-down, and one at a time. I could have done both, but meh, I didn't.

Stay tuned for more sockie goodness.

Comments

'A visitor' left this comment on 2 Oct 08

Absolutely fabulous! I love it.

Getting in the 'spirit' of the season

There, that's a bit more festive. (On the old blog, I had changed the color scheme and made the header in 'spooky' writing)

Now, about those clearer pictures I promised.

Isn't that better? Here's even closer.

Despite it being more twisted stitches (I just can't help myself), the pattern moves very quickly.

This weekend will be one of homework, another meeting of the Cache Slash Crew for the rapidly (two weeks - eek!) approaching Fest, with a little knitting tossed in on the side.

Sock quandry

Well.

I finished the first Twisted Flower sock. And I. Am. Not. Happy. It's not the sock's fault, it's my weird leg/foot size. We're I a tiny, petite thing, it would probably be perfect. But I'm not. I'm around 5' 10", so the feets are bigger, and the leg is bigger. The sock is stretched on the leg, and the foot had to be extended so much it made the pattern very odd.

So, now what do I do? It's not a pattern that is easily modified, and since I'm doing this for Sockdown!, I want to try to stay true to the pattern. The only thing that comes to mind is knitting it on size 1 instead of size 0, which is what's recommended for a larger size. The reason I didn't in the first place is I like firmly-knitted socks, and I thought maybe I would be okay (ha). I'm definitely not jazzed about the prospect of a limpy-wimpy sock.

Drat. Drat. Drat.

So, I suppose (sigh) that I will try the second sock on 1s and see what happens.

What else is going on? Well, it's less than 11 days to the Cache Slash Fest. Eek. We're at our usual level of preparedness. That should tell you a lot.

We continue to run a person short in our office. We keep thinking things will slow down, but we start registration for spring in less than three weeks. No rest for the wicked.

Three more days of work, then a three-day weekend. Yesssss!!!!!!!

Comments

'A visitor' left this comment on 8 Oct 08

I've learned that it pays to have friends with smaller feet. Then you can still make the patterns you want. Of course, it's not as satisfying as knitting them for yourself, but what can you do?

Sock quandry, Part II

Do you like these socks?

Here's a closer look.

Here's the situation. The socks are Komet by Stephanie van der Linden (free Ravelry download) in Cherry Tree Hill Potluck 'Water'. They are for someone else, someone who does wear rose and the bright turquoisey blue. But, because they are not my colors, I have no idea if they look good or not.

If you don't mind them, or even think they're pretty, please leave a comment. If you don't like them, you don't have to leave a comment, because I'm ambiguous enough the way it is.

Thanks!

Comments

'A visitor' left this comment on 13 Oct 08

Can you open up the pattern a bit? I think I am ambiguous too.

Sock Quandry: Part II (revised)

Okay, how about now?

Wow, that looks completely different, doesn't it? Yeah, well when I started the pattern on these socks, I was in low light, and read 'follow the chart'. So I did. I didn't look at the little numbers off to the side that read "1, 3, 5, . . . ." In my slight defense, another pair of socks in progress you actually do patterning on every row, so when this pattern didn't mention anything about the even rows (no 'on 2nd round and all even rounds, work even' or 'knit 9, purl 2', nothing), I didn't give it a second thought.

Unfortunately, I didn't discover this until I had already made the heel turn. I know, I know, it seems hard to believe, but we're in the throes of Cache Slash prep, and focus is a little distracted. There really wasn't any other choice than to rip out, because these socks are my entry for Sockdown! October on SKA over in a little thing called Ravelry. They kind of need to be made right. And I think they look better now.

It's kind of weird to be operating outside your color realm, but not everyone likes purple. I have no idea what's wrong with those people.

So, friends of the blogosphere, what say you?

Comments

'A visitor' left this comment on 13 Oct 08

I likes 'em. I likes 'em a lot! Very pretty. But then, I like springy colors too...I like most colors....it's a bit hard to displease me in the color arena. Just my two cents.

'Needlefingers' left this comment on 13 Oct 08

I'm right there with you, Chris. The person I'm intending them for is definitely a 'spring' color person, so I'll just keep my fingers crossed. If nothing else, they'll keep her feet warm anyway.

'A visitor' left this comment on 13 Oct 08

Much better. They seem to flow now. As to color, meh.

'A visitor' left this comment on 13 Oct 08

They're a little to asymetrical-ly for me. I like really even patterns. Kind of like cookies. You can't have an odd number of cookies so you always have to bake and eat them in evens. :)

Normal, or something like it

Cache Slash Fest 2008 is in the books. Now the recovery begins.I finished some socks.The recipient appreciated them, I do believe. As a reminder, that's Cherry Tree Hill Potluck in Water, in the Komet pattern. (Go join Ravelry

Cache Slash Fest 2008 is in the books. Now the recovery begins.

I finished some socks.

The recipient appreciated them, I do believe. As a reminder, that's Cherry Tree Hill Potluck in Water, in the Komet pattern. (Go join Ravelry , and you can knit 'em too)

And I bought some more sock yarn. It is Socktoberfest, after all.

That is Fleece Artist's latest sock yarn, Trail Sock in the Forest colorway. Yes, I know it's not purple.

I also bought two more skeins of Dream in Color Classy in Dusky Aurora in hopes it would somewhat work with the other five skeins I bought on our visit to The Loopy Ewe . Eh, it will take some plotting.

The newer skeins are on the right, with representatives on the left. All beautiful, but definitely unique. Such is handpainting, thank goodness. Sameness is so monotonous. However, I will need to be creative to make this work without being obvious.

If you'll excuse me, I think I need to go sleep.

Spooky Socks!

That is Opal Rainforest Schmetterling (butterfly). I went to the yarn shop looking for something that screamed (pun intended) Halloween, and there it was.

I've had a request to share just how it is that I do my gussets for toe-up. And I'm really glad I was asked, because I had to think about what it is I do, and see if there's any rhyme or reason to it. Turns out, there is! Who would have thought. :)

(If you are not a knitter, or maybe even if you are, this is going to be painful. You may want to just catch the next post.)

My standard sock recipe is 72 sts on a size 0 needle for yarns like Opal, Trekking and the like. I cast on 16, increase to 72 and place a safety pin. If I'm doing a short row heel, I knit 72 rows from that point, work the heel, then I knit another 72 rows, do 11 rows ribbing and cast off in ribbing.

Every time I do a toe-up gusseted sock, it's like a brand new day and I measure and calculate and theorize. Not anymore. Now - I have a plan.

The sock begins the same, but I will need to increase for the gussets at some point. I measured across my heel and determined I needed a heel width of about 2 1/2", or 18 sts at my gauge. It's 1/2 of stitches at the bottom of the foot. So, increasing two stitches every other row will take 18 rows. I want to be at the usual spot I would start a short row heel when all the increases are done, so 72 rows - 18 rows = 54 rows for the start of the gusset increases.

How I work the increases: pick up a stitch the stitch below, knit across, pick up a stitch in the stitch below.

Then once all the increases are worked, ready for a right side row, I knit across 18 stitches for the gusset, knit 17 and wrap the next stitch, leaving 18 sts unworked on the other side. Turning the work, I would purl 16 and wrap the next stitch. Turn, work to one stitch before the wrapped stitch, wrap that stitch, and so on, until you have wrapped all but six stitches (1/3 of the heel stitches). Knit across those stitches, then knit across the wrapped stitches, picking up the wraps and knitting them with the stitch to be worked. Turn and purl across, again picking up the wraps and purling them with the stitches. Turn, and knit into the front and back of each stitch, which will give you your 36 stitches again. Purl across.

Time for the heel flap, which I worked a standard k1, sl1 since it's a stripy yarn (I like eye of the partridge if it's a hand-dyed, because it's pretty). Sl1, K1 across 35 stitches, ssk the final heel stitch with one stitch from the gusset. Turn, sl1, purl across to one heel stitch left, P2tog with one stitch from the other gusset. Continue in this manner until all gusset stitches are worked. In my particular case, this will be 36 rows. To avoid holes, I might pick up a stitch from the front needle in the row below on either side and knit it together with the active stitches.

Then I would knit the additional 72 rows, yada yada.

If you've seen Ramblin's blog, you'll know the story of the Zombie Phone . Well, here's the Zombie Socks (no, not those Zombie Socks [Ravelry link] , though I should totally knit some - 'tis the season, and all) back from the dead, or at least back from the unraveled.

These are the Twisted Flower socks, reknit on size 1, and much better for it.

And in keeping with the sock theme, since it is Socktoberfest, the sockaholic has been caught red-handed. Or maybe red-eyed.

Only four days of Socktoberfest left!

Comments

'Art' left this comment on 28 Oct 08

I LOVE the spooky socks!!!!

'A visitor' left this comment on 27 Oct 08

Those do scream Halloween. Verra cool. And love, love, love the twisty socks. So beautiful and so intricate.

candy candy candy candy candy candy candy candy candy candy

How can you tell when you have enough candy?

When the cat is afraid of it.

You can tell by the look on Copper's face, he's not too sure about this. And he's our foodie, so if he's alarmed, you know you are talking about some serious candy. Tugger, however, thinks this needs more investigating.