Knits

Finally, something done! I’m mixed about these… glad they are done, not so happy with the pattern as it biased for me (and looking at Ravelry it’s definitely not my technique as a good portion of the other finished ones also biased). Looking at the sole of the sock, maybe I should’ve done a plain ol’ stockinette sock (I’ve yet to do one of those) because both the colourway and the pattern seem lost in this sock. And, no, I’m not that heartbroken about it that I’ll rip and re-knit.

The yarn is Claudia Handpainted in Eat Your Veggies. There was only one knot and it was very close to the end of the second skein. I thought I might get away with not having to even worry about it, but you know where it was? Within the very last row before bind off! Argh. So I tinked back a round and added in the new piece which was only a few yards long. The two skeins were slightly different lengths, but not markedly so.

A few things I learned with this sock…

1. While I think I’ve got the right number of stitches down to cast on to do a toe up sock so it’s neither too pointy nor too baggy, I need to not start the pattern once I reach the total number of stitches needed. As you can see in the first and third pictures above (as well as the main picture) the toe is really, really short and I think this is causing the sock to twist a bit on my foot. I’m not bothered that it looks a bit funny since my toes are generally in my shoes, but it seems to make a difference to how socks stay on the feet.
2. I’ve still got a bit of work to do to figure out the right proportions for a toe up heel flap and the heel cup. The second sock came out a little better and again I knit more stockinette on the back of the second sock once I reduced down since I think perhaps the pattern is more likely to break down with rubbing on the shoe.
3. And probably the biggest thing… depending on the yarn and pattern, it may just be that I need to keep far more stitches for around the ankle than reducing back down to the original number or stitches. For this sock I had 64 stitches around the foot and ended up having 90 around the ankle and then reducing down to 72 for the remainder of the cuff. The sock fits well barring the minor problems caused by 1 & 2.

FYI the pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks and is in the 5-stitch repeat section.

I cannot believe how long it has taken me to knit this ONE sock. I have worked on nothing else this week. Last weekend I was convinced I would get it done, or at least very close to it, since the foot flew by. No luck there. If I was able to continue knitting on 64 stitches (or close to it) that probably would’ve been a reality. However, I ended up knitting on NINETY, NINE-ZERO, 90, stitches for a few inches before reducing down to 72 stitches. That reduction of 18 stitches definitely made a difference in the speed I could knit. It was still too many hours for one sock. I know the second sock will take almost as long, but at least I’ve now got the maths bit worked out.

For the second sock I won’t change anything other than doing fewer heel wraps as this one was a little too narrow. In future though, I will actually not start the pattern so soon after finishing the toe increases as it is just too short (doing this now would mess up all the maths I’ve worked out).

Oh and can you see how the pattern seems to twist around the cuff? Can someone explain this to me? The pattern is not one that shifts, the YOs are stacked one on top of the other, I kept the same stitches on the same needles the whole time, yet there is this very visible twist. As I’ve only put the sock on briefly, I don’t know if it will continue twisting around while it’s on my foot. Can this be due to the twist of the yarn itself?

As much as I’d like to try out that Arcade Fire yarn and the accompanying pattern, I’m going to cast on for the second sock as I don’t need yet another solo sock.

The other week you may recall that I posted a couple of bad photos of some pink silk and pink/yellow/orange/ sock yarn and claimed how it was okay that I bought yarn because it wasn’t really for me. Well, that is all true, because after those pictures I put them right back in the post and they took a trip across the ocean and landed in Ava’s mailbox. She took much nicer pictures. It’s always fun to surprise people.

I’m off the next two days. I was going to go up north, but I just don’t have the time to do that so I’ve put another offer in on an apartment I’ve not seen in person for a shorter lease (6-month). It’s in a good location, good price, and looks nice (it’s new). If it turns out to be a good thing, then I’ll extend the lease, if not well then it will at least be easier for me to see places! No, the next two days are about me beginning to pack and actually have a mental break from work right now as it’s getting even crazier since people are really beginning to panic about my departure and I might snap if I don’t take this time right now. I might sneak some knitting in. ;)

I’ve been listening to My Neighborhood in Last.fm and have heard some very good things, but also some very bad things like Fall Out Boy and Eric Clapton (I don’t care if he is a Legend, I don’t like him).

Last night I turned the heel on my sock. Then this morning I ripped it out and did it again. *shrug* I slept badly last night and have been wanting to go take a nap for awhile now, but I just can’t put the damn sock down. I am progressing very quickly on this sock for me and my tortoise-like knitting speed. However, I have now reached a point where I am in a dilemma.

My gauge in stockinette is 9.5 stitches/inch (we won’t talk about row gauge). After I did my toe, I increased to 64 stitches and used the centre 30 for the 5-stitch repeat pattern. The foot fits great — snug, but not tight. I turned the heel, picked up a bunch of stitches and have been decreasing down. I knew I would decrease down to perhaps 70 stitches or so and not the original 64 since things always end up too tight around my ankle. Right now there are the 30 stitches in pattern and another 56 in stockinette. I tried on the sock. It fits, but it seems crazy to have TWENTY TWO more stitches in the cuff than the foot. I feel like I should decrease a bit more, another 6 stitches or so to 80 (even though that still seems crazy).

The sock is essentially 4×2 rib and I’m getting about 16 stitches/inch unstretched (12 or so stretched) so if I do go down to 80 (still 16 stitches more than the foot) is that going to be too big and slide down my leg? I’ve never knit any great length of ribbing ’cause I hate it so I have no experience here. I am obviously trying to avoid doing extraneous amounts of knitting that then needs ripping. Hints? The measurement at the skinniest bit of my ankle is 8″ (shut up). The maths says that I would need 96 stitches (that’s the stretched stitches) to fit my ankle which means I’m actually four shy of that right now. What to do? What to do?

I’m going for that nap while you all solve my dilemma.

Last night the rest of my daffodils opened.

This week has been a rollercoaster of a week. I am glad it is over.

Today I managed to sleep in, something I desperately needed, and do a load of laundry although I’ve yet to manage to get it hung up to dry. I also cleaned my oven! It needs another cleaning though which tells you that it might not have been all that clean. Other than that, I’ve done a bit of knitting on a new sock even though I currently have two other socks in progress and one I’ve sort of pushed aside ’cause it bores me (I do like the look so I will eventually finish it).

I think I’ll get the heel turned on new sock tonight. I want to be able to do short row heels, but my high instep doesn’t like these — anyone else with a high instep find success with a short row heel? What’s the secret?

New sock is from Sensational Knitted Socks — it’s the Laburnum sock (Ravelry link). Even though the pattern is obscured because of the variegated yarn, I like that the yarn is still visible and the pattern gives it some texture versus plain ol’ stockinette. I am beginning to think that while there are some variegated yarns I drawn to because of the combination of colours, most patterns look shit in them.

The pattern moves pretty quickly, but the k3tog does slow me down. I start my socks toe up on a very long Addi Turbo and have found that I like to actually knit the foot the whole way with magic loop (I haven’t sat down and figured out how the heck you do the heel turn if you have to do a heel flap like I’ve been doing using magic loop), but because of the k3tog I had to change right over to the very pointy Knit Picks DPNs. I tried to find a suitable substitute for k3tog, but no joy. Suggestions?

Oh I am (finally) beginning to catch up on putting together the finished object pages. And I didn’t get the place I wanted up north so I am going up again in a week to look at a handful of places. Hopefully one will suit my needs and that will be sorted because time is moving along very swiftly.