Limbo

I am in limbo ....

I feel like I am gloating between projects waiting for the next thing to happen.

I have finished my partner's socks for the HSS6 but am holding off until I hear she is ready to send her box to me - which is on hold as she is helping a friend complete obligations due to a serious illness.

I have finished my 'toes' for the ODD socks round robin socks - we have the list of our fellow knitters, but have received no address for the person we are supposed to send our projects to ... each of us working just a part of the sock pair but by the end we have completed the stitching for 1 pair of socks although in reality 5 pr were made.

I have swatched for the Mr. Greenjeans sweater from knitty.com for the Kat's Sweater KAL for the "Eastwich Stitchers" on Ravelry. It begins tomorrow ... but still I'm waiting very anxiously. Looking over the pattern today I see that by the time I get to the bottom of the sweater I will be knitting over 300 sts ... I have a feeling its going to drive me batty - although working it as a group it should add some motivation and keep me on track. Hopefully I will have the proper amount of yarn (I forgot to take into consideration the yarn needed for the swatches)

ah -- and then there are the socks for Becca's graduation which for some reason I can get back to -- I have lost my place in the pattern and misplaced the second hank of yarn for it ...

HSS6 UPDATE

Yes! I'm only 2 days behind on where I planned to be with the sock -- good thing I figured in a cushion ...

I have finished the heel expansion stitches - so tht there is enough room for the heel to turn at the bottom of the sock ...

now it is onto the leg and the cuff -- with the super stretchy cast off!!!

Yipee!!

Hogwarts Sock Swap 6

Finished both heels -- although I had to veer away from the original pattern to do it ... I have issues doing w&t short-row heels on toe up - don't know what it is, it just happens ... so did basic short row where you skip doing the last st of the row and just pass the last st worked back onto the working needle after the turn ... easy peasy ... then on the gusset you knit the last live st with the first waiting st then M1L.

Interesting stuff. Made a couple of big holes but those were easy enough to pick tighter ...

so photos you might ask?

Hate to spoil the surprise for my partner but I'm kind of proud of the heels ... the colors look much better in person than they do in the photo - this makes it look more orange than in real life, and with the flash it washes it all out.


well I'm a little behind on the socks ... due to trip to MOA yesterday to get son's new glasses & half day gone missing since I had to wait for the railroad spike to remove itself from the top of my head .... much better now.


after the heel turn, I start expanding for the ankle -- while working the pattern st across the front of the foot ... it winds up beginning on row 5 instead of 8 as I thought it would because of the arch expansion ... but as it actually works out well because then when I finish with the expansions and get ready for the legs they will start on the proper row.

I'm glad instinct told me to do what the pattern did not.

At first I was concerned that the heel seemed to be too shallow ... but with the expansion rounds it should work out fine.

The big concern now is - the size ... all I can do is hope they fit since my partner's feet are much smaller than mine so I can't try them on to make sure they will go over the heel ... keeping fingers crossed.

HSS6 UPDATE

Okay - total number of rows for today? 0

yeah that's right ... big goose egg.

I did do 24 rows (that's 3 repeats) and tightened up the gaps between the instep & sole needles where I had to leave some extra slack so there would be enough stretch to go over the heel ....

so what put the breaks on today?

short row heels .... wrap & turns ... both scare me because they are not so easy to "fix" if there is a boo-boo ....

so far I haven't had to use a "life line" but I will have to this time .... I will have to do it tomorrow though ... time to put on those "big girl panties" and jump in ....

This should be easy - but its been so long since I've made socks this way ... at least 2 exchanges ...

the last one I used Cat Bordhi's book and the one before I made a form of tube socks (no heels)

I can do this ... I have to do this ... its a great pattern and I want her to have it ....

then maybe I will make a pair for myself (for the kids to steal and wear out before I get them back, if I know them)

Naughty Day

Daily Goal: 4 pattern repeats = 4(8 row pattern) = 32 rows
Total Rows Knitted Today: 2

Yup that's it ... it started with the football game ... then it was the chili ... then it was the missing Boy Scout forms ... then it was the chili (yep again) .... then it was the knee I twisted by walking on my leg while it was asleep ... then it was cornbread ... then it was hubby's back (ok, this actually started by the football game, but didn't really get time worthy until later) ....

then there was dinner ... and the kids begging me to make blueberry muffins ... and then getting the kids ready to go back to school ... then there was the 1 hr conversation I just got off the phone about Girl Scouts ....

add it all up ....

and a whole, whopping 2 rows were completed today ....

I'm so far behind ... but on the bright side -- I figure I only have 3 repeats on the foot, so that is only 24 rows ... and the kids are gone back to school tomorrow ....

so I should have all day tomorrow to knit ....

right??

Hogwarts Sock Swap 6

I'm up late -- watching "Post Man Always Rings Twice" and getting the first round of pattern stitch done for my partners socks ...

I kind of goofed the toe up ... but I like the pattern that was made :-D

There is some issues with where the pattern jumps from one needle to the next ... I have to keep the pattern loose so it offers enough stretch to get over the heel (tricky part when you don't have the foot handy to try it on) and by keeping it loose I am findng that there is some gapping.

I'm hoping that as I finish the sock I will be able to tighten up the stitches in those areas and 'hide' my little boo boo's.

Dumbledore said he saw himself in the Mirror of Erised with a pair of warm woolen socks .... I hope these socks will be worthy for even him.

HSS6 UPDATE

okay - I have the pattern picked out ... it is just my partners size ... I've looked at it done in all sorts of varigated yarn and it should be the perfect pattern ... my problem now is what color to dye my partners yarn (I know she will probably see that I'm dyeing her yarn, but you never know how things work up until its completed).

two last minute tickets for my hubby and his mother to help arrange his aunt's funeral is going to put a damper on some of my plans -- but I can rethink things to make it all work. The toughest part is the "row marker" ... I have seen so many options online that I'm not sure which way to go.

Normally I tend to make my own stitch markers for my partners ... and I do hope they all have liked them ... but I'm not sure where to start with the row markers.

I've seen the clickers .... I've seen the kind you spin the numbers ... I've seen the kind that look like bracelets where you use the links to count ... and I've seen ones that look like earrings that can double as stitch markers as well (although I'm a bit shy on these ones - I used some this summer and found they tend to fall out as the work is put down).

hmmm, I will have to see what I decide on :-)

HOT DAMN!

Finally got my partners socks finished ... but I want to give them a bath before they go off to her.
the color is such that I can't tell if it has picked up any dirt or not -- but since I have been doing all sorts of not-clean work since working on them I'm going to assume I may have transferred a trace amount.

I have gotten a hold of some wool wash, so as a treat I think I will use that to clean them in.

Here's hoping my colors don't fade or run.

Photos later ... maybe when they are drying on my blockers. I hope they don't take too long to dry.

Show N Tell: toe up sock bind offs

Okay -- didn't want to lose this video before I have a chance to cast off .... Cat from "LetsKnit2gether" shows several ways to bind off toe-up socks.

I like toe ups because you can try the sock on as you go so you know everything is coming out correctly... so you make the toe box the right width & angled proper ... also that the bottom of the foot is the correct length, that the heel has the correct rise ... and most importantly (the issue I've run into with my partners socks) that the leg can make it over the heel!



but unfortunately ... the last pair (and first pair) of toe ups brought me to tears because I didn't know how to cast off. I tried the 'bind off loosely" technique but it still didn't work.

Thank you Cat!! Now I know things will work out proper.

Show N Tell

Colored section #1
the orange is the life-line which will be pulled when the socks are done .... I could do it now, but I think I'd rather wait.

This section is done now so I feel its ok if my partner gets a sneak peak.

Hogwarts sock swap 4

photos of my outgoing package ...





The Toe socks! they were supposed to be opposites on each foot, but when I redid the toes I didn't pay close enough attention so both feet have the same color pattern.

Hogwarts Sock Swap - Incoming!!

Okay I finally got the photos downloaded from my daughter's camera (mine was unavailable) so I thought I would post a photo of the socks my partner sent me:


Sorry its so dark - she has an old camera and if I use the flash it is way too bright and just washes all the color out of the photo (I did try one hoping - but it was just one big white spot).

I don't know what kind of yarn she used but it is sooo soft. She made them loose enough so that my feet aren't being strangled, but not so loose that they slide into my shoe. Do wish the ribbing was a tad tighter, but the tops are very comfy though so I think if it were tighter it would probably make my legs feel throttled.

She also sent me a big knitted book mark that is like a PushMePullYou of socks ... lol ... one half is green the other silver ... she also felted me a bag that looks very much like a cauldron - it is very cute. Sorry no photos - we were on the way to a Brownie Girl Scout event and were in a rush ... and now the daughter wants her camera back.

"See first that the design is wise and just: that ascertained, pursue it resolutely; do not for one repulse forego the purpose that you resolved to effect." William Shakespeare

Okay so I have been working on my partners socks .... I'm about 95% finished. And I have noticed that I have stretched out stitches in a couple of areas -- not really holes just stretched stitch loops that can be easily fixed but at the moment look really nasty.

I think I know exactly what the problem is and I can more than likely avoid it during the last 5% ... but it will mean some stitch tightening and possible duplicate stitching to pull those last bits together - I was planning on doing a bit of dup anyways just to make sure nothing popped of during wear&tear anyways, but it was going to be an extra special thing out of politness rather than necessity.

now I'm getting nervous that my partner won't like her socks.

I've got new photos of when they were about 82% done ... but they show too much of the final design and I'm kind of leary to post because my partner might see them before I get them in the mail.

I keep thinking - 'if I got these, would I like them?' - I always answer yes ... but then I wonder if I'm not just being biased. My girls are going gaa gaa over them ... so that's a good sign. My youngest wants me to make a pair for her in Ravenclaw colors - my Gryffindor daughter (the 16 yr old) wants me to make her a full set of socks, hat, scarf & mitten. right, I'll get right on that -- as soon as you clean your room.

Sometimes I wake up in the morning and ask myself why I didn't just revert back to my roots and crochet the last 10% ... I would have been so done by now. Actually I've never crocheted a sock before, it would be interesting.

Decent news

okay I had 12 1/2 wraps at about 12 sts a wrap ... that is 150 stitches.
the other is 24 wraps at 12 sts ... that is 288 stitches

that will be 214 sts at most shy of what I will need for the next part ... but with the extra yarn I was saving for the toes -- I have a feeling I will have more than enough to do what I want. but I've got another 10gr to add on.

Whew!

Crap crap crap!

okay I thought it was bad when I didn't get the stretch in my colorworks portion of my partners socks ... I got some sock blockers that are supposed to be her size so I could test them out and they look like they will be fine.

Only now I am missing my yarn ... yes you read that right -- my yarn has taken a walk.

This summer after we got our partners I put the yarn I was going to use in a box so it wouldn't get dirty or full of dog hair ... or my hair ... I also had in some acrylic yarn which my oldest daughter was going to use for mittens ... everything was supposed to be honky dory.

A week ago I knew where the box was - I took out two skeins of my gold to put aside because I thought I was going to have to slice on as the balls I was using were running out.

Now I'm up to where I had planned a second band of color work -- but dang it -- now my ruby is running out and I'm almost sure that I will not have enough to get thru 14 rows ---

HEY .... I just realized that there's a way to figure this out!

for 7 rows at 52 sts ... I have a total of 364 sts. now I should be able to get a single point needle of the same size as I am using for the socks, wrap the yarn loosley thru (so I don't stretch it) and count how many stitches I can get.

Maybe figure out how many stitches, for the length it would take to go one loop around the hand ... then I just have to wrap the yarn around my hand and get a better estimate. Interesting thing is .... both balls were supposed to have the same amount of yarn, but one side has less than the other.

now the upside is -- I do have ONE, and only one, skein that I had balled up to begin with which I was saving for doing the toes - I wanted dark toes instead of gold so they wouldn't show the dirt or wear quite so quickly ... but I can add half that ball to each sock ... that might get me back to where I need to be to at least finish the toes of the socks.

Right now -- I am very grateful that I decided to learn to do both socks at the same time .... any changes I make will be on both socks and I won't have to worry about if I'm going to have enough for the second sock.

So two days of hunting -- I have just about given up on finding the box in time to finish the socks and still have time to give them a nice hand-washing and blocking.

Well -- off to measure. will let you know!!!

Show-n-Tell

Okay its been a while since I've put up some updates on my socks (which technically the should be done by now - if it weren't for all the interruptions) ... these photos are from last week but you get the general idea.

I've gotten to the point to where a decision had to be made on two things.
1. is the leg long enough
2. to heel or not to heel .... I've decided not to heel because of the final characteristics of these socks would really work best if my partner isn't forced to wear them one particular direction.


So photo A shows the sock slightly above the calf flare, I think its a little too high myself, but the end of it is just above the ankle about where the heel flap would normally get started... hmm.

Yes I have totally played with these photos so my partner won't get too much of an idea of what they will look like ... I'm so mean aren't I?
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photo B is kind of tough to see but it is just below the ankle and sits nicely, I think, at the bottom of the calf flare; it puts the back midway down the heel where normally the heel flap would have gotten a good start by now.

But like I said, I'm not putting a heel on this pair.
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Photo C has the sock lower, about half way between an anklet & calf-sock .... we call these sport socks where I'm at.
The bottom of the sock flares nicely over the instep and I had actually contemplated putting on a flat heel on after seeing how it worked out -- it looks just like the socks in 'New Pathways' that it was a real consideration.

But I had to remind myself about the final look of these socks and how that won't work out for the final effect.

So I have gotten a few more rows done and have a nice idea of what the next section will look like -- wish I could make it bigger but I'm working with a deck of stitches here (52 that is) so it can only use patterns divisible by 1,2,4,13,26, and 52 ... that doesn't leave much wiggle room for patterns.

I know, I know -- if I work in a heel I will have some extra stitches to work with for the pattern ... but that still is going to effect the final product in a what that would force my partner to wear the socks in only one direction.

I am constantly making sure that the stitches will stretch enough to get over the heel/instep without pulling the pattern out of shape too much. I have to be careful though ... I'm carrying the yarn on the inside ... oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that. but it is a worry if I accidentally pull too tight and don't leave enough slack for the sock to stretch enough.

Knitting Update

Yes I actually do post about knitting/crafting on this post once in a while ... I have been working on my socks this weekend, working on the instep area.

My problem is that it seems as if I will not get the stretch that I want in that general area with the pattern I'm using ... and if I lossen it up I'm afraid that I will have gapping holes in that area ...

the other color changes have been fairly minor only occuring at the beginning of the rows ... but this one is different.

oh well -- I will write my partner and get the measurement of her instep and see if I will need to increase for that area ... that could be the problem too but normally socks have just enough stretch to make it.

Sick kid .... again

Well -- I have my youngest home with me again .... and true to what I figured no knitting yesterday. I thought I was going to be able to knit for a while but I was mistaken.

I even had the yarn, needles, and socks out of the bag and on the bed waiting to go. But after the fifth time of getting a lull and having the yarn wrapped for tension around my hand - and having it interrupted with "can I have ..." or "moooooooom" ... I confess, I gave up.

when she went to the dr I figured I could get some stitching done .... at least until Morpheus came and kissed my eyelids for 45 min. Now I'm all good for a little nap, about 15-30 minutes at most ... any longer and boom I've got a headache. Sure enough ... flaming headache. But nothing that a few cups of tea didn't cure. Of course, by the time that was taken care of --- whoosh all the kids were home.

She was back from dr.s office, and the two bickersons were back from school. And of course since ds2 had missed thurs & fri from last week he had super load of homework., and a take home test (well, it was only take home for him because he was sick ... but the test was open-notes anyways). and there was a 'read this article and write 10 things you learned' make up thingy. Anyways, he had enough homework to where my second chance for knitting was gone as well.

Too much homework to go to scouts ... actually it all came down to one work sheet. It wasn't like the sheets he's had before where he could find the stock answer in the book ... he had to infer the answers from what he read. Try to explain this to a 12 yr old who's main goal is to shove it in his bag so he can get together with his buds.

death nail to the evening was the emergency call that hubby got calling him into work at 6:45p ... he had to go, major computer crisis - at least it could have been very major .... no ride to scouts. no time alone for Mom to knit.

LOL .... oh who am I kidding .... I wouldn't have been able to knit anyhow. I still had the sick-one, the boy-crazy one, and the Where's-The-Freezer-Key one (otherwise known as "The Bottomless Pit").

My family just seems to have this naturally built in radar for when yarn touches my fingers ... especially hubby if we are in Walmart or Michael's. He makes it a point to know exactly where the A.S. section is in every store and he makes sure that I never go near it (although truth be known, those places really don't have anything that appeals to me anymore ... but the still won't get me over to 3 Little Kittens, that could prove fatal to the checking acct. & credit card)

Although on the bright side I have reached the .... well that's a seperate post.

Show-N-Tell: sock update

Okay so as promised here are the Show-N-Tell photos of the progress I made this weekend on my partners socks.

I am a tad concerned that the gold is a bit too orangy ... although the kids like it a lot better than the others I had to choose from which was just too yellow, and they are tougher critics than I am on my projects (they have no problem telling me 'oh that's ugly' or 'it would look better with these colors')
As you can see I got adventurous and decided to do two at a time on circs. Very adventurous taking into account that I hadn't finished the original red socks that I had started on two circs just to get an idea of what it would be like -- and these are going so much better, probably because the needles are metal instead of wood too.

Now I watched the video on "Let's Knit 2Gether" that featured the 2 cable method for making socks and Kat did a great job at explaining it so it finally kicked in. she used two needles with silver tips just different cables (Knit Picks purple, Addi nickel) ... however I rarely look at the cables themselves and I'm one of those 'product loyalty' type people so I got Boye's in two different colors -- pink and green/blue (depending who you ask) ... and then I can tell if I am using the correct needle at the point I make the stitch instead of finding a mistake when pushing the stitches off the needle onto the cable.

Kat doesn't really get into it, but she does mention the Magic Loop method and gives a quick peek as to how to work the stitches without really violating any copyrights.

Now on the HSS4 group we were talking about Stop-Fasts and how to keep yourself from real head aches when you have to rip stitches out ... so here is a shot of the first Stop-fast (aka LifeLine) on my socks.
I placed it where the sock switches from ribbing to plain stockinette stitch, so that if there is an issue I will not have to worry about redoing the ribbing again ... well okay, I did a single row of stockinette so that if I did have to rip bit back I would know which way the stitches were to face.

As you can see I use a yarn that contrasts or is different from the colors I am using so when I finish the sock it will be easier to find for removal.

The important part is to make sure you leave enough extra yarn so that when the time comes to take it out, you can cut it without risking hitting your stitches. In this case I used a bright yellow acrylic so it would really pop.

This method is easier on the cabled needles but I really like the stitches on the needles so that I don't accidentally split the yarn/wool while passing the Stopfast thru. You can find instructions for this all over the web but I will put up my version if anyone shows any interest.

I just hope I will have enough yarn to complete the socks. As you can see I am keeping things extremely simple, at least for now, it won't get fancier until the end. There is so much I want to say about the pattern but I don't want to give away too much yet.

to be continued ....

Sock update

I am postponing the Show n Tell this week due to lack of time to take photos of my partners socks .... I got a good start on them this weekend.

Actually I got two good starts ... the first I accidentally put 60 sts on the needles making the ribbing way too wide -- it was even too big for hubby's leg -- so I had to rip out about 3" of sock and start fresh with 52 stitches.

I have just about finished the first color changing pattern - I'm not that happy with it but it will work out -- I've been changing the number of rows as I go and keeping track for reference later.
Its a good thing I am doing both socks at once ... otherwise this would be a real pain to try to remember - haha - not really but I like being able to get both done.

just a couple of things that I have yet to master -
(a) how to balance 4 balls of yarn without getting them tangled
(b) how to remember which sock I'm working on when I set them down to get after the kids.

Actually I think I have figured out (b) ... if I have completed sock 1 then the needles will be opposite each other in the socks ... if I've finished on sock 2 then both needles are facing the same direction -- but now how to make it easier as to which pair I'm working on Red or Blue.

normally I can remember because the breaks are short, but like this weekend I wound up not getting back to for an hour and it took me 10 minutes to figure it out.

but otherwise I like the method, and I don't have to worry about SSS {the single sock syndrome} ... I don't have to worry about different tensions causing one sock to be slightly tighter than the other ... and any pattern change I make I do on BOTH socks right away.
but the best part is that since the stitches finished get pushed onto the cable it means that I can make that first stitch of the needle change tight enough to prevent a hole there.

Now I have to confess -- I really hate starting two socks on circs -- so I cheated and did the first 7 rows on dpns and then transferred it over to the two cables ... it made a nice tight ribbing because I used needles two sizes smaller than my dpns. then when I switched colors for the other half of the ribbing I used that opportunity to transfer it over. it worked out really nice.

I've even taken to weaving in my ends as I go -- and I can see the advantage of wool over acrylic in this matter ... the wool just seems to want to cling to itself so it blends in nicely.