Sock Ness Monster/"Good for you"

Finished! 1 pair plain and simple socks in Socks that Rock Loch Ness.

Loving the yarn so far. Great hand, with a nice bit of squishiness for comfort. I look forward to wearing them... once I've woven in the ends, of course.

I was knitting on the subway the other day, as I am wont to do. I could see, out of the corner of my eye, an older man watching me. I was well into this second sock, at the stage where it was clearly identifiable as a sock. After a few minutes, he came up to me.

"If you don't mind me asking, how long does it take to make a pair?"

"About six hours a sock." An educated guess on my part, but a reasonable one.

"Huh." He paused.

I attempted to keep the conversation going... "I enjoy it. They're my design, my choice of colour, and they fit like they're made for me."

"They are made for you..."

I just smiled. I guess I shouldn't try to be poetic on the subway.

He took a good look at the sock one more time, nodded, and said simply "good for you."

I'm honestly not sure what he was trying to say, but whatever it was, it was nice.

Has It Come to This?

At the Sheep last night, Emily and I were chatting about the wonders of Elizabeth Zimmerman's work.

And Emily reminded me that in EZ's Opinionated Knitter book, there is a pattern for long underwear. (Pic of completed baby version.) For adults, she does a strap under the foot that reminds me of the stirrup pants I wore in the 1980s. (Yes, I admit it, and I don't care who knows.)

And you know, given the never-ending nightmare of a winter we're having, I think I may well cast on for a set. She recommends a worsted weight, so they wouldn't take that long. And maybe spring will have come by the time they're finished....

As I Feared/If The Needles Don't Fit...

After one evening gamely working away on the world's loudest sweater... tinkle tinkle tinkle of the metal dpns... I've given up again.

I need 5mm bamboo dpns.

It's not just that the needles are noisy, it's that they're slippery and hard to handle, and strangely unforgiving. It really is quite startling to me how different the experience can be.

I often talk in my classes about how swatching is a useful exercise to determine whether you're going to enjoy working with a particular yarn. But the point applies just as well for the needles, too.

Will be needle shopping later today.

It's not all socks...

I've picked up an abandoned project, Handmaiden's Jane sweater.

It's a neat idea -- worked in one piece, with an origami sorta construction. You work the back sideways, and construct the sleeves from the top half of the back stitches, and the two fronts from the lower half. You fold the two fronts up and across the front, for a wrap-around effect.

The colour really isn't reading in the picture, but it's a nice bright but not too garish lime green.

Working on it the other night, I remembered why I'd put it down. I modified the sleeves to be worked in the round (of course), and my only appropriately sized (5mm) dpns are metal. And the tinkling is driving me insane. (Not to mention poor Norman who was trying to pay attention to the television.) I might have to get new needles to finish it.

It will be just the thing for those not-quite-freezing-cold but-still-not-very-warm days of spring.

Basic Ribbed Sock for Men

By popular demand! I am very flattered that people are using and enjoying this pattern.

I have a few variations in mind... watch this space over the next month or so. I'll also compile all the size variations into one post, so it's a bit easier to read.

In the meantime...

Basic Ribbed Sock Sized for Men
Refer to basic pattern here. Notes on resizing for women here.

Cast on 64 sts for a smaller man's foot, 68 sts for a larger man's foot.

Work 8 ins/20 cm for leg.

Work heel on first 31 (35) sts of round. Work 23 (25) heel rows.

Work the heel turn as follows:
RS: K21 (23) , skp, turn.
WS: P11, p2tog, turn.
RS: K11, skp, turn.

and repeat the last two rows to turn the heel. You’ll have 13 left over, and pick up 16 (17) sts for the gusset. Then decrease the gusset down to 64 (68) sts for the foot.

And of course, lengthen the foot to suit – toe decreases start 5cm/2 ins short of your foot length.

(For those who are doing the math, the only really tricky bit is making sure that the ribbing lines up nicely on the foot. That is, you want to work the heel sts on the first 4x+3 sts so that the heel sts start and end with three knit sts, and there's a purl st running down each side of the instep sts.)

Mmmm... Bunny....

Despite not being a pink sorta girl, nor really an angora girl, have fallen quietly in love...

Cottage Craft Angora, in pink. One skein! I chose a traditional, reversible Shetland lace pattern, and worked until I'd just about run out of yarn, then cast off.

It's just the sort of thing to combat the winter blahs. Ideal for cheering up that winter coat you're seriously tired of wearing by now.

Pattern available from Patternfish, Ravelry, and at The Purple Purl.

This pattern uses one skein (120-150m) of the softest, most luxurious fibre you have in your stash. Come on, you know you have something in the bottom of a box somewhere, something you couldn't afford to buy more than one of?

More Socks

.5000001 of a pair of Socks That Rock in "Loch Ness".

That is, one full sock and the cast-on for the second.

Seriously good travelling project, which was good, because I was travelling. Compact, interesting, yet can be worked with little attention and even the barest of holds on the handrail in the subway car. (I suspect the Beastie Boys weren't thinking of knitting as they sang "Doing fine on the 1 and 9 line", but I was, and I couldn't help but sing it to myself.)

Anyway, yes. Simple stocking stitch body.

Confession time, though... I bought this colourway more because of the name than the actual colours itself. Yeah, loving the lime, and it's a cool finished effect, but if you'd described the yarn to me (browns and light blue and some greens and yellows) I would have said no.

Anyone else been sucked in? Bought a colourway because it had a great name? The Sweet Georgia sock yarns are particularly well named -- for characters in my favourite TV show, for movies, for music references.

Will be interested to see how these wear...

It's Not Just Socks, Y'Know/Email Address Change

A design project underway.


Pink angora lace to chase away the winter blahs. I don't even like pink and it's cheering me up.

Swatches show a bunch of different ideas in development. The plastic bag is to try to keep the yarn nice and clean, and to minimize the shedding all over the rest of my darker coloured knitting-in-progress. Angora is lovely, but it does shed.

If you're trying to get hold of me using the sympatico.ca email address, note that it's going away. If you need to contact me, there's a link at the bottom of this page, or use firstname at wisehildaknits dot com.

FO: The Tweedy Socks/Ribbing Needles

Stash sock yarn... not really sure what it is, the ball band disappeared. It's traditional sock yarn, with nylon. Using my standard sock recipe as per the Knitty article. 2.5mm needles.

I've been teaching a few sock classes of late, and we use my standard sock recipe as the basis for designing custom-fit socks. My standard sock recipe calls for the use of smaller needles for the ribbing. I am a filthy hypocrite on this point... I long ago abandoned the use of ribbing needles for socks.

It's partially because socks are my favourite travelling project, and if I'm travelling (whether on a streetcar, subway or a plane), I don't want to bother with any unnecessary equipment.

Plus I'm not sure they're required, strictly speaking. Smaller needles for ribbing allow the ribbing to pull in more, and mitigate the stretching out. For sweaters, when you want a tighter cuff/lower edge, this makes sense.

But for socks, I don't bother. Two reasons: I tend not to do a ton of ribbing at the cuff -- as per my Basic Ribbed Sock design, I find k1 p1 ribbing very tedious.

And perhaps -- more to the point -- if you design your sock well, it fits your leg and doesn't fall down so you don't need the tighter ribbing to keep it up.

Yes, that's right! A sock that actually fits. Back to my point in the Knitty article, if you're going to make socks you may as well make 'em to fit. I'm modestly sized -- not very tall, small feet, narrow ankles -- and I find that one-size-fits-all socks are always too big, and even the smaller size of a multi-size pattern is often a bit big. So I make 'em to fit. (I refer you back to my standard sock recipe .)

And they don't fall down! And therefore I don't need tighter ribbing! And so I don't use ribbing needles. Now, I do use a slightly smaller needle for the entire thing -- 2.5mm rather than 3mm.

There are knitters out there who might disagree with me violently. And this is the great part about this sort of thing -- we're ultimately designing and working to suit our own needs. I just don't happen to need to work my ribbing on smaller needles.

Just Socks Excerpt Online: Free Slipper Pattern

Free Moccasin Slipper Pattern

Excerpted from "Lion Brand® Yarn Just Socks" edited by Shannon Okey. Photography by Jack Deutsch. Copyright © 2007. Reprinted by permission of Potter Craft.

FO: Basic Ribbed Sock; More on Sock Yarn

Hey, that's convenient! I've just finished a pair of my own Basic Ribbed Socks, worked using the instructions for the smaller size.

Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino sock yarn. It comes as a kit, but I ignore the pattern because it's awful. (See previous post on this topic.)

I've used this yarn several times before. Other than concerns about wear (which aren't really the fault of the yarn, it's all about the appropriateness of the application), I've been happy with it.

But look at this...

these are the same yarn, same skein, and there's a fairly big difference in the colouring. It's ok, it's not the end of the world, but one part of the skein is definitely lighter. It's not how the yarn was stored, as it was stored in the skein, and I only wound it into a ball shortly before I began to knit. And in the store, it wasn't anywhere near a window. It's impossible that this is fading, it's a manufacturing problem.

I'm disappointed.

Another nudge back towards "commercial" sock yarn?

Resizing the Basic Ribbed Sock

From a request on Ravelry... I'm easy to find there, BTW... like the Harlot, my ID is basically my blog address.

The sock at the standard 60 sts fits women's shoe sizes 6 to 8 1/2 no problems.

For a smaller foot -- up to size 6 1/2 or so -- cast on and work 56 sts for the leg. The rest remains much the same -- heel is worked on 27 sts (therefore you're putting 29 sts on hold for the instep), 21 heel rows (although I'd go down to 19 if you're working for a very small foot) pick up 15 (again, 14 for a very small foot) for the gusset. Work gusset decreases so you're back down to 56 stitches. And start the toe decreases 5cm/2 inches short of the desired foot length.

For a larger foot -- size 9 or above -- cast on 64 sts. Work an additional 1-3cm/1/2 - 1 in for the leg.

Work the heel on 31 sts and work 23 heel rows. The heel turn would go like this....

RS: K21, skp, turn.
WS: P11, p2tog, turn.
RS: K11, skp, turn.

and repeat the last two rows to turn the heel. You’ll have 13 left over, and pick up 16 sts for the gusset. Then decrease the gusset down to 64 sts for the foot.

And of course, lengthen the foot to suit – toe decreases start 5cm/2 ins short of your foot length.

Anyone want a men's version?

Because he loved Lizard Ridge as much as I do

I always considered Nathan an honourary knitter.

If I believed in this sort of thing, I would hope that kitty heaven is staffed with knitters working on large blanket projects that can be lain about upon. He deserves it.

On Sock Yarn

All this sock knitting (and teaching of sock knitting) of late has caused me to bring out all my handknitted socks.

And I've noticed something.

Something I've always sorta suspected, but I've been trying to ignore the evidence for some months now. The filthy truth about all these small-producer, hand-dyed, 100% merino sock yarns we drool over.

Oh yes, they're lovely. Great colourways, cool names, nice feel to work with. All very alluring and fun.

But they just don't wear as well as old-school, commercial 75% wool/25% nylon sock yarn.

Oh, I'm not happy about it, trust me.

But look... the evidence is there for us all to see.

These socks are about 2 years old, made of Fleece Artist 100% merino:












These socks are more than 10 years old, made of good old nylon blend sock yarn -- Regia, I believe:












Compare the pilling:




vs.
(It's not extreme in either case, but it's definitely there. Click to embiggen the pictures. And given the relative ages of the two socks, the Fleece Artist pair are aging faster.)

Now, even more worrying, look at this... the inside of a heel of socks in Collinette Jitterbug. These socks aren't even a year old.

They're FELTING.

This is what 100% animal fibres gets you. The damn stuff is behaving like good wool -- it's pilling and felting and generally wearing out.

But I don't want my socks to wear out. I spend a lot of time and money on a pair of hand-knit socks. I want to wear them forever.

I've experienced a bit of a rapprochement with old-school sock yarn of late -- I tend to recommend it for my beginner sock classes, because it's less expensive. And I've been using it myself for samples. And you know, I like it.

Oh, I agree, it's not as soft as 100% merino products, no question. But, seriously, how delicate are most people's feet? (Diabetics are an exception, absolutely.) Sure, it feels nicer to wear 100% merino, but are the blended yarns really uncomfortable? (The wool-sensitive are excluded from this discussion.)

But it wears like steel. Look at those stripey black socks above. They're more than 10 years old, worn year-round, in boots in the winter, and look at them. A few pills on the heel, but otherwise perfect.

Yes, yes, I know, there are natural-fibre purists out there that shun any thought of a man-made fibre. I do, too, for the vast majority of applications. Life is too short to knit with acrylic. However, this ain't 100% acrylic, people. The man-made fibre is always in the minority in a sock yarn, rarely more than 25%... think of it as helper thread.

I will admit that the machine-made products aren't always as interesting. Yes, absolutely, you can get great solid colours and tweeds, and stripes. And sure, if the faux fair-isle thing is to your taste...

you can't go wrong.

But they're always a bit too... engineered. A bit too perfect. I dearly love the slightly irregular, perhaps even ramshackle nature of the colouring in hand-dyed yarns. And somehow, the hand-dyed colourways (even the really wacky ones) are still more tasteful than many of the "commercial" ones

Now, there are exceptions to this rule -- Lorna's Laces' Shepherd Sock is a terrific hand-dyed, fun sock yarn that comes in excellent colourways and has nylon in the blend. I've been very happy with this, no complaints.

And I've noticed that some other smaller producers are starting to put nylon in their mixes, which is terrific. Thank you! I look forward to more of them doing it.

Socks that Rock blends, PLEEEEEASE???? I want to be able to wear these socks forever.

And now, my heart soars at the prospect of Noro Kureyon sock yarn. Fabulous colourways, great striping effects, and it's got nylon in it. My hopes are high.

I'll keep you posted.

It's Still Ugly

But it is a hat.

Forest and Trees; On Leftover Sock Yarn

I talk about this in my classes, particularly in sock classes... when you're knitting, you tend to focus on your immediate problem --- your next stitch.

And it's possible that your stitches are all correct, but your larger knitting has gone sideways. It's fairly common in a group of 6 or 8 learning to knit in the round for the first time that at least one will turn the sock inside out at some point. This is a classic example a knitter getting so focused on the short game that the long game is forgotten.

Sometimes, you need to step back and think more broadly about what you're doing.

And sometimes, I need to pay attention to my own lessons...

I've been bitching and moaning about that Clown sock yarn for a while now. I finally finished the sample, and didn't even bother taking a photograph. I took it to where it needed to be, and I'm done with it.

But I still had the yarn on my desk.

M. came over last night for takeout and a movie. She brought a knitting book she'd found in a bargain bin somewhere.... She had a baby to knit for, and wanted my advice on a particular design and suggestions for which yarn to use.

I leafed through it -- there are some very cute patterns, easy to knit and attractive. It's called "Quick to Knit(TM)" Knitting for Babies, by PIL Publications. (No author listed, and it's clearly a "Quick to Publish", too.)

And right there, on page 46, I find it!

The obvious honourable solution to the horror of the Clown sock yarn. A baby's hat knitted in a sock yarn.

And because we were watching a movie, and M. had not brought any knitting with her, I immediately handed her the yarn and needles.

What might look horrible on my feet is going to look pretty damn fabulous on the head of a baby, no?

And just before I drift off to sleep last night, it occurs to me...

How many socks have I knitted in my life?

And how many partial balls and skeins of sock yarn have passed through my life? Some have been passed onto other knitters, some have disappeared into the mists of time, yet others remain in my cupboard, with the loose idea that one day I might make multicoloured socks. And yet never have I once thought about doing something else with the leftovers.

Sure, I'd read about making sweaters with sock yarn, but a) that's insane and b) it's not a project for leftovers. And I've seen really wonderful blanket projects using sock yarn. And sure, great for leftovers, but you'd need a heck of a lot, and it's a big big project. Plus I have Lizard Ridge, and I don't think I'll need another blanket ever again.

But for some reason, despite the baby hat knitting classes I've taught, the hat designs I've written, the hats I've made for myself (even with small gauge yarn), it never occurred to me to make a hat with the sock yarn.

A forest of hats, maybe?

Three Small Words

You know when someone casually says something that changes your world forever?...

A simple statement that changes the way you look at life and everything around you?

Three words. Three simple words.

The words I have been waiting to hear for many, many years.

Noro sock yarn.

I may never knit anything else again.

Progress with the Scurvy Shawl, More Socks, Other Applications of the Lifeline

With all this frantic sock knitting going on...


(I've hit a new personal high. Or low, depending on how you look at it. I've got three sock projects on the go. I've got one each of a pair in orange and the red & black tweedy yarn, and half of a first clown sock. Although the clown sock will probably remain an orphan. It's a sample for display. If I had more than two sets of sock needles, the second red & black tweedy one would be on the needles, but having only two pairs is keeping me focused on getting the ugly one done.)

... there hasn't been much work on the scurvy shawl...

Although I did use it as a cautionary tale and a demonstration of the value of a lifeline in lace knitting in a class on Sunday.

On the topic of lifelines....

I've been working with E. on sock knitting. She was having trouble with picking up stitches for the gusset. The heel turn is without problem for her (yay for E.!), but picking up stitches has proven to be challenging. She's needed to pull back a few times while working the gusset.

While talking her through this on the phone. (Yes, the phone. This is not the first time I have talked someone through a sock over the phone.) I had a brainwave... I had her thread a lifeline, before the gusset stitches are picked up -- so through the heel after the turn, and the held instep sts. That way, E. can pick up and pull out the gusset stitches as many times as she wants, and the sock is all safe.

A Clown May Have Died

Ok, this wasn't what I was expecting either, but this time not in a good way...

Yes, that's beige and yellow and light blue and orangey-red and purple. All together.

I mean, ok, I like strong colour combinations as much as the next sock knitter, but this one fails spectactularly, IMHO, because the colours aren't bright enough to compete with each other. It's a mess of mid-range colours that are neither bright or muted.

Ack.

Preconceptions

Yet another sock underway.


This is stash yarn -- the ball band long gone. It's sock yarn, I know that much. Old school, 75%wool/25% nylon sock yarn. Old reliable.

I think I picked it because it was manly, I had a certain recipient in mind for a pair of gift socks.

This week I needed to started a pair of plain st st socks to use as a sample for a class, and dug this out. I figured this might be a faux fair isle or something.

(I don't like wasting a yarn that's calibrated for a faux fair isle on a ribbed pattern. You lose the effect. My basic ribbed sock pattern is best for yarn that's splotchy (a la Jitterbug) or stripes or even -- gasp -- plain. A faux fair isle should be worked plain to show it off.)

So I cast on for my plain & simple sock, all st st, and this is what results.

Nice, eh?

Much nicer than I was expecting. The twist in the yarn always deceives me. I know, intellectually, that the strong contrasting lines you see in the twist of the yarn won't show up as strong lines in the knitted fabric, it just forms a nice tweed. But even so, when I see a yarn in a ball, I can't help but think that it's going to be all stripey, somehow.


Of course, this is another excellent argument for swatching...

I Can Smell the Formaldehyde...

Uncomfortable memories of science class, in yarn...

And to think I made my science teacher brother a hat for Christmas...

Zen and the Art of the Heel Turn

I've told this story before... It's family lore that my grandmother, the Wise Hilda after whom this blog is named, used to earn a penny turning the heel of socks knitted by women in her neighbourhood.

I've become a bit of an expert in sock knitting, given the articles I've written, and the book contributions I've made...

and I do dearly love it.

I've always got a sock project on the go. At the moment, I have two. The plain grey self-patterned pair that I started to take to a movie, and an orangey pair in my standard ribbed sock pattern. No specific requirement drove those, just a fancy for the yarn.

I've finished up all my pending design and sample projects, and the only other current thing I have on the go is the Scurvy Shawl, which is fiendishly complex and attention-needy.

So the two socks are growing fast, between conference calls and a trip to the theatre. (Twelve Angry Men is not a comedy, BTW.)

By chance, I found myself turning two heels yesterday.... one on a grey sock, one on an orange sock. Halfway through the second, working entirely on autopilot, it hit me: turning the heel of a sock is the most natural thing in the world for me.

Wise Hilda would be proud.

But also she'd probably be a little disappointed that I'm not charging for it...

ARGGGHHHH

So when you thread a lifeline, you really do need to make sure that the row you're threading it through is correct....

Having just moved a lifeline up from a correct row to an incorrect row, am now forced to pull back 6 rows, stitch by stitch.

ARGGHHH.

Scurvy Shawl: Some Progress

It's slow going, but I'm enjoying it. The yarn is truly lovely to work with.


And yes, I know I said I didn't like triangular shawls, so why on earth would I like a semi-circular shawl any more? Do we have to have the talk about being a process knitter rather than a product knitter? Have we discussed this already?

This project isn't about wearing the damn thing. Seriously, do you think I'd be able to come up with an appropriate outfit and occasion for wearing a shawl coloured like a grove of citrus fruits shaped like a slice of lime? Could anyone?

The segments are coming out nicely...

Note dental floss lifeline. Although I should probably have used unwaxed...

A Sock, and a Monkey

The Monkey's name is Trinidad Huggins. He was a birthday present from Norman, and the name comes from a spam email I received recently. The sender was "Trinidad Huggins" and the subject line said, simply, "Make Her Grin". He does... therefore, it seemed like the perfect name.

(Later that day I got a spam email from a Mr. "Sylvester Cotton", which also seems like a good Sock Monkey name... but that will have to wait for the next one.)

The sock is using some old school sock yarn from the stash, Regia 4 Color Jacquard. It's nice and simple. I don't often use these types of sock yarns anymore, and I do still enjoy the surprise of how the patterning works out. This is a nice combo of faux fair isle in grey and white, with stripes of shades of grey. It's remarkably effective, I couldn't tell there was so much complexity in the shading when I looked at the ball. (Click to embiggen the picture and see it more clearly.)


This sock was started because I went to a movie. The project I was working on at the time was too complex for working in the dark, I needed something I could do entirely on autopilot. The leg of a plain sock is perfect for that. I cast on and worked the ribbing before I left, and happily worked on the stocking stitch leg in the theatre, much to the amusement of my seat-mate.

The pattern is my standard sock recipe, as outlined in Knitty.

Because I'm just that sort of person, when I picked up the stitches for the gusset to reestablish the round after turning the heel, I made the stripes line up so that the patterning was unbroken on the instep. It continues to amuse and amaze me how much trouble I'll go to make something that's going to be stuffed into my winter boots look nice... particularly since without my glasses I can barely make my feet out, let alone notice a slight break in the stripes...

Fruity Goodness

I was flipping through my library yesterday looking for ideas and stitch patterns, and I found the PERFECT design.

Perfect. The Cocoon Stitch Half Circle Shawl in Martha Waterman's excellent book, Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls.

Garter edging and rays, and the segments are worked in the cocoon stitch, which remarkably like the structure of citrus flesh.

All written out for me and everything! A nice gift!

Well, ok, nearly perfect.

I am making some tweaks to the pattern, not least of which because it's written out... all 124 rows of it. A typical row looks like this...

Row 46: *K3, yo, k1, p1 [k1 p1 k1 p5] twice, [k1 p1] twice, k1, yo; repeat from *, end k3.

And that's not the rows with the key pattern repeat of... [p1, yo, (k1, p1, k1) in next st, yo, p1, p5tog] that occurs several times in each segment, every 6th row.

It takes four pages of the book for the writeup. Surely, surely the designer could have come up with a better way of representing it. Surely.

I am stopping the knitting to work on an improved, condensed, easier-to-read pattern writeup, probably with charts. If only so that I can take it travelling with me, without having to carry the whole damn book.

Also, I disagree very strongly with how she has treated the rays around the increases... I have made a modification to the design, just every few rows.

Oh yes, and another small modification to the basic pattern stitch.

The designer's version of cocoon stitch calls for a p5tog decrease. I hate it. It's hard to work, but more to the point, it's ugly. I'm using the more complex but more elegant "slip 3 stitches together knitwise, knit next 2 stitches together, and pass slipped stitches over" decrease. This provides a nice centered decrease that looks organic to the stitch pattern. Much better.


Oh yes, and I've also decided that I find the wrong side more attractive than the right side.

But otherwise, it's perfect.

Fresh Fruit

Note to self: don't go Boxing Day shopping at Lettuce after a few drinks at Embassy. Yes, you get a great deal on a terrific colourway of Socks that Rock.

But then you also end up with 940 yards of Malabrigio Laceweight in what can only be described as a "Vitamin C" colourway...


It's been sitting around, looking at me, for almost a week. I've been walking past it, casting the odd glance at it, feeling somewhat ridiculous. Then yesterday, I had a brainwave. This is screaming out to be a semi-circular segmented shawl. You know, like a slice of orange.

This may turn out to be a horrendously bad idea, but aren't you curious to watch?

Say Goodnight, Gracie

I've been working on Lace Wings since, oh, sometime in the spring.

I had decided that I was ready to take on the challenge of lace knitting in black. Turns out I simply wasn't ready for this particular challenge.

I chose Lace Wings because it's a simple pattern -- a 7-stitch repeat with increases in the centre and at both edges.

It's a nice design...


... but it was driving me insane. I was using stitch markers to divide the repeats -- and by the time I'd got about 12 inches in length, I had four million stitch markers on the go. Tiny yarn, slow going, and a million repeats. I could have probably tried to work it without the markers, but by the time I was frustrated enough to start thinking about ripping it out, I had decided that I didn't want a triangle shawl anyway. God knows I've knitted enough, and never actually used any of them. I have a few lying around the house, I've given a couple away. I've even worked one and ripped it out and swapped the yarn for coffee.

So I ripped Lace Wings out.

My next challenge: finding a rectangular lace design for this yarn. I have 850 yds. Hmm...

Mission Falls 1824: How You've Changed

I made a pair of quickie gauntlets last week with some Mission Falls 1824. Useful for when I'm driving, or in-car knitting, and for shopping around the market in the winter.

It's a variation of my own gauntlet pattern, worked in the round, with a longer section worked for the hand. (My hands get very very cold.)


Anything strike you about the picture? The pilling, perhaps? These are less than 2 weeks old. I've worn them relatively often, but it's not like I'm sleeping in them. They're pilling fairly aggressively.

I have officially fallen out of love with Mission Falls 1824. It feels great, no question, and is warm and comes in great colours, and is very affordable. But it pills like nobody's business.

I worked a gansey in the same yarn in the spring of 2001. I'll try to dig it out and take a pic. Barely a pill on it. The yarn was a dream to work with. I declared it my favourite aran weight.

When I decided to knit Rogue in the summer of 2005, I immediately thought of 1824. My heart broke when they told me the company had shut down in the interim. I'm not clear on the details, all I know is that my beloved yarn was no longer available.

I went through three or four different yarns, swatching madly -- nothing was quite right. Couldn't get gauge, didn't like the colour, didn't like the feel. And then, lo and behold! 1824 was back. The company had reopened.

I bought a bagful, swatched once more, and then went to work. The rest is history.

I haven't dared admit this to myself -- let alone anyone else -- but I'm not happy with it. It pills a lot. Distressingly so. This is bad for any knitting, IMHO, but a disaster for an item where the cables and texture are the key.

The gauntlets have confirmed it. Mission Falls -- you've changed, and I am sad to say that I no longer love you.

All that sofa, and look where he sits

Yes, indeed. The cat loves Lizard Ridge as much as I do.

See! It Fits!

Hunter in his hat.

Sock It To Me

An article in yesterday's Wall Street Journal discussing the phenomenon known as Sock Wars...Sock It to Me: Competitive Knitters Get Deadly Serious

Read it, and giggle nervously with self-recognition and maybe a little bilt of envy that you didn't hear about it early enough to get involved...

Hunter's Hat -- Mission Falls 1824 version

Pattern remains the same.

Thicker and warmer, though.

1 ball makes one hat.

Pattern Writing & Standardization

I am forever complaining about the lack of standards in written knitting patterns.... especially for a less-experienced knitter, the quality of the instructions is absolutely critical to both the enjoyment and success of the project.

Case in point:
J. is working on Rosedale. It's a terrific design, Mum's knitted it, and the result was great.

Now, this is absolutely not a criticism of Amy and her design. The pattern is marked as "Piquant" - meaning that it's considered to be challenging, targeted at a knitter with some experience.

When you're targeting a knitter with experience, you can take shortcuts with the instructions... Let's look at how Amy wrote up the instructions for the corrugated ribbing:

To work Corrugated Rib:

Work in K2, P1 rib using two balls of yarn. Work knit sts with first ball and purl sts with second ball.

All well and good. That is, if you've worked an uneven rib before...

J. has really come on strong with her knitting, and has successfully worked a variety of projects. I quickly looked at the pattern and figured that she'd have no difficulty -- no complex pattern stitches, a bit of entirely manageable intarsia, and a great intro to raglan shaping.

She got really stuck on the ribbing, though. It took me a while to figure out why... It was that she hadn't worked an uneven rib before. She's worked k1 p1, and k2 p2, and each time it's been on a design that had the number of stitches engineered so that you work both right and wrong side the same way...

That is, the k1 p1 rib was worked on an even number of stitches, so both right and wrong side start with a k1. And the k2 p2 was worked on a number of stitches divisible by 4, again, so that right and wrong sides both start with a k2.

So J.'s experience of ribbing is that both sides are the same.

Rosedale's body ribbing doesn't work that way... On the right side, it's k2 p1 k2 p1... ending with a k2. And therefore on the wrong side, it's p2 k1 p2 k1... ending with a p2.

Since Amy hasn't written out the rows, J. made what seemed like a reasonable assumption, that both rows are to be worked the same. She could tell something was wrong once she started working it, but couldn't figure out what because the extra yarn was obscuring the shape of the stitches.

Took us a while to figure it out, mostly because I was debugging over email and the phone. We did it, though! I recommended she work a small swatch of k2 p1 ribbing with a single colour before she switch to two colours. All it took was a couple of rows and she was good to go.

A very humbling reminder about making assumptions in pattern writing, particularly when something is *slightly* out of the ordinary.

As this is going on, I see a link to the project of my nerdy dreams...

KnitML A standard language for knitting patterns. W00T!

Hunter's Hat

Way back in the spring, I designed a simple baby hat for a class... the idea was to teach knitting in the round with a project more manageable for beginners than socks.

It's a good hat, kinda cute, and a nice demonstration of the magic of circular knitting -- not a single purl stitch. It knits up incredibly quickly, too.

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine produced a baby. The skein of yarn chosen for this hat design has sufficient to make two hats -- one remains at the shop as a sample, the other went to my friend.

I don't know why this sort of thing continues to surprise me, but my friend reported to me that the hat is terrific -- fits well but isn't too tight, is warm but not scratchy, and looks very fetching on Hunter's little noggin.

The pattern has forthwith been renamed "Hunter's Hat". The yarn is an excellent organic wool/cotton blend that comes in yummy, baby-appropriate ice creamy sorts of colours. Substitute any worsted weight yarn.

Materials
1 50 gm skein O Wool Balance - one skein makes two hats
OR 1 50 gm ball Mission Falls 1824 wool -- one ball of this makes one hat
4mm needles – long double-pointed needles; optional – a 12”/30cm or 16”/40cm circular
stitch marker

Size
Fits 0-6 months - 36cm/14 inches circumference

Gauge
20 stitches and 28 rows over 10cm/4 inches square in the round using 4mm needles.

Method
Cast on 72 stitches.

Join for working in the round. If you’re working on a circular needle, place a marker to indicate the beginning of the round.

Work in stocking stitch -- that is, knitting every round -- until hat measures 10cm/4 inches from lower edge. Don't unroll it to measure!

Decrease for crown:
Round 1: *K2tog, k10; repeat from * to end of round. 66 stitches.
Round 2: *K2tog, k9; repeat from * to end of round. 60 stitches.
Round 3: *K2tog, k8; repeat from * to end of round. 54 stitches.
Round 4: *K2tog, k7; repeat from * to end of round. 48 stitches.
Round 5: *K2tog, k6; repeat from * to end of round. 42 stitches.
Round 6: *K2tog, k5; repeat from * to end of round. 36 stitches.
Round 7: *K2tog, k4; repeat from * to end of round. 30 stitches.
Round 8: *K2tog, k3; repeat from * to end of round. 24 stitches.
Round 9: *K2tog, k2; repeat from * to end of round. 18 stitches.
Round 10: *K2tog, k1; repeat from * to end of round. 12 stitches.
Round 11: *K2tog; repeat from * to end of round. 6 stitches.
Round 12: *K2tog; repeat from * to end of round. 3 stitches.

Break yarn and pull through final stitches to close. Weave in ends to finish.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Ribber...

I'm working a scarf design right now.

There are other details which shall not be revealed, but a lot of the design is worked in k4 p4 rib.

A LOT.

And I'm having an enormous amount of difficulty with it. I keep messing up. I can manage k1 p1 with no problems, and k2 p2 just as easily. And k3 p1 I do a lot of, as it's the basis of my ribbed socks....

but k4 p4 is just plain hard. I keep working too many knits or purls. Is it that four stitches is too far... that I mess up because my fingers don't remember how far along I am in the four? Is this evidence of some kind of knitter's ADD?

It does looks nice, though....

It's That Time of Year

Christmas Knitting, anyone?

Christmas socks
Santa Hat
Stocking

For the first time EVER I've actually knitted someone a gift. Ok, so it's leftover yarn from another project, using a pattern I was editing, and I'd already asked the giftee if he would want and/or need such an item.

But still, it's Christmas knitting.

I'm typically against Christmas knitting.... I've usually got other stuff on the go, designs samples or what-have-you.

And to be honest, there aren't enough people on my list who would appreciate the work that goes into a hand-knitted item. But this gift is going to someone who will.

Plus it is pretty small.

Photos to follow.

Who Invited It Back?

Seriously. This is for sale at the Gap. For $98.

We did not ask for this.

On one hand, the poncho is what brought a lot of people to knitting. And that's great for everyone. But on the other hand, surely they don't have to be this ugly??

By Popular Demand: Basic Ribbed Sock

The Spun site has gone, so by popular demand here is my Basic Ribbed Sock pattern.

This sock design was developed as a solution to two problems: socks with a plain stocking-stitch leg tend to fall down, and I find k1p1 ribbing tedious.

Materials:

100 gm sock yarn – the samples used Fleece Artist’s Merino Sock yarn. This pattern works for any sock yarn with a 28-30 stitch gauge
1 set of 2.5mm double-pointed needles

Gauge:
32 stitches, unstretched, across 4 inches/10cm in K3 P1 rib with 2.5mm needles.

Method:
Cuff:
Cast 60 stitches onto a single needle. Distribute stitches evenly across 3 needles. Join, being careful not to twist.

Work 15 cm/6 inches of K3 P1 ribbing, as follows:

Round 1: *K3, p1; repeat from * to end of round. Repeat this for every round.

Turn Heel:
This portion is worked flat in plain stocking stitch.

Knit first 27 stitches. Put remaining 33 stitches onto a holder. Starting with a purl row, work 21 rows of stocking stitch, slipping the first stitch of every row. The right side is facing for next row.

RS: Knit 18 stitches, SKP, turn
WS: Slip 1, purl 9 stitches, p2tog, turn
RS: Slip 1, knit 9 stitches, SKP, turn

Repeat last two rows until all stitches have been worked. Ensure right side is facing for next row. 11 stitches remain on the needle.

Re-establish Round and Create Gusset:
Knit all heel stitches. Using that same needle, pick up and knit 15 stitches along selvedge edge at side of heel, using slipped stitches as a guide. With a new needle, work in pattern across the 33 stitches of instep – those stitches that you’d set aside on the stitch holder. Using another new needle, pick up and knit 15 stitches along selvedge edge at other side of heel, using slipped stitches as a guide. Work 6 stitches from the first needle.

The beginning of the round is now at the centre of the heel. There should be 20 stitches on the first needle, the 33 stitches of the instep on the second, and 21 on the third. Rearrange the stitches if you need to.

From here on in, the 33 instep stitches will be worked in the rib pattern, and the gusset and sole will be worked in stocking stitch – that is, knitting every round.

Decrease Gusset:
Work a round even – keeping the instep stitches in pattern – twisting all picked-up stitches.

Work a decrease round as follows:
Needle 1: Knit to last three stitches, k2tog, k1.
Needle 2: Work all stitches in pattern.
Needle 3: K1, ssk, knit to end.

Work an even round, keeping continuity of pattern.

Repeating these last two rounds until Needles 1 has 13 stitches and Needle 3 has 14. 60 stitches total on your needles.

Work until foot measures 5 cm/2 inches less than desired length.

Shape Toe:
From here on in, you’ll work entirely in stocking stitch. Rearrange the stitches so that you’ve got 15 each on Needles 1 and 3, and 30 on Needle 2.

Work a decrease round, as follows:
Needle 1: Knit to last three stitches, k2tog, k1.
Needle 2: K1, SSK, knit to last three stitches, k2tog, k1.
Needle 3: K1, SSK, knit to end.

Work 3 rounds even.

Work a decrease round followed by 2 even rounds, twice. [6 rounds total]
Work a decrease round followed by 1 even round, three times. [6 rounds total]
Work 7 more decrease rounds. 8 stitches remain.

To finish, either graft together final stitches or cut yarn, draw through the final stitches and tighten. Weave in ends.

This is what 50gm of sock yarn gets you

So close and yet so far.... Almost of a pair of wildy striped socks created using the variation of Amy Swenson's toe-up sock recipe.

What this tells me is that a single 50gm ball of sock yarn need not be ignored. If I use a contrast yarn for the toe and heel, I could easily get a pair out of it. Sock yarn bargain bins, here I come!

I've been using a lot of small-producer, all wool or merino-rich blends of sock yarn, and going back to a standard commercial 75% wool/25% nylon sock yarn was more of shock than I expected. I've been spoiling myself. I do worry about how well the 100% wool ones will wear, though.

I'm sure after a few washes these will soften up. Can't wait to wear them with my new black high-top sneakers.

Hey Look! It's a Sock!

This is certainly an appealing feature of the toe-up sock design. Not only can you try it on as it goes

but it somehow feels closer to being done when you're near the end. Closer to being a sock.

I know why. I find that working the toe closure on a top down sock is slow -- not because of the knitting, but because I keep measuring to see when I should start. Which means trying the sock on, working a few more rounds, trying the sock on, and so forth. I'm always in a rush to start the toe.

Anyway, yes, very close to finishing up. Loving the stripe on this. I just need to decide if the k1p1 ribbing at the top should be 1 stripe tall -- just the grey and white portion -- or whether I should work the next stripe in the ribbing, too. I think I'll go one more for balance.

Next decision is whether to try to make the second one match, or start at a different point in the colour sequence.

Socks - the knitting equivalent of mashed potatoes. Can be as simple or complex as I want, lots of room for variations, but always comforting and never too challenging.

Toe Up With Gussets - Your In-Flight Entertainment

I've been pointed to a couple of toe-up with gusset patterns on Knitty: Baudelaire and Widdershins. Both of these are excellent designs, with extra levels of detail and patterning.

Me, I was on a plane at the time, without internet access. I was in the middle seat of the next-to-last row, no less. Sandwiched between two non-knitters. I got enough funny looks for knitting, but then when I took my shoe and sock off to try on my still-on-the-needles sock.... well, I think my seatmates were thinking about complaining.

What I learnt, other than that it's a mistake to take off your shoes in flight -- not because of any swelling, but that it's very challenging to lace up high-top sneakers in that small a space -- is that I didn't like the fit of the gusset-less sock.

So I did some thinking and drawing and hit upon it. Gussets are simply a section of the foot immediately below the heel worked on more stitches. That was easy. I ripped the foot back to inch before the heel, and added an increase on either side of the instep stitches every other row. I worked the shortrow heel on the original number of stitches, no problem.

The decision then was how to dispose of the stitches I'd added. In a standard-top down sock design, the number of stitches stays constant in the leg until after the heel is turned. But that's a flaw, too. The lowest part of my ankle is wider than higher up my leg. So it's not a problem to have a few extra stitches there - an upper gusset, if you will. It just doesn't need to be a long as the foot gusset. So I worked a decrease every round until they were gone.


And there it is! A double-gusset toe up sock. It fits great! Very pleased.