Posey

I thought I’d share some pictures of this very interesting sock in progress.  The pattern is called Posey, it’s free, and can be found here.  The sock is made by knitting little mitered squares in rows for the leg and the top of the foot.

When all the squares are done for one sock, it looks something like this.  I had to modify one section to fit my short feet.  Doesn’t look very socklike, does it?  But with a simple seam…

…you can now see the shape of sockiness.  I’m working on the heel flap now.  This is a great “new things” pattern, because not only am I diving into the addictive world of mitered squares, but I’ll be learning a new way to do the sole of a foot with an existing top, and I’ll also learn how to do a picot hem for the top of the leg.  Good times.

The yarn is Twisted Fiber Arts Kabam! in the Talon colorway.

Side Effect of Migraine Medication:

A ridiculous sense of ambition in regards to knitting projects.

I started this:

I’m glad I did…this is a beautiful pattern called Baltic Mittens from the book Folk Mittens.  I haven’t touched Fair Isle since the skirt/sweater set, so it is nice to be back in the game.  I’m using size 0 dpns and the yarn is Palette from Knit Picks.

And just because it’s cool to see the “wrong” side sometimes:

Nice side effect of Fair Isle knitting for mittens is that you get double the thickness!

Finish, schminish…

 These socks are also made from yarn with the colorway “Tuscany” but they are much less tomato-y.  It’s Lorna’s Laces from my Christmas yarn from Mom & Dad.  I love it.  But that means I’ve got 2 different tuscany socks in progress.  That’s a whole new level of cast-on-itis, I believe.

I do have a plausible excuse for casting on this pair, though:

Shortly after finishing (yes, sometimes I really do finish projects) my first pair of socks using the Magic Loop method, I was intrigued by the idea of Magic Looping two socks at once on the same circular needle.  It would certainly cut down on the dreaded SSS (second sock syndrome) that sometimes threatens sock knitters. 

The first trick is in casting on properly.  To make the magic loop work, you can’t cast on all the stitches for sock 1 and then all the stitches for sock 2.  It won’t work.  Ask me how I figured that out.  Well, don’t, really.  What you want to do is cast on half the stitches for sock 1 (with ball 1 of yarn) and then all the stitches for sock 2 (with ball 2 of yarn) and then the remaining half of the stitches for sock 1 (with ball 1 again).  It’s a little mind-numbing for the spatially challenged among us, but if I can do it, so can you.

The second trick is keeping the separate balls of yarn from getting too friendly with one another as you knit.  Snarls happen. (This is the first try on Regia, and I like it so far!)

The third trick is looming ahead of me:  how to do the heels.  I think I’ve got a plan.  I think I can just work back and forth on half of each sock’s stitches.  If I’m wrong I’ll do an afterthought heel.  I think.

Working on a first

A sweater for me.  I saw this pattern in an Interweave Knits, and luuuurve it.  I’ve never knit a sweater for myself before, so this is a Grand Experiment in which I am exploring:

1. Whether or not I really can knit and trust a gauge swatch.

2. Whether or not I can measure my own self and trust those measurements.

3. The practical definition and workings of negative ease.

4. Rolled edges on a grownup.

5. Whether or not I’m a good guesser/converter with respect to yarn yardage requirements.

It’s a lot of math and a lot of trust in methods…kind of like Calc 3, and that didn’t work out so well the first time.  I’m hoping this one will be okay the first time.  The thought of frogging that much yarn is…ooky.

Here’s a closeup of a little less than half of the cabled motif that goes smack in the middle of this sweater. It’s supposed to be shaping.  And purty. And flattering. 

Nothing like Calc 3. Either time.

Magic Loop and Hemlock

That title sounds morbid, doesn’t it?  Or desperate, maybe.  But be assured, dear readers, it is nothing more than a list of two new things that this old dog is trying to learn.

I mentioned the Hemlock blanket in my last post.  This morning, while Ellie was carefully and sloooooooooowly working on writing the letter R, I decided to take the first step on this blanket: learning the Magic Loop technique.

For those not familiar with the term, it’s a method of working a small piece in the round using one very long circular needle.  I’ve always used double point needles for this in the past and been perfectly content doing so.  However, to do this blanket my old way, I’d need at least 3 sets of needles: double points in the right size (don’t have ’em), a medium length circular needle in the right size (don’t have it) and a longer circular needle in the right size (you guessed it, don’t have it). Logic, Prudence, and Tight-Fistedness argued the merits of buying one long circular needle in the right size, and defeated Timidity, who was not too sure about learning another technique for circular knitting when she liked the old one fine, thankyouverymuch.

To make it worse for this old dog/picky knitter, the best needles available for this particular method are…prepare yourself…metal.

So, back to this morning…I grabbed my cold metal needles, my beautiful yarn (Ecological Wool by Cascade, color: chocolate), and www.knittinghelp.com and figured it out.

Yarn…no matter what else it makes you think of.  It’s yarn.

This lady is a gift to all knitters…especially stubborn, visual, self-learners like me.

Well, the truth of the matter is that Magic Loop, metal needles and all is pretty darn cool.  And old dog though I most certainly am, I am fully immature enough to boast “I am so the king of this!” once I made my first few rounds.

I may even try socks this way.  I may even try to learn knitting in the round with two circular needles!  I wouldn’t mind being the king of that, too.

‘Tis the season…

..to start projects.

Here’s what’s currently on the needles:

Bluebell Rib Socks (Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks) in Lorna’s Laces Valentine. I like the unsquished look better than the squished look.  There is something to be said for fat ankles, eh?

Pink Pommies (short for Pomotomous…what does that mean, anyway?), Take Two. I feel like I should already be on my second sock after the massive frogging and do-overing.  I love how this sock looks (the photo has been wokified to highlight the pattern), but I bet this is the only pair I ever make.  Lots of k1, p1…and my first purling through the back loop…that, friends, is not natural. 😉

This is a junky picture of Harriet’s Posies morphing into a sock.  I hope to get a better pic up later to show the very cool color changes happening, but this will do.  It’s pretty thrilling to be making socks out of my handspun. 

Felted Fair Isle Bag experiment.  Mixed reviews on this one.  Lessons have been learned.  Lesson 1: do not mix wools.  Not all 100% feltable wool felts in equal proportions.  Yikes.  Lesson 2: Beard trimmers work very well for defuzzing felted items.

This is slowly turning into this:

I haven’t come up with a name for this one yet.  Emma has just received some unwanted and uncomfortable communication from Mr. Elton…that doesn’t lend itself to yarn naming.

I’ve got another few projects itching to get started, too.  I’m in one of those phases when I want to start a hundred things at once.  It drives my poor husband batty.  This is not kind to his CDO (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, alphabetized, as it should be) tendencies.  One of them I’ll start this week.  My favorite yarn shop, Twist, is doing a Knit Along to Jared Flood’s Hemlock Blanket. How about them apples? It’ll be a first for me…I’ve never done a purely knitting social event. Leaving the house? Meeting stangers?  It’ll be good for me.  Like fiber.