Long tailed cast on, left handed

Mom and I worked together to get a good grip on the long tailed cast on. It's hard to follow from photos or illustrations. I think we finally got it, and here's Mom doing it left handed. Another good reference with still photos is this one at knitty.

Toe Up Gusset Heel

Another on the endless sock journey - this one a bulkier yarn, a Brown Sheep I've had for a while- (I think it's this), knit on my new Lantern Moon Sox Stix (ooooOOOOOoooooo........). Started at the toe, increased in a wedge pattern using knit-front-and-back-of-loop, making up a diamond pattern with pearl stitches in the top. Going to make a heel flap that goes under the heel, then run the gusset up the leg. I'm kind of thinking this might be the best of all worlds. Starting at the toe lets you just keep increasing until it fits your foot, (although I went a little too much and had to decrease a little) and the toe-up way will allow me to lengthen the cuff until I like it, or I run out of yarn. Hmmm........

Socks for Mom

When my folks came to visit a couple of weeks ago I dyed this roving... marino/bamboo/nylon. I'd been shooting for a sort of peacock-in-a-shady-grotto sort of color combination, but ended up with something more cotton-candy-in-the-park. Ah well, it's spinning up very pretty, nonetheless. I wanted to make a nice strong two ply sock yarn out of it, but I can't seem to spin fine enough to make a sockish two ply, and the single doesn't seem quite as durable as I'd like. There are examples of both above, and how it's knitting up. The single I've got so far is making a lovely, light fabric on little #1 needles, would be great for baby booties or something, but not tough enough for socks. The two ply is pretty and interesting, but kinda bulky. Hmm.... Maybe I'll try spinning a tighter and thicker single and use that. I could pull thin strips off the roving so the color changes fast, or work from the whole piece so that it's more "self striping." Complicated business, these socks!!

Good Sock

I finished one sock from the "Manos" yarn - it's a good one. (Nothing like a long day waiting in the doctor's office to get some quality knitting done - but that's another story...) This pic is before I closed the toe - kitchener stitch just eludes me, but I finally got a handle on it, I think. This reference at Knitty is the best one I've found to walk a person through that crazy stitch. When it's good, it's really good, though. You can't even tell where it is - just blends in exactly with the stitches around it.
I liked that little rib pattern I did on the top of one of my non-matching socks, so I did that again. I think it sort of gives some flex to the foot and allows it to conform a little more nicely. Also gives a little interest to the foot. Maybe one of these days I'll do one with a little Fair Isle color work down the top of the foot like that.
In this one you can see that the leg is a little goofy. I didn't do my guage right somehow and ended up with way too many stitches. I tried switching to smaller needles, but ended up having to decrease substantially down the leg. I probably should have ripped it, but I decided to pretend that it's supposed to be one of those "slouchy" socks. I'll make the other one the same and nobody will know. (Don't tell!!) I really like the slip stitch pattern on the heel - I think gusset heels really fit the nicest of all they types I've tried. I'm not sure I turned the heel right, though - I only decreased on the short rows, and didn't do any increasing, but it seemed to work out all right. I'd like to find a pattern for a toe up sock with a gusset heel. That way you could just keep knitting until the yarn was gone on the leg. I sure like the yarn. It's hard to photograph, but it's really got a nice loft and sheen. I'm a little worried how it will wear, but I need a good excuse to learn to darn.

Afterthoughts and Bungie Jumping

I read about making afterthought heels, where a person knits the sock with no heel, then adds it afterward once the tube shape is finished. There are some very distinct advantages to such an approach, one being that it makes for a really good stash buster, in that you can just knit up all the yarn you have, then stick a heal and toe on from some other left over. Another advantage that appeals to me is that you can knit mindlessly - I'm getting pretty good at knitting without looking, as long as it's just continuous stocking stitch. If I can just knit a tube in movie theaters and meetings, I can do the thinking parts another time. The downside of the technique is pretty obvious, though. "You want me to CUT my KNITTING????? I don't THINK SO!!!!" Something like standing on the bridge and jumping off, the vary thought goes completely against every instinct in your being.
But, I discovered that like bungee jumping, once you swallow hard and force yourself to jump, you realize that it's really not all that bad. In fact, it's kind of fun! When you just will yourself to make that cut, it's a similar feeling. There's something of a rush in conquering your involuntary impulses like that, and gives you a triumphant feeling of euphoria when it's over. (Okay, well, maybe I shouldn't go that far. But it is pretty cool.

So - the first photo shows how you prep for the surgery. You decide where you want the heel to go, how wide it should be (half the overall stitches is a good rule of thumb.) and slip one side of each stitch on your needles.
This photo shows a little better - you look at those little "v"s and just take one leg of each down the row. You skip a row, and do the same below. This positions your needles so that when you remove that row in between them they are ready to start knitting the hole shut, in essence.
It's hard to see here, but there's a row between where the needles are placed. That center stitch is what I'm cutting.
You unravel the center "sacrificial" row, and there you go! A nice opening with the needles ready to rock and roll. The little tails of the unraveled row left can be worked in when you're done, or paired with your new yarn and knitted into the heel. Your new heel can be an hourglass, a center decrease (I'm not sure I totally understand the difference between the two, but they look like the heels in store bought socks. I think the one I've made is a center decrease) or you can knit a wedge toe which functions nicely as a heel as well.

See? The thrill of bungee jumping without messing up your hair!

Done Branching

I made this project from a really nice pattern I found on Knitty called Branching Out, by .......It seems like a long time ago that I started, using some handspun baby camel that I was really excited about at the time. I finally cast it off today. Whew!

Lace was a stretch for me. I learned a bunch - how to "read" my knitting better - it forces you to be able to tell by looking where your yarn-overs and knit-two-together-slanting-lefts are and how they are different from a slip-two-knit-one-pass-two-over. It's really hard to back up if you need to un-knit something, and it's painfully slow (for me anyway) because you really have to pay attention.
Nope - no watching the 10:00 news while you're doing this! Actually, if I did it more I might have been able to memorize the pattern and actually just knit, without checking the chart over and over, but for me I needed a quiet, uninterrupted half hour or so to get one repetition of the pattern, and I just don't seem to have very many of those in my life. Uninterrupted half hours, that is....
It probably should have been longer, but when the camel was gone I stopped. With great celebration, actually, truth be told.

There are a bunch of mistakes in it, (don't look too close) but I'm really pleased with the way it ended up. It's soft, it's pretty, and it was a challenge.
Whew! Can't wait to wear it!

Keep on Sockin...

Fell in love with "Manos del Uragauy" last weekend. Knit on Pearl in Jackson had a whole rack of this luscious stuff - marino with a little silk, hand spun and hand dyed in the most rich colors. No two skeins are alike, so you just find some that look okay together. Supposed to be a non-profit org to "bring social and economic opportunities to rural women". It's hard to know - but they sure make some nice handspun.

Vanessa Siampe made the verigated grey one, Blanca made my two red pattern ones, and the blue says sombody Zapata. I couldn't stand it, and had to start a sock from one. Interupted rib leg, I haven't decided how to do the heel yet.

Vesting

My first try at an actual garment here. This is half of a vest back from a pattern in the Twisted Sister's Sweater Workbook, it's called "rectangles" because that's all it's made out of. It's knit up and down, and started in the center back and worked toward the armholes. Kind of fun.








The yarn is from this roving I bought a while back at Lambspun in Ft.Collins. It's 40% marino, 40% alpaca and 20% silk. The mix was called "Coral Abundance". It's beautiful, and spins nicely - makes one of the most professional looking yarns I've ever made. I'm a little worried that I didn't get enough, so as the vest progresses I may have to get creative, since I think once lambspun is out of a particular blend it's tough tamales.




This is what it's supposed to look like when it's done. I'm crossing my fingers!!!