random threads

Yes, I have finished several pairs of socks recently, and let several FO Fridays slide by without reporting on them. Time to remedy that situation today.

First, my beloved Rainbow Socks. I think these are my most-favorite socks I’ve ever knit.  You will recall these are knit from Knit Picks sock blanks that I dyed in a class with Sue at Baskets of Yarn. The fit is perfect, the colors glorious, and stitch pattern smooshy just the way I like it. What is not to like about these! Knit toe-up, two-at-a-time using my usual pattern. I finished these the Saturday afternoon of SAFF while I was knitting with the gals at Sue’s booth.

Next, I am working on adapting my pattern for toe-up socks to worsted weight yarn, from my usual fingering weight yarn of choice.  This is because I will be teaching knitting socks, two-at-a-time magic-loop-style at the March 2009 Baskets of Yarn Winter Retreat.  And in a 2 two-hour session format over a single weekend used for this class, Betsey and I agreed that the students would never get to the heel during the weekend if we didn’t use worsted-weight yarn or just knit a sample baby sock. I’m an advocate of getting a useful knitting project finished when taking classes, so boot-socks, house-socks (which I use a lot), here we come!

I have been testing out some yarns as candidates, and have two of my three possibilities now finished.  First up, the Tiger’s Eye Socks, knit in Berroco Geode. A lovely yarn, but not for socks, sorry.  It is a near-single in ply, and too thick and thin for my taste for socks.  Also that fuzziness, for which I am developing a real distaste.  The stitch pattern was a slipped-stitch rib.

So next, I moved onto to the Sunrise-Sunset Socks, knit in Jojoland’s Rhythm.  Much better with a twisted ply for socks.  The loooong color repeats make for some interesting color combinations.  I think if Betsey agrees on this yarn, we’ll limit it to the color choices that do not vary extemely (I knit m23, purple/orange/yellow, and I considered it NOT one of the extreme varations like m09 or m24.)

I used the Roman Rib stitch pattern again, which is one of my favorites. I had to rip back a few times to get the new sizing down when knitting with worsted weight, but I think I have it now.

I have another worsted-weight sock started in a third yarn, but I’ll save that one for another day.

and that is the case for my Kureyon Ziggies (Ravelry link). The pattern: Ziggy Socks in the Knitty Summer 2008 issue, designed by Meg Meredith. I started out using the recommended needle size of 1.5 (US, 2.5 mm), even tho’ as a loose knitter I usually go down a needle size for most published patterns. I knit the toe, and went, ‘hmm, awfully loose, I’d better use US 1’s (2.25 mm).’ So I switched needles shortly after starting the stranding. Stranding with two hands, one holding the yarn for picking, the other holding the yarn for throwing went pretty well. After the first inch or so I had a good rhythm and my tension was pretty consistent.

Then the colors started blending together. I don’t mind a little of that, the ‘disappearing stripes’ offer some variation/interest for your eye. However, this was getting a bit out of hand, pink on fuschia, so I skipped a bunch of pink on one skein to get to the red just before I started the heel that was knit in one color (no stranding). As I tried on the sock and it grew up on my high arch, I got worried about fit, and switched back to the US 1.5 needles. Definitely NO GIVE in this pattern due to the stranding. Meg discussed in her pattern how to add extra stitches–I probably should have done that. Hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it?

The pattern calls for a short-row heel, with a variation on picking up wraps from how I usually do it. So, in the interest in learning new techniques, and I had not done a short heel in a while, I followed the pattern. As you can see from the photo, the heel barely seems to fit. I think this is a case where I should not have done a short row heel with my high arch and no give in the yarn fabric. More hindsight.

So the Ziggy sock is set aside (in timeout, shall we say?) for a while. I’m doubting even the first sock will be finished by the end of the Ravelympics on Sunday. (Only 4 and a half days more to knit!) I’m focusing my knitting time on other projects. More on that tomorrow.

Since it is Toesday, I thought I’d post some free sock patterns I’ve run across recently and added to my Ravelry queue…of course, I do that at the drop of a hat, er… sock, since I have over 300 projects queued.

Express Lane by Diane Mulholland. This is a toe up, short-row toe and heel sock with a lovely leafy simple design centered on the front. It is provided in two sizes and has calf shaping, so those of you with ’shapely’ calves will like this to make taller socks. Designed for fingering weight yarn, Diane recommends either a solid or patterned yarn as the simple pattern will show off both types of yarn well. Take a gander at the Ravelry project pages (if you have a Ravelry sign on, you do, don’t you?) for inspiration. The pattern provides both charts for the leaf design, but it is a simple chart, so if you aren’t too experienced in knitting from charts, this would be a good one to tackle.

Jules by Kate Blackburn. This is a traditional heel flap, knit cuff down, on 5 DPNs style sock. It is offered in two sizes, Woman’s 4-7 and Mens 10-12. The stitch pattern is a slip-stitch rib, but an alternative, more stretchy rib is described as well. The pattern includes charts and written instructions for the stitch pattern. People on Ravelry (project gallery here) have knit this pattern in solids, semi-solids and patterned yarns and have rated the pattern 4.5 stars out of 5.

Both of these patterns are from the new online knitting magazine, The Inside Loop, which is edited by Diane and Kate. They are publishing issues five times a year and have two issues online so far. Their focus is on UK designers and yarns, but is not intended to exclude others–they just want to make sure that “everything you fall in love with on this site is easily found in your (UK-ed.) local bricks-and-mortar or online yarn store.” An admirable goal, and the online world could use a bit of non-US focus now and again, in my opinion.

In addition to patterns, they spotlight UK businesses, and in the Summer issue, have articles on Natural Dyeing, The Hyperbolic Coral Reef, and learning the Magic Loop technique for knitting socks. In addition to socks, there are patterns for a camisole, a beach bag, arm warmers, a scarf and a crocheted stole in the Summer issue. Do take a look at the spring issue in their archive for more articles and patterns. If you want to print out the patterns, do open up the ‘printer-friendly’ .pdf versions first, as they have larger charts.

And yes, in the past month, I have been busy finishing up some socks. My parents came down from Michigan for a quick visit, so I had to quit procrastinating and finish up the socks I had planned to give to them.

For Mom, socks in Berroco Comfort Sock, which is 50% fine nylon, 50% fine acrylic, which means good for my anti-wool mom. The color is called Southland (colorway 1813), and the stitch pattern is Lacy Rib. I used my usual toe-up-two-at-a-time magic loop pattern, since these were samples of a pointier toe style for the May and June sock classes.

For Dad, I used Regia Mini Ringel in colorway 5339, browns/tans/grey even stripes. I used a stitch pattern from Charlene Schurch’s The Little Box of Socks called ‘Shadow Rib’ but used my usual toe-up pattern of my own design. Again, these were used as samples for turning the heel in sock class. I knit these on size 2.5 US (3.0 mm) needles, larger than what I typically use, and used 64 stitches per sock to make sure Dad had a loose fit on his ankles since he has developed swelling issues.

Lastly, I finished my luscious Annetrelac socks from Interweave Knits/Knitting Daily which are for ME! I used the specified yarn, Schaefer Yarn’s Anne, which is 60% superwash merino, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon. I enjoyed the pattern and the yarn muchly. I do want to do more Entrelac (Lady Eleanor is in my future), and once you get the ‘knitting backwards’ down, it is a lot more fun to knit. If you are looking for ‘how-to’s’ on knitting backwards, check out these links:

Knitting-and site

Knit Witch on Youtube (video)

Stream of Consciousness tutorial

Dr. Girlfriend Knits

The Teal Tofutsies‘ socks have now been finished. These were knit as samples for my toe-up, two-at-a-time, one needle socks class at Baskets of Yarn. The ribbing pattern is a plan K3, P2 on the instep and cuff. The heel has a traditional gusset and heel flap with the sl 1, k1 padded heel stitch.

I used a stretchy Russian bindoff, made popular by Wendy of Wendy Knits. I tried out the Icelandic bindoff which is shown on Youtube here or here (but called a Russian bind off, it looks the same as the one called Icelandic bindoff), and found it toooo tight–maybe if I went up several needle sizes, it would work, but I’m happy enough with the Russian bind off to stick with that. I can achieve a good castoff on the same size needles, without resorting to a sewn bind off, so it’s good for me. It does fluff a little at the edge when not being worn, but I can live with that.

I’m still working on the eyelet socks, the shadow rib socks and the campfire rib socks from the class to move them to the next stage of demo’s (ie, stop before the gusset, stop before the heel turn, stop before the bind off) for the next class which is scheduled for June 7th and 21th.

Sorry, I haven’t posted an update in a while (gosh…over two weeks!) , but I have been spending my spare time knitting a lot instead of blogging. It took me a while to prepare for teaching my first sock class (Toe-Up Socks, Two-at-a-Time, On One Needle) at my LYS, Baskets of Yarn. I had several sips (socks-in-progress) to show the class of six people and had three handouts (pattern, tips/techniques and stitch patterns) to create, including hand-drawn sketches of some of the techniques. So that took up a lot of my time. I hope to teach this class several times so will get more mileage out of the prep work for future classes as well. The first class went fairly well, other than a small mutiny when the class decided they did not care for the needles included with the class (they had difficulty while magic-looping in getting the stitches to slide easily over the needle join area).

This Saturday is the second session of the class where the gusset and heel will be the main topics. Then the class is being offered again in June, the first and third Saturdays. Here are some photos of the sock samples I have been knitting:

The first sock sample, will be used for demo’ing casting off next week. Knit from Tofutsies.

The second sock sample, will be used for demo’ing turning the heel. Knit from ??????Berroco Comfort Sock.

A toe/stitch pattern sample, in Opal Cotton:

Another stitch pattern sample, in Regia Mini-Ringel:

Second item that has consumed more of my spare time: upgrading to Wordpress 2.5 and then Wordpress 2.51. One or the other has broken a number of plugins for me, so I’ve slowly been rebuilding items. The ‘About Me’ and the ability to search my blog have now returned. My anti-spam word on commenting was broken for a day or so, now it has been updated to lasted level of Peter’s Custom Anti-Spam Plugin and seems to be working well. I’m still working on getting some of the post-writing-niceties back in place. (Yay! Alinks now works for me…and Advanced Tag Entry is fixed). Please do let me know (contact me tab above) if you have an issues on the site.

My arm got twisted by Margaret and Betsey, and as a result, I’m teaching a Toe-Up Socks class at Baskets of Yarn in May. It’s not that I don’t enjoy teaching, it’s just that when I did teach quilting, I got to the point where I was always thinking about what was a marketable class idea, and not making projects for my own enjoyment. I don’t want knitting to get to be that way as well.

So we’ll go slow and just start out with this class on knitting two toe-up socks at a time on a single needle. It’s the Magic Loop method, which I really have come to enjoy. It saves me from having to figure out where I put that fifth DPN, and I don’t have to worry about dropping it on the airplane (always the worst place to lose a needle!)

So I have been working on a pair of sample socks, knit out of teal Tofutsies, and I am halfway through the gusset at this point. I’ve been refining my basic pattern for a standard heel flap done toe-up, and at the same time putting the finishing touches on the Wrapped Zig-Zag Ribbed Socks (the socks previously known as ‘Dad’s Birthday socks’) for free distribution soon.

While I have several skeins of Tofutsies in my stash, this is the first time I’ve knit with it. It is 50% Superwash Wool, 25% SOYSILK brand fiber, 22.5% Cotton and the mysterious 2.5% Chitin (made from shrimp and crab shells!) It feels much softer than other cotton blends, probably due to the high wool and soysilk blend. SOYSILK is made from soy proteins and according to SWTC, ‘feels like silk and is as warm as cashmere.’ Some complain of the yarn splitting a lot, while I have had an occasional issue with splitting, it has not been enough to put me off the yarn.

In addition to teaching basic ‘magic-looping’ in the class, I’ll be teaching the following techniques:

• Judy Becker’s Magic Cast-On (my favorite cast-on for casting on toe-ups)
• What size to make for your socks so they fit (and you won’t need to make a separate swatch!)
• Lifted increases, made popular by Cat Bordhi–nearly invisible!
• A traditional-style heel flap even tho’ we’ll be knitting toe-up
• My favorite stretchy cast off for the cuff, the Russian Bindoff

With about ten days to spare, I finished the socks I am knitting for my Dad’s 85th birthday. The yarn is Knit Picks Felici, and while it feels soft (75% superwash merino) and has 25% nylon content for durability, I ran into two issues with it.

First, there are spots in the yarn without any dye–bits of white showing through the red or grey at the color changes. Not many, but a bit of white really catches your eye when you are expecting grey or black or red.

Second, I detected early signs of pilling on the toes. Just from the wear while knitting the sock? Not good.

At least the yarn is machine washable and tumble dry low. My mom washes my dad’s hand-knit socks in the washer, although she usually line dries them.

The pattern is one I designed myself, for a striped yarn to add some textural interest to the pattern. I like using ribbing to get a flexible fit, but wanted something more than just a 5×1 or 6×2 rib. The stitch pattern came from Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns and is called ‘Zig Zag Wraps.’ I plan to offer the pattern for download here and on Ravelry once I finish writing up the pattern.

The socks are knit from the toe up but include a traditional padded heel-flap and gusseted heel.

What’s next? I’m winding up a nice fat cake of Schaefer Anne for the Annetrelac socks from Interweave.

For Toesday, I thought I’d share a few free sock patterns I found of interest:

Modified Cloverleaf Rib Socks from Edina of ‘knit with me’. These are two-at-a-time, toe-up socks, knit with magic loop using a fingering weight yarn.

Lara’s Herringbone Lace Socks, from Lara of ‘Ramblings of a Knitting Nerd.’ These are knit cuff down, with a traditional heel flap, on 4 DPNs. Again, for a fingering weight yarn.

Roundabout Socks, from Ruth, ‘The Yarnarian.’ These have a yarnover pattern that moves around the foot, knit from the cuff down on your choice of needles (DPNs, 2 circulars or magic loop). It has a traditional heel flap, and uses fingering/sock-weight yarn.

While these are not socks, I thought they were seasonably appropriate, and darn cute:

Knitted Easter eggs, from Julie of Little Cotton Rabbits, which includes several different patterns for stripes, zig-zags, dots, checks.

Even tho’ this is really a WIP, I’d thought I’d comment on it on ‘Toesday,’ as it is a sock, and is being knit up from the toe.

I bought some Knits Picks Felici yarn on sale a month or two ago and thougt the grey/black/red colorway (called Firefighter) would be good for my dad. His 85th birthday is in early April, so I plan to have these done in time to mail to him for his birthday. Since this is a striped yarn, I struggled for a few days to find a suitable stitch pattern. Not just plain stockinette, and I’ve already made him Chevrons. I do like ribs for good fit, so I ended up browsing my stitch dictionaries and finally came up with a simple but interesting pattern. Just for some variety, I’m knitting this one on five 6″ DPNs, either Colonials or Lantern Moon, not sure which they are.

I still did the Judy Becker Magic Cast-on, but geez, the first knit round is mighty tough to do on DPNs. I either need to start with circular needles a la magic loop and switch to DPNs or do a different cast-on. This is likely to become another free pattern, this time for fingering weight yarn. I’m knitting Dad’s socks on 70 stitches (pattern is a multiple of 7).

Not sure yet what kind of a heel I’ll do. Short row is easy but doesn’t fit as well for some people as flap and gusset. I haven’t done a toe-up flap and gusset yet with which I’m completely happy. So we’ll see.

As far as resources for toe-up heel flaps, we have:

• Widdershins, which was the basis for the heel flap I did on Dad’s Spartan Socks.
• The Eclectic Heel, sort-of a combination of heel-flap and short row heel. Short-row with a mini-gusset.
• From Becca at Forward Motion, gusset and small short rowed section then knitheel flap, not unlike what I did on my Undulating Ribs socks. I may try this for these socks but try to get a tighter fit than Undulating Ribs (it didn’t help that those were 45% bamboo).
• Also I said previously I would try out the MimKnits tutorial from Miriam Felton–again, a gusset and flap, also similar to Widdershins.
• And another writeup from Knot Another Hat of what seems to be a similar approach, using a formula so you can plug in your own stitch counts (caution, not for the math-phobic or algebra-averse!)