It only took me 9 months

January 29, 2012 at 6:31 pm | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks | 3 Comments
Tags: fawkes, lace pattern, pair of socks

No, dammit, I didn’t have a baby! 9 month for a pair of socks!

Pattern: Fawkes
Yarn: Crafty in a Good Way Kona sock, color Forest, purchased locally at The Studio.
Needles: US 0, KP Harmony DPNs
Started: April something or other, 2011
Finished: January 24th, 2012
Mods: Followed the lace pattern, ignored their heel.

More on-the-couch pictures (cuz I know you love them):

Heel gusset ala Turtlegirl

Streeeeeeeetch!

Check out my Alphapillar.

Now to figure out what’s next. It’s time for me to use my 7 skeins of Cascade 220 for a sweater for me. I’m trying to decide between Sahara and the February Fitted Pullover. What do you think? Alive, Dead, both, or neither?

I’ll never be Audrey Hepburn

March 10, 2011 at 8:41 am | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks | 2 Comments
Tags: bright, charade, neon, owmyeyes

But at least I have some bright* socks to keep my feet warm.

On my exquisitely hand-made sock blockers.

Pattern: Charade by Sandra Park
Yarn: Wollmeise in Red Hot Chili
Needles: US 0, 2.00mm KP Harmony DPNs
Started: January 31, 2011
Finished: March 8, 2011
Mods: Knit over 60 stitches instead of 64, I carried the stitch pattern down the heel instead of doing an Eye of Partridge heel, used the riverbed architecture for the gusset.

Well, as best as I could remember it. I think it’s pretty close.

And I carried the pattern to the end of the toe.

Which of course is very hard to see, being that I just blinded you with the bright* colors.

And…

I ripped out that evil way too small sock.

The yarn is ready for its time out.

*huge understatement

Remember when I said I have a high instep?

September 2, 2010 at 9:36 am | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks | 3 Comments
Tags: fail

Yeah. Too high.

I even followed the instructions for a high instep, but clearly there’s just not enough stretch in the leg of the sock to get that far.

So yeah, these will be frogged – unless someone I really like comes along with size 6.5 feet and a very low instep.

But isn’t the color wonderful?

So now I’m swatching for a vest for me. I’ve got Cascade 220, and I need a good pattern. Suggestions? I want a simple stockinette V-neck. Right now I’m looking at modifying either the Gilmore Vest or the Sweetheart Vest to fit my gauge but I’m open to other patterns if you know of any.

A New Skew

July 1, 2010 at 8:08 am | Posted in knitting, Socks, WIP | 3 Comments

Here’s where I am on my pair of skews.

What? You say that it doesn’t look much like a sock?

Better? Want to see the heel? Please note how taut those stitches are in the band that wraps around the back of the heel.

Here’s another view. (Don’t get vertigo, I think I was dangling the camera to get this picture.)

Here’s the right side of the sock. You can see I haven’t closed up the hole after “turning” the heel.

So one word of advice. If you know you have a high instep, please don’t blindly follow the pattern. You will end up with a sock that will not, under any circumstances, go over your heel. And then you will have to rip out 3 days of work just to make the designer’s adjustments for your instep. This will not make you happy, and you will also likely forget one of the increases on top of the foot. You won’t fix it because there’s no way in hell that you’re going to rip out 3 more days of work.

(Yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Sun River. It also likes to blind my camera.)

How do you Photoshop leg hair?

April 8, 2010 at 8:01 am | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks, WIP | 2 Comments

Because I totally didn’t shave for these pictures.

Pattern: Uh, just a generic 56 stitch stockinette cuff-down sock, with a round afterthought heel a-la Turtlegirl‘s Let it Be sock.
Yarn: Online Supersock something or other
Needles: CP Bamboo size 0 (2.00mm)
Started: January 18, 2010
Finished: Oh hell, I don’t remember. Sometime before March 17th.

So I did the afterthought heel. I don’t like it on my foot, but I don’t do well with short row heels either. Were I to try again (which I might because I have more striping yarn) I’d work the heel over more stitches. I’d also be a little more particular about where I placed it – the foot portion of these socks are a little short.

These socks were possibly going to be gifts, but that’s not going to happen. Strike 1: They barely fit my feet, and the potential recipient has bigger feet than I. Strike 2: The yarn bled like crazy when I washed them. Strike 3: They were finished too late for the gift-giving occasion, so the person got a gift card instead.

But I do love the color, and even though they’re snug, it’s a good snug on me. Maybe my subconscious made me make them too small.

Speaking of other small things, I’ve lost some weight. My computer chair is just way too big for me now, see?

I just need a skirt and some wings, and then I’ll be done!

Status Updates

February 24, 2010 at 10:47 am | Posted in knitting, Socks, WIP | 1 Comment

The past month, in Tweets untweeted and statuses not updated:

- Going to Chicago, Yay! Also, finally healthy with no cough.

- Back home from Chicago. Hopefully we didn’t catch the vomiting bug that was going around.

- I’ve learned that you can use a credit card as an ice scraper at 2am, IF the temperature is 29° F and the ice on your windshield is fairly thin.

- Awesome, sump pump not pumping! Ice in the outside piping. Glad we caught it before the basement flooded.

So I’ve been knitting – boring knitting – but I’m at a point right now where I don’t want to have to look at a pattern. Heck, I didn’t even put in a heel!

Just a standard, 1.5″ 2×2 ribbing, then stockinette down to the wedge toe.

I need to show you how much I knit during our vacation.

Wait, let me get closer.

Yes, that one row is all that I knit on our trip. I get too carsick to knit in the car – heck, I get too carsick to do anything but drive.

So yes, I’m doing an afterthought heel. I just didn’t want the striping to change at the heel. But no, I’m not so particular that I made the socks match exactly. Go figure.

Practically Perfect in Every Way

September 21, 2009 at 2:36 pm | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks | 2 Comments
Tags: monkey

Why yes. Yes I do. (Thanks for the Sock Summit swag, Michelle!)

Pattern: Monkey
Yarn: Yarntini Variegated in Pumpkin Spice
Needles: My faithful CP bamboo DPNs, size 0 aka 2.00 mm
Mods: Only four repeats on the leg instead of six. Sherman short-row heel because I wanted to learn. I decreased to 60 stitches for the foot by decreasing 4 stitches on the sole.

I’m just… well… I’m just pretty proud of these socks. This was the best possible outcome – perfect yarn and pattern. If I was a better blogger I’d do an in-depth dye-job comparison between the Yarntini and the Yarn Pirate that I used for my last pair of socks. The Yarntini has much longer color stretches, so it knits up nicely at 60-64 stitches around. The YP has shorter color lengths, so it does the nice variegated thing at 44-48 stitches around.

Ah yes, the heel. I used the Sherman Short-row tutorial over at Mel’s place. I’m still not sold on short row heels for my feet, but I think I like this technique the best. I might try the afterthought heel next, I’m not sure. I don’t have any socks on the needles right now, because I’m working on a dress for Ladybug. (I know, she’ll probably hate it and never wear it. But at least this time it has some red in it.)

Uh-Oh, Baby is Waking Up

September 3, 2009 at 1:16 pm | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks | 1 Comment

Time for a quickie -

Pattern: Improvised, aka 44 stitch 2×2 ribbed sock with short row heel (Yikes, twice in a row. Am I sure I’m me?)
Yarn: Almost the last of the Yarn Pirate M/T in Dogwood. There’s a tiny ball left for darning. If I ever darn them.
Needles: CP US 0, 2.00mm DPN’s

Pic spam:

I’m very happy with how these turned out. Apparently, this yarn prefers to be knit at 40-44 stitches around. Shall I dare try them on the baby toddler now? It’ll be fun watching her wipe-out on the hardwood floor!

They are a pair

July 22, 2009 at 12:34 pm | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks | 4 Comments

As you may recall, I previously finished test knitting the Calvin sock for Turtlegirl. Well, I’m back with his buddy, Ripple.

This time using a top-down construction that also uses the riverbed architecture. The pattern on the front is made up of knits and purls, giving a nice wavy effect and it also plays very nicely with the hand-painted yarns.

See? (As always with Flickr, click for bigger.)

And you totally can’t tell them apart from their backsides.

Just like their namesakes.

What I’ve been up to

July 9, 2009 at 8:36 pm | Posted in FO, knitting, Socks | 3 Comments

This:

I just have to say that this is my foot, and I’m making it arch like that. Fun photoshoot.

It’s a forthcoming pattern from Turtlegirl – the Calvin sock. I test knit the smallest size for her. I’ve got to say, I really love the slip stitch pattern; the variegated yarn just sings instead of falling flat.

The yarn is Cider Moon Icicle in Avocado. I’m very sad it’s no longer available!

More pictures:

Can you tell I was having fun with Photoshop filters?

See how pretty the slip stitch is? It’s so very easy, too. The garter border makes it easy to keep track of your rows, and I love that it starts right at the tip of the toe.

The sock uses the riverbed sockitecture. Very interesting; it makes a nice deep heel pocket and for a girl like me with a narrow foot but a high instep, it works very well.