rtfm

i finished the big guy's first sock. it came out really well. love the pattern, easy to knit, nice to look at. the sock fits him and he thinks it is comfortable. couldn't ask for much more.

so i was pretty excited to finish it. i knitted down to the needed number of stitches to bind off; kitchenered them up with a book for guidance instead of the usual knitting help dot com video (finally getting the hang of kitchener) and excitedly looked at the finished object as it popped off the needles. that is when i noticed something was amiss. how could it be? the toe seam was vertical to the sock. what!?! took another look, and my first assessment was right, the seam is vertical to the sock instead of horizontal. OI!

now i knit my socks on two circulars. and thanks to cat bordhi's great instructions, i can adapt any dpn pattern to a two circular pattern, no problem. whenever i came to a place that stumped me, out came the book for reference. but i knew what to do for toes so did not consult the book before i finished. which is why the toe seam ended up as it did. this is because each circular needle holds half of the instep stitches and half of the sole stitches. but as cat brodhi instructs in the book, all of the instep stitches need to be put on one needle and all of the sole stitches need to be put on the other needle. that way, the toe seam ends up being horizontal and not vertical. which i would have known had i read all the instructions in the book .

sigh. glad i discovered this now before more socks were needlessly maimed. and double glad that the big guy is a bit quirky so has no problem with the toe seam of his sock going vertical instead of horizontal. it hurts me to even think of it. sigh.

feel the force, luke

i love knitting socks. this past spring i joined the ravelry socks of summer 08 group. and though i will never be able to finish socks as quickly as some can (how can knitters finish a pair in two days!?), i am having a great time knitting them and being inspired by socks others knit.

when i was taught to pick up stitches, the sock guru who taught me suggested not worrying about picking up the exact number of stitches suggested; she always said if more stitches were picked up then more gusset decreases would need to be done, no big deal; the main objective was not to have gaps along the heel or at the gusset. so when picking up stitches, i am always aware of how many stitches need to be picked up, but I am not locked into that number. i tend to pick up the stitches “by feel” of what is needed.

when I picked up the stitches for my cute husband’s second sock, I discovered I picked up more stitches on the first side then I did on the second. hmmm, interesting; did not think much of it, just kept knitting. after picking up stitches for the pair of sport socks I am knitting the big guy, i counted my stitches and realized I had picked up 10 more stitches on the right side then I did on the left. wow! sort of a big difference. though the second side did not look so bad, my scrupulous eye was able to spot maybe the smallest gap or two, but still nothing to frog over.

but it did make me aware that it would be a good idea to pay a wee bit more attention to the number of stitches i am picking up; that I may actually need to mix a little more logic to the “by feel” way of picking up stitches to make sure the sides were even.

sigh. where is yoda when you need him?

btw, discovered a couple of little gaps at the gusset where a stitch or two would have done wonders. rats.

and in case you are interested: pattern: lonnie's sport socks by rebecca mercier, found on ravelry; yarn: lorna's laces, shepherd striping sock, in caramel or harvest, not sure, from purl, nyc

so close

i have been working on the flying v scarf out of exquisite little knits since last christmas season. it was a last minute knit for the department christmas gathering. and i have to admit, for the most part it has been at the bottom of the knitting pile. but i recently dug it out and have been taking it with me everywhere so i could knit it whenever i got the chance with the hope of finishing it before this christmas season.

i was so close to finishing it that i started to get worried. worried? yes, because the more i knit, the wider the scarf got. i thought my tension had changed; i thought i had loosened it dramatically. until i had the thought of counting my stitches. the last 15 rows of the scarf pattern depend on having a certain number of stitches. so i counted the stitches. and found instead of the 32 stitches i was supposed to have i had 46 stitches. this is why the scarf was wider. my tension was fine.

so i frogged...and frogged...and frogged until i reached the needed 32 stitches which resulted in the scarf looking like this:

it seems i forgot to do the middle SKP stitch on a regular basis. which meant i had an extra stitch on a regular basis. which, in turn made the scarf wider on a regular basis.

so i will start from here and knit it all again, in hopes that i can finish it sometime soon and be comforted by the fact that at least there will be fewer stitches to knit!

recognizing right from wrong

i have been knitting the leg of my cute husband's sock for quite some time now. so i was pretty excited when i took the measurement that told me it was time for the heel turn.

off i knit, feeling comfortable with the measurement and having no problems with the pattern, when, eleven rows into it, i realized, the purl side of the heel turn was on the knit side of the sock! and vice versa. isn't it supposed to be knit side of the heel turn on knit side of the sock...and vice versa? yes, i believe so. so what the heck happened? am i sure about this? let me look at this again. check it again!

and so i did. and i was pretty sure my assumption was correct, but not exactly sure where i went wrong.

so i started to unknit. and unknit. and unknit. i won't even discuss the transition on my cp circular needles and how i am feeling about them right now. let's suffice it to say these may be the only socks these needles will ever knit!

after much yarn tussling, i got back to where the heel turn started and read the instructions again...co 88 stitches - ok; work in k2p2 rib - did that; knit leg to length desired - did that; starting with ws row, TURN work before first row - did that...didn't i? i mean, i uhhh, used a different needle. but...let's re look at the... ummmm, ..... OH! that's what the directions meant! no! no, in fact i didn't, i didn't turn the work. oh nuts! ok, so let me turn the work and give it another try.

and off i knit, take two. and this time it all works. the knit side of the heel turn is on the knit side of the sock...and vice versa. and it looks soooo much nicer. and my camera isn't embarrassed to take the picture. and i am thankful i caught this mistake on row 11 and not row 44!