I’ve been holding out on most of you, and it’s about time I came clean.

Those of you who have knit my toe-up sock with slipstitch heel know that after you knit the gusset, you do a few short rows that form the curve of the back of the heel, before you start the heel flap. It looks like this right before you begin the heel flap:

Okay, you know how in my instructions for the heel, there is a point when you are told to knit across and pick up the wraps as you do?

I don’t pick up the wraps.

I knit across, very firmly, and leave the wraps in place. It’s on the bottom of the foot, and you pretty much can’t tell the difference in the completed sock.

I discovered this one day when I was working a heel on the train. I was at the pick-up-the-wraps row and the lights went out. Rather than sit quietly and wait for the lights to come on so I could see the wraps to pick them up, I just let them be. And I’ve never looked back.

There. I feel much better now.

Vote for Your Fave

I’m taking votes for a name for my new sock design.

I picked a few of my faves and made a poll.

You guys came up with some good ideas — thanks for everyone’s suggestions!

Lucy is a Good Girl

Liz R. asked:

How do you keep Lucy from chewing on the cords of the circular needles? My kitties just LOVE those pretty purple cords on the Knit Picks needles.

Lucy is surprisingly uninterested in my yarn and needles. I can leave work in progress lying around and she never touches it. The only time she will touch a skein of yarn is if it has a label or ballband she finds particularly alluring. She has been known to remove the band from a skein of yarn, more than once, in fact.

Notice the new backdrop? I got a new throw and pillows for my couch.

It’s all excitement all the time chez WendyKnits!

My new sock design is still nameless. I haven’t given the naming of it much thought, so it still lacking an identity, the poor little thing.

But it is growing, like a good little sock. Once again, nested in a bed of Ragdoll fur:

And the sole, because the yarn knits up into such a gorgeous fabric:

Sorry, not much to say today. I have been singularly uncreative today. Perhaps I’ll have something coherent to say tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Lucy is still working on her “hen on a nest” pose:

Contest is over, the winner has been chosen by the all-powerful, all-knowing random number generator. The winner is Happyneedle!

Thanks to everyone who left a comment. I wish I had Wollmeise for all!

Speaking of Wollmeise, I did manage to suck it up last night and knit the ribbing on the second Halcyon sock.

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve posted the pattern as a freebie. Go to my “free patterns” page (click the tab at the top of this page) to get the pdf.

What’s next . . .

A return to my beloved Eidos sock yarn from the Sanguine Gryphon.

The start of a sock, on a bed of Ragdoll fur. And the flip side:

This in the “Socrates” colorway. (I’m thinking that it is not a coincidence that this colorway is sort hemlock-colored.) Anyhow, the yarn is just gorgeous, as is all of Gryphon’s colorways. Because the color is dark and deep (it’s actually a bit darker than the photo shows), I’ve worked up a pattern that is quite open and lacy.

This is my own design, and I’ve not named it yet, so at this point it remains “To-Be-Named.”

Here’s Lucy in one of her favorite places:

Her momma’s lap.

Although I was very lazy all weekend and did little knitting Friday night or Saturday, I did get a “second wind” on Sunday afternoon and got in some good knitting time while watching movies. so the second Halcyon sock is coming along nicely.

In fact, all that’s left is the ribbing.

In a fit of efficiency never to be reached again, I’ve already written up the pattern and it is available as a pdf, here.

The pattern stitch is very subtle, so you can use a striping or variegated yarn with good results.

Hey, who wants my leftovers?

As you may know, Wollmeise comes in 150-gram skeins. I have two balls leftover that weigh about 30 grams each, so about 60 grams total. Enough for a child’s pair of socks, right?

If you’d like me to send you my leftovers, leave a comment to this entry and I’ll choose one at random and send that person the leftover Wollmeise. One comment per person, please. I’ll pick a winner tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon.

So I am of course thinking about  what’s next. I’ve worked up a couple of designs from which to choose. 

Speaking of sock designs, did you know that Aire River has a couple of new versions of their knitting symbol font available? It adds a couple new symbol choices for k2tog and ssk. There is a version 1.04 for the PC and, far more exciting, a version 2.0 for the Mac! I could not get the previous version (1.03) to display properly on the Mac, so I’m pretty excited about this. Thank you, Aire River!

Lucy is once again in hen-on-a-nest position.

The picture of contentment.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my upcoming book. I really appreciate them, and I appreciate that so many of you have pre-ordered it sight-unseen from Amazon. (Insert big sloppy kiss here.)

The book has a total of 23 toe-up sock patterns; 3 basic socks, and 20 patterns for lace (easy, intermediate, challenging), textured, cabled, and sportweight socks. There are some that are appropriate for both guys and girls. There are designs that look good in solid colors, slightly variegated, and wildly patterned. So, a little bit of everything.

There’s also an extensive techniques section with step-by-step illustrated instructions for different cast-ons, bind-offs, and heels, as well as information on using dpns, 2 circulars, and 1 long circular. And all the tips and tricks I know for making your sock knitting experience a success.

The photos of the socks are incredible — worthy of a coffee table art book. I can’t wait for you to see them! The socks are modeled by two lovely young ladies and the styling of the photos is just beautiful. Not only are there beautiful “art” shots of each project, but lots of close-up shots so you can see all the details of each design. (Note that I had nothing to do with the photo-shoot — that is all due to the genius of Potter Craft.) All full-color, I’m happy to say. The book design is also wonderful — also courtesy of the Potter Craft designers.

Sorry, no photos of Miss Lucy in this book. While she helped me to write it, she wanted to remain anonymous.

As far as book signings and such-like, it’s way too early to know what will be done, so please don’t ask me at this point. I simply don’t have any answers. Publication date is April 2009, and that’s still a long way off. As soon as I know anything, I’ll tell you!

Back to the present, I did finish the first Halcyon sock:

Here’s a close-up of the pattern:

I’ll post the pattern as a freebie when I’ve got it finalized. I’m working on the second sock now, but am not very far along — I’ve not done much knitting this weekend.

Lucy has been spending time with a friend.