Archives for June 2007

(Hey, thanks to everyone who weighed in on the comment of different sock heels for different feet!)

Did you notice in the photos of my socks in progress yesterday that both socks were on two circulars?

Do you remember me saying how I don’t like knitting socks on two circulars? Yeah, I sorta changed my mind.

My main objection was having the length of the circular not in use dangling from the work. And the extra time it took to pull a needle up and put it in position to begin using it to knit.

Then I got some Knitpicks 16-inch circular needles and tried those.

Circular Needles 062807

Those are size 0 needles — Knitpicks classic circulars. The cord is extremely flexible so that you can easily bring the tips together to knit comfortably. This is a problem with some 16-inch circulars I’ve used. The cord was so stiff I couldn’t use them comfortably.

It ocurred to me to try the Knitpicks needles in the 16-inch length because the cords are so nice and flexible. And the needles are cheap — $4.99 each for the smaller sizes.

So I’m happy. 🙂

How about you guys? Time for a poll!

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Wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles, I now have a completed pair of socks.

Pagoda Lace Socks 062807

These are my Pagoda Lace Socks, knitted in merino sock yarn from The Knittery in the Passionfruit colorway on 2mm needles. They seemed to take forever because I knit them at a gauge of 10 stitches to the inch.

Pagoda Lace 062807

L-B will be test-knitting the pattern soon at 8 stitches to the inch, normal fingering weight, and then the pattern will be available for sale.

Book Giveaway!

I’ve got a copy of Take No Farewell by Robert Goddard up for grabs. This was a particularly good read, as I recall.

Want it? Send an email to blogcontestATcomcastDOTnet before noon Eastern time on Sunday July 1, 2007. The random number generator will choose the recipient on Sunday afternoon.

Lucy Sez

Lucy 062807

Have a great weekend!

(Can you tell I’ve been watching late-night television?)

We continue to bravely sock on. The heel has been turned on the second Pagoda Lace Sock.

Pagoda Lace Sock 062707

(That’s my hand inside the sock, not a deformed foot.)

The heel is poised to be turned on the second Double Eyelet Sock.

Eyelet Sock 062707

I was unable to knit on this on the commute home because the train was packed and the a/c not working. Hence, it was fifty million degrees on the train. Approximately.

Exciting, no? Well, rather then filling you in on my adventures as I attempt to telephone my shoes (Rabbitch, have you found that area code yet?), let’s address some stuff from the comments.

Kristin asked where she could find the double eyelet stitch pattern.

It’s available in a number of places, but the only one I have at hand fer-shure-right-now is the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year calendar. The double eyelet rib is the pattern for June 14 (but I winkled mine just a tad so it’s a little different).

Several of you asked if it was the KOARC who guessed I’d knit 218 pairs of socks. Nope, his guess was much lower, but still outside the realm of reality, methinks. But you never know.

Some heel questions . . .

Lena asked:

Do you have a sock pattern recommendation for someone with a small foot. Size 5.5-6? All the single socks I have made have ended up with a huge saggy heel and Im not sure how to adjust it so I was thinking to find a kids pattern? I was thinking for something plain.

If a regular gusseted sock makes a saggy heel, try a pattern with a short row heel — it’s not quite as roomy. Anyone else have any ideas?

And Elizabeth asked:

After two tries knitting toe-up socks and making the foot too long before starting the heel (but not realizing this until the heel was KNIT), I’m now wondering if knitting a short row heel and eliminating the gusset would solve my problem. I figured you’d be the best person to ask! Any opinion?

Well, you could start the heel sooner. 🙂 Sometimes it takes a few tries before you find the exact right length to knit the foot before starting the heel. Or you could do a short-row heel, as it does take up less real estate than a regular gusseted heel.

About That Scaffolding and Those Workers . . .

Nope, I am not taking photos of them. Nope, I haven’t even seen them. The scaffolding is not directly outside the livingroom window, rather it’s in front of the balcony, which is next to the window. The curtains in front of the balcony are firmly closed and I do not wish to expend the effort to actually get up and look.

Besides, Lucy has looked and she says they are nothing special.

I had a notice stuck on my door today that says the work is done on my balcony, so no more scaffolding.

Lucy seems a bit miffed.

Lucy 062707

Several of you have asked me that since I now seem to be doing all my toe-up socks with a gusset, do I prefer that to the short-row heel?

I dunno. Maybe.

I just got sick of the short-row heel after doing it exclusively for so long. Change is good.

Speaking of the gusset heel, I am mid-heel on my second Pagoda Lace sock.

Pagoda Lace sock 062607

I didn’t go to work today so I had some extra time to work on it. I had a doctor’s appointment today — here’s how long I had to wait at the doctor’s office:

Eyelet Rib Sock 062607

The photo’s a bit blurry — sorry about that.

The “How Many Socks” Contest

I have put together the spreadsheet with all the guess in my “how many socks will Wendy knit during the Summer of Socks” contest. Thanks to the majority of you who followed the instructions and put just the number in the subject line, it was fairly easy to export all the emails into a spreadsheet and sort by the subject field.

There was a total of 783 entries. The lowest guess was 6 pairs. The highest guess was 218 pairs. (The number “42” was well-represented, by the way.)

My best guess is that I will knit somewhere between 6 and 218 pairs of socks. You heard it here first, folks.

Miss Lucy

That was quite a dramatic pic of Lucy yesterday, huh? She looked so alarmed at the thought of me not being online. How did I get such a photo?

I pointed the camera at her and said “Give me surprise, baby! Give me shock! Come on, baby, work it!”

Nah. Actually there is some maintenance work being done on our condo balconies and periodically guys on scaffolding appear outside the window. Lucy is staring at them.

Like in this photo.

Lucy062607

Wherein I attempt to answer questions from the comments.

But first, another completed sock. I actually finished it before I posted yesterday, but I was too lazy to take another photo.

By the way, did you see the cool Summer of Socks count-down widget in my sidebar over there at the top right? My wonderful web guru Knotty Daisy set that up for me! Well, to be honest, she set it up on her blog and I saw it and whined “Ooh, can I have it too? Pleeeeeeeease?” and she set it up for me.

This is the first of the Double Eyelet Rib Socks.

Eyelet Lace Sock 062507

The way the pattern morphs into the ribbing makes me ridiculously happy. See?

Eyelet Lace Sock Rib 062507

(This is what lack of sleep does to me.)

I did start the second one.

Eyelet Lace Sock-in-Progress 062507

Not very far along — I did go to work today but I was in a semi-fugue state on the commute.

I also started the second Pagoda Lace sock.

Pagoda Lace sock 062507

About the Magic Cast-On, Melanie commented:

Ain’t that the truth?

How I Had the End of Last Week Planned:

Come home after working on my commuter sock as much as possible and knit like crazy on my at-home socks all weekend.

How the End of Last Week Played Out:

Yeah, that didn’t happen.

I had a bit of an accident Thursday caused in part by my back pain issues that rendered it extremely painful to knit for more than a few minutes at a time for a few days. Also to sit at the computer. Or pretty much do anything apart from standing up or lying flat on my back. Nothing serious, I think, but it has slowed me down nonetheless. Hopefully not for too long. I came home early from work on Thursday and I did not go to work on Friday, but I didn’t get too much knitting done on Friday either.

There were lots of questions in the comments to Thursday’s entry. Bear with me, I’ll get to them eventually. We do have a whole Summer of Socks, after all.

Thanks for all the contest entries. I am now no longer accepting new guesses, as y’all have new information on my sock knitting abilities. I will let you know the high and low guesses when I create the spreadsheet.

Today I’ve managed a bit more knitting. Well, here is the first commuter sock, near completion:

Double Eyelet Sock 062407

I worked on it a bit at home as well.

As several of you commented, the double eyelet pattern is available in a number of stitch dictionaries. This sock pattern will be released as a freebie in the not too distant future.

I think the heel looks purty:

Double Eyelet Sock Heel 062407

And here is the first “at-home” sock, finished:

Pagoda Lace sock 062407

This is 100% merino sock yarn from The Knittery in the “Passionfruit” colorway — the yarn I won in the contest over at Black Dog Knits. The lace pattern is “pagoda lace” from one of the Barbara Walker treasuries. Knitted toe-up, of course, and on two circulars! The reason for two circulars is that the lace panel is centered over the instep of the sock — much easier to do it on one needle than on 2 dpns.

Here’s a closeup of the lace pattern:

Pagoda Lace Closeup 062407

Lucy Sez

Lucy 062407

“Wake me up when it gets interesting.”