Jimmie's Sockotta Socks
tuesday. 29 may 2007. 11.17a.
Use Sockotta, Regia Plus Cotton, or similar wool/cotton/nylon sock yarn on size 1 needles.
CO 64 sts. Work 10 rounds in 1x1 rib, then work in st st until leg measures 6" long. Work heel flap over 32 sts/32 rows. Turn heel, leaving 10 sts un-short-rowed. Pick up sts along side of heel flap. Start gusset decreases in the 4th st in from each side, working 8 pairs of decreases every other round. 72 sts remain. Work 59 rounds even. For toe, dec every other round 7 times, then every round 4 times, then graft remaining 14 sts.
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Scientific Progress
monday. 17 july 2006. 5.18p.
Yes, I finished Inishmore that day, and I took it with me when I went to visit my parents. They loved it. Actually, I'm kind of impressed just looking at it draped over a chair in my basement. What a beautiful design and what gorgeous yarn. Anyone thinking about knitting an aran with KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, go for it. At $1.79 a ball, the price is unbeatable, and the stitch definition is fantastic. I will definitely use this yarn again.
Also finished since then are three baby sweaters and one me-sweater. I am really, seriously, not-kidding going to post pictures of them. The me-sweater is the one that means the most to me, because, in designing it, I feel like I've reached a new level in my understanding of knitted garment structure. It's knit from the top down, with no seams at all, set-in sleeves worked in the round using short rows, two sets of bust darts and waist darts. I designed it on the fly with no pattern. It is fantastic and I will definitely wear it as soon as it cools down enough to wear anything knitted.
I'm dying to cast on for something new but I have to resist. I have a half-finished throw that needs to get done before the move, in enough time to give it to the buyer. I have a ton of packing to do. I have a whole house to move!
I'm actually starting to get excited.
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Today's the Day
saturday. 24 june 2006. 11.43a.
Inishmore's getting finished.
I started knitting Inishmore, I think, right before Lent began last year. I think I put it away for a whole year at least, so I have no idea what the net time spent knitting this sweater is. It's definitely not my oldest unfinished sweater, though, as I have a Dale of Norway sweater that's completely done and sewn together except for one unfinished sleeve, and that's more than two years old now. I bet I'll finish that this summer too.
James's dad passing away last week has really changed my thinking. While it was a sad occasion, I had the great pleasure of meeting many, many members of his family. I don't think I'm ready to talk about it any more than that, but thoughts are percolating in my brain. This has been a very, very long week.
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Productivity
thursday. 15 june 2006. 11.38a.
Well, I finished the aforementioned third pair of socks, and James loves them. He wore them to work the other day. I also finished a sweater out of Jo-Ann Sensations Dolcetto, a cotton/wool/nylon blend that is, as far as I can tell, identical to Rowan Soft Baby. Both yarns are feather-light, extremely soft, and have a sort of felted/indistinct structure. They could be plied, chained, chenille or cut from sheets of felted roving, for all I know. It's very interesting yarn, lovely to work with, and surprisingly, has great stitch definition. Plus, it was 50% off :)
Rather than start a new project to reward myself, as I'd intended to do, I've dragged another old one out of storage. I started working on Alice Starmore's Inishmore sweater about a year and a half ago. I had a whole sleeve and almost all of the back finished when I got bored with it and it went in a box. Now the back is done, the front is past the halfway point, and I know I'm going to finish it this time. I am fretting about running out of yarn. How come I never order an extra skein? The yarn is KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, which costs $1.79 a ball, so it's not like I couldn't afford to buy an extra. But since I bought the yarn so long ago, there's no way I'm going to find the same dye lot again.
Right now I'm deciding that I am not going to run out of yarn, and that's all there is to it. Inishmore is a beautiful pattern that doesn't require any great needle acrobatics to work, and I'm really enjoying it. However, my next sweater will not have twisted stitches all over it (the Dolcetto one did too), as I need a break from p1tbls.
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WIP Reduction
thursday. 1 june 2006. 9.56a.
Pretty much anyone who has ever set foot in my house knows that I have a zillion unfinished knitting projects. A few of them are doomed projects that I haven't bothered to rip out yet, but most of them are nice things that I just haven't gotten around to finishing because there was something more exciting to knit. This never really bothered me that much until now.
The other day, I needed a particular size needle, so I went down in the basement to dig through my Rubbermaid knitting boxes (as opposed to the yarn shop bags of knitting in my bedroom or the endtable full of knitting in the living room). And I thought about where on earth I'm going to put all that stuff in the new apartment. The new apartment has one closet. Knitters everywhere know how terrifying a prospect that is.
So I figure I have two and a half months to get the yarn and knitting under control to the point where I can store the works in progress in my end table (with specially designed baskets for same) and the yarn in bins under the bed. James offered to build me a wall of shelving with zillions of cubbyholes for my zillions of projects, but I think this is a better solution. So in the past week, I've knitted the pairs of two previously orphaned socks and am very close to finishing a third. I also plan to finish James's scarf today, since all it needs is about twelve more rows and then a little seaming. After that, I can tackle some very minor finishing work on three pieces and give them to their intended recipients. Then I have a baby sweater that needs sleeves and a pair of flip-top mittens that needs one flip-top and a lot of ends woven in.
I would really like to be in the position of buying yarn for a few projects at a time and then completing those projects before buying more yarn, but I am a long way from that point. Maybe by the time I graduate law school. But probably not.
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Stockinette ad infinitum
sunday. 21 may 2006. 11.27a.
I'm a couple of inches away from being done with James's scarf. I'm making it out of Patons Classic Merino (his favorite yarn so far) to match the hat I mentioned in the last entry. It's all stockinette, seamed up the back and ends to keep it from curling, so it's a double thickness and about 7 inches wide by 7 feet long on size 5 needles. It's very heavy, warm and soft.
In the past week I've also knitted a pair and a half of socks for myself, which are also almost all stockinette. So I think at this point -- or, at least, when I've finished the scarf and the second half of the sock pair -- I'll work on something with some sort of texture to it, before I go completely insane.
Of course, James also wants me to make him a pair of gloves to complete the whole winter-accessory ensemble. But I think those might have to wait a little while until I can face the sight of still more grey merino.
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Story of a hat
sunday. 30 april 2006. 2.24p.
I have a tendency to complicate matters. If a problem has an obvious solution, I stand around wondering why it hasn't been solved yet, and I figure that the obvious solution must not work.
James likes plain knitwear. Plain, plain, plain. He also loves wearing the things I knit for him, appreciates the time I put into them, and will look over and say, "Hey! That's cool!" while I'm working on them. He is a great person to knit for, but for some reason I have trouble listening when he tells me what he wants because I think somehow I'll be able to get away with making something fancier.
I knitted a hat for James when we first met. He was in Ireland celebrating his birthday, and I was lovestruck and couldn't stop thinking about him. We'd had a really terrific date before he left, but I didn't know whether we'd see each other again when he got back. So I put my nervous energy to work and designed and knitted a cabled hat for him. He loved it, and it looked great on him, but it grew. (The yarn was merino/silk/cashmere and didn't have much bounce.) So by the time the hat's second winter rolled around, it was too big to wear. We tried shrinking it in the washer and dryer, but it came out looking good as new and as big as ever.
I told James I would fix the hat for him, but that it would mean ripping out and reknitting it. I could make the new hat look very similar to the old one, but it wouldn't be the same hat that I made while I was pining for him (and he was, unbeknownst to me, buying me Irish wool). So I decided to make him a new hat.
I have a problem with hats not fitting, so I usually make them all 2x2 rib. But then they end up coming out the wrong length: too long to wear straight, but too short to fold up properly... or else so long that the folded-up cuff looks ridiculous. So I got out some yarn that I didn't know what to do with and knitted a test hat, for size. Once I knew his size, I made him an all-stockinette hat with a two-and-a-half-inch hemmed cuff. In dark grey merino. It looks gorgeous and is the world's plainest, most conservative hat. It fits him like a charm and he loves it.
Sometimes the obvious solutions are the best ones.
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Shopping!
tuesday. 25 april 2006. 6.33p.
Because my car's CD player likes to jam, I figured it would be good to have an alternate method of listening to music in the car, so today I bought an iPod Shuffle and a combination car charger and FM transmitter. I've now loaded it up with music, but it's cold and rainy outside, and I don't feel like going for a drive right now to try it out. It does sound great, and it's very light and easy to use.
We went shopping in the Strip District. Even though we go there all the time, I'm always surprised at how much you can get for so little. At the produce place we always go to, I got three pounds of red grapefruit, a pound of key limes, an avocado, a bunch of scallions, and an onion for seven dollars. I'm making tacos for dinner. James always makes them, so this'll be my chance to learn. This morning I baked corn muffins with cheese, bacon and jalapeños in them, so we'll have those on the side. It's a great luxury to have the time to cook whatever I want. I made chicken and linguine with puttanesca sauce on Sunday, and tomorrow I'm going to try my hand at making empanadas. I want to get good at all this stuff so I can do it without thinking about it too much once school starts.
I've been working on the Vogue Knitting sweater, too, but it's either a sloppy pattern or an error-riddled one. I'm always so picky about having everything match up perfectly. I'm having to widen the sleeves to make things match up properly, but that's okay because I hate tight sleeves anyway.
I think the new iPod will be a nice knitting companion, too. I like to listen to or watch something while I knit, and daytime TV is awful, and I don't like listening to music on my tinny laptop speakers. I'm going to take it in the kitchen with me now, too, and see if I can cook with music on.
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Bear with me
sunday. 23 april 2006. 9.17a.
As it's been about six weeks since I last posted, I'm sort of surprised I haven't been removed from the Knitting Bloggers webring. Thanks for the amnesty, ring-checkers... I think I should be able to post a lot more often now that I'm voluntarily unemployed for the next four months. Let's call it a sabbatical.
Yesterday was my first day off since quitting The Job, and it was excellent. I slept late, drank two huge mugs of tea, ate cupcakes, took a long hot shower, watched Brokeback Mountain, read maybe a third of The King of Torts by John Grisham, straightened up the house a bit, caught up on my blog-reading, and of course, knitted for hours. And that was all during the time I would have been at work. Then James came home and we exchanged our rented movies and then went out for dinner and drinks at a bar in Regent Square that neither of us had ever even heard of. James says he's sick of sitting around the house all the time, and I agree! We're going to go out more this summer.
So, knitting: as usual, I'm working on various things as the mood grabs me. I'm halfway through a pair of socks for James in Plymouth Sockotta, and I don't think I'll use that yarn again. The yarn feels sort of harsh, and it irritates my ankles. (Of course, they're not for me, so that might not be a problem, but James is even more sensitive to synthetics than I am.) Also, I finished Sock #1, he tried it on for maybe two minutes, and when he handed it back to me, there was a hole in the leg! What is a hole doing in a brand-new, unworn sock? The yarn had obviously snapped and the plies were all frayed. Fortunately, I'm a duplicate stitch master and I managed to save it before it got worse, but this doesn't bode well for the durability of these socks.
I'm also working on two small projects for other knitters, which is something I don't usually do, but I love these girls and have wanted to knit them something for a couple of years now.
The project I spent hours working on yesterday is this one from Vogue Knitting Winter 2005/2006. I think the pattern calls for Classic Elite Montera or something similar, but I'm using some off-white cotton/wool/nylon yarn from Jo-Ann's. My Jo-Ann's of choice went out of business a couple of months ago, and I got 12 balls of this yarn at 50% off. It's so soft and nice to work with! Today I'll probably finish up the back and start a sleeve or two.
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FO! FO!
saturday. 4 march 2006. 11.35a.
I finished the Birch shawl this morning, just in time to go to our friends' wedding this afternoon. It is gorgeous. I also had my very first experience with the wonders of steam-blocking. Why didn't anybody ever tell me that a light steam-blocking takes less than ten minutes and that the fabric actually moves when you hit it with the steam? It undulates and stretches and spreads. Seriously cool stuff.
I used about one and two-thirds skeins of KnitPicks Shadow for this shawl, bringing the cost to something like $7.50. It took something like a month of fairly consistent work. So very worth it.
I promise to post a picture as soon as I can find my camera cable.
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More patient knitting
thursday. 23 february 2006. 9.14a.
I know I've written about lots of knitting epiphanies before, and this one in particular I know I've mentioned: knitting is boring. Not in a bad way. But what begins as exciting, stop-and-admire-after-every-row knitting soon becomes tedious, and sometimes what's simplest is most beautiful.
I've been knitting the Birch shawl from Rowan 34, which I hadn't been able to find for less than $30 and then magically nabbed for $16 a few months ago. I've wanted to knit this shawl since the book came out, which, since they just released 39, I guess is about two and a half years. I wanted to knit it so much that I had started twice on the Kiri shawl (pdf link) despite knowing that I probably wouldn't enjoy knitting it. For some reason, I could not keep up with the pattern, which is rare for me. Just couldn't do it. I'd make one mistake and not understand how to fix it. Also, Kiri begins with only a few stitches and adds stitches each row, so the shawl grows more and more slowly as you work on it, which does not match up well with my psyche. For Birch, you cast on 299 stitches and decrease 10 over each 8-row repeat.
I calculated last night that I'm 3/5 done with the shawl, and I'm still really enjoying knitting it. Amazing! Usually by the time I'm half-done with a project, I'm sick of it and have started at least one other thing to stave off the boredom.
I'm using KnitPicks Shadow, which is their laceweight merino yarn, and it's beautiful. The pattern is written for Rowan Kidsilk Haze, but since I've had some mohair issues in the past, I decided not to risk it.
James and I are heading to Bloomington today, so before we leave I'll have to look and see if there are any can't-miss yarn stores in the vicinity.
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Whodathunkit?
tuesday. 31 january 2006. 12.15p.
I finally got bitten by the sock bug. Isn't that weird? I've heartily disliked knitting socks for several years, and now I love it? I think it's due to a combination of factors: - I discovered Clover bamboo needles. They don't make irritating noises like metal ones, and they're not brittle or grabby like wooden ones. I love them.
- I started knitting with DK-weight wool on size 3 needles. I'm sure I'll knit some finer socks later, but for now, the fact that I can knit a pair of socks in a weekend is encouraging.
- I have the technical skills I need to make the socks come out the way I want them.
- I've learned some patience over the past few years.
I found a local source for Jacquard acid dyes, so I'm thinking of buying some KnitPicks sock yarn and some white vinegar and trying my hand at the dyeing thing.
I have today off, and while I'd love to be knitting, I have to go do dishes and laundry and my taxes. Sigh.
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saturday. 14 january 2006. 2.59p.
The crocheted cashmere shawl is all pieced together, and I've begun the edging. Crocheting is weird. I've been knitting all of five years now, and I feel really graceful when I knit. Knitting makes fabric that I find beautiful in every way. I really enjoy the experience.
Crocheting, on the other hand, can produce a product that I think is beautiful—like the shawl I'm making—but I just don't enjoy it. I thought it was that I didn't like the product, but no, I really don't like the process. Stabbing at itty bitty stitches while squinting is not fun for me. Maybe at some point I'll be able to crochet by feel, but as of now, I can't. I'll finish this project, and I'm sure it'll be gorgeous when it's done, but I can't say when I'll crochet something like this again.
I'm thinking about ordering some yarn from KnitPicks. I have a few small projects in mind. I want to get alpaca, silk, merino, and some of that glorious blend of cotton and rayon they call Shine. I want to make beautiful things that feel beautiful while I make them.
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I feel useful
wednesday. 4 january 2006. 9.38a.
Apparently handknit, custom-fitted, soft wool socks are the greatest thing in the world. James's feet are always warm now. I'm going to have to knit many more pairs of those socks.
James is insisting that the next pair I knit be for me, so I started a slightly smaller pair, also with the Patons Classic Wool. I'm doing a 48-stitch leg and foot and trying my first afterthought heel. I'm motivated to knit them fast, since our furnace is broken again. Hopefully we'll get someone from the rental agency on the phone and they'll do something about it today.
I can't believe I'm actually knitting socks and not hating it. This is the first pair of socks I've finished in two and a half years.
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Free pattern, custom-fitted for one
thursday. 29 december 2005. 4.55p.
I'm knitting James a pair of socks, and as it's taken a couple of attempts to get the fit right on sock #1, I thought I'd record the pattern for posterity. The beautiful thing about these socks is that they're not too bulky, knit up lightning-fast, and can be made entirely from materials found at your local Jo-Ann Fabrics or A.C. Moore or whatever you happen to have near you.
This is the super-shorthand, pithy pattern written entirely for my own benefit, but if anyone else would like to use it, feel free!
Jimmie's Socks
Size: to fit a men's size 10.5 wide foot
Gauge: 6.5-6.75 sts/in (inexact is okay, because knitting stretches)
Materials: 1 ball Patons Classic Wool (223 yds/100g) in main color, plus oddments of a second color for heel and toe, or 2 balls for a single-color sock
1 set of 5 Clover bamboo DPNs, US size 3 (3.25 mm)
Cast on 52 stitches with main color. Work 7 rounds in 1x1 rib, then 49 rounds of stockinette stitch. Spit-splice in contrast color. Work short-row heel across 26 stitches, narrowing to 10 stitches across at narrowest point. Switch back to main color and work 46 rounds stockinette stitch. Switch to contrast color and work 4 rounds stockinette stitch, then work decrease rounds every other round three times, then every round until there are 24 stitches left. Graft toe.
In the future, I might switch to an afterthought heel, because my short-row heels are not as pretty as I would like them to be, but in general I'm quite happy.
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wednesday. 14 december 2005. 5.21p.
This afternoon, with the accompaniment of a couple of Dead Like Me episodes, I finished the 13th of 15 medallions for the shawl. I really wanted to get them all done today, but my brain is pretty numb. I would like to get started on the edging, which has got to be more interesting or at least slightly faster.
I've been wearing my cuddly new alpaca scarf to work every day. It is deliciously warm—actually too warm, sometimes—and not itchy. People touch it and say "ooh, soft!" Therefore, I highly recommend Blue Sky sportweight alpaca yarn for all your scarf needs.
I'm now trying to figure out what to do with the scraps from said scarf. I have scraps in six colors, probably totaling 40-60 grams total (100-140 yards, roughly?). I sort of feel like crocheting something with them, but I can't think of anything useful. Maybe I'll just make a pretty square and use it for absolutely nothing.
James made lime bars and pineapple upside down cake this afternoon, and both are cooling. I'm excited to try both.
Back to the hook.
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sunday. 11 december 2005. 6.42p.
Crochet with laceweight cashmere for long enough and you actually do get used to it. The nearly imperceptible progress becomes almost irrelevant. The shawl I'm making consists of fifteen medallions and an edging. I think I'm on medallion number eleven. Soon I'll get them out and check, and then crochet together what I have.
I'm not an experienced crocheter at all. I've made one tote bag and several hats, as well as an edging or two on knitted projects. One of the reasons I agreed to this commissioned shawl is to increase my skill. I think I do have a more intuitive understanding of how crochet works now. I'm really looking forward to doing the edging, which is loopy and lacy and complex-looking.
I've also been working on a scarf for James out of some amazingly soft merino from Frog Tree. The pattern is a sort of twill weave accomplished by slipping stitches with the yarn in front. He loves the way it looks, and I do too, but again, the progress is very slow. I feel like I've been picking monotonous projects lately: a shawl with fifteen identical motifs; a scarf with a repetitive stitch pattern; a sweater with 3x3 cables over the entire body; a ribbed hat. James said the other day that his mother, who is a terrific crocheter, seamstress, needlepointer and quilter, isn't too impressed by the fancy stuff, but loves well-done handwork. I guess that's what I've been doing lately, and I'm finding it more fulfilling than I would have expected.
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Not very knitty
sunday. 27 november 2005. 9.07p.
James just made a delicious shrimp stir-fry for dinner, with red bell peppers and snap peas in a very simple brown sauce. Now we're listening to Alison Krauss and Union Station's live album and relaxing. It's a nice Sunday evening.
I finished the green cabled sweater and have been wearing it all over the place, but I think I'm going to add some sort of crocheted collar treatment (maybe just a row of slip-stitching at the upper edge) to keep it from sagging. Just as I had hoped, it's a slightly oversized, very comfy, snuggly sweater. But I want to wear it to work, and I have to make sure it's not indecent!
Not sure what to work on next. I started a design called Onza from Rowan 34 in some of the recycled cotton/acrylic coned yarn I have, but the cotton yarn is making my hands hurt. I'm almost done with the back, though, and it's a Kim Hargreaves design, which means it'll be gorgeous when it's done. I might continue to work on it and just take frequent breaks. I've got to do something with this yarn, and I love the color (a slightly bluish medium grey).
I have some commissions I need to make headway on, though. Sigh.
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New knitting book
wednesday. 16 november 2005. 7.58a.
After a couple years of wanting it, I've found a copy of Rowan 34 at its original price. So now I can make Rapunzel, Birch, and that gorgeous brown sweater with the blue vines and little red flowers. I'll find pictures later, but for now I'm just pleased :)
Also, work on the green cabled sweater continues apace. I'm maybe 1/3 done with the second sleeve. I sewed the raglan seams on the side of the sweater that's done, and I'm actually sort of impressed with myself. It's so beautiful! And, though I haven't tried it on yet, it appears that my improvised wide scoop neck has come out exactly as I hoped.
I'll definitely publish the pattern for this one when it's done. It's not complicated (there's only one cable, and a little increasing and decreasing), but it's just so pretty. And cheap! I think it's going to use 14 balls of KnitPicks Merino Style, which sells for $2.29 a ball.
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Conflicted
friday. 4 november 2005. 6.51p.
I want to buy some of the beautiful Peruvian Collection Quechua from elann.com, but I really don't need yarn. So I guess I won't buy it.
I used to spend a lot of time thinking about buying yarn, buying yarn, starting and restarting new projects from my new yarn, and feeling guilty about my yarn. I still spend the same amount of time thinking about buying yarn, but I don't do those other things anymore. Maybe I need to stop thinking about yarn acquisition so much! There'll be plenty of time for that in a few years when I've worked on my stash for a while.
Maybe I'll see if I can make it a year with no yarn buying. Only five months to go!
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