Socks on the Radio

This morning’s broadcast of Think Out Loud on Oregon Public Broadcasting was all about the Sock Summit – read and listen here.  Think Out Loud reminds me of our local show called Radio Smart Talk.  The experts on air were Cat Bordhi (rah!), Jo Hartman, a Portland LYS owner, and Bob Petkun of Knit Picks (but I wish Kelley had been on, also!).

I thought Cat did a great job of “sitting with knitters” during this broadcast.  She praised the work of LYS owners and the work of companies like Knit Picks.  Jo Hartman of Yarn Garden complained about how discounted book sales were hurting LYSs but did not offer much else.  Bob and Cat did a great job of responding.  I did love that Bob was loaded with industry statistics.  It was interesting to hear about market shares in the yarn industry. 

Give this a listen if you have an hour to kill – or listen in the car while you drive somewhere.  You can pretend you’re here in Portland this week!

Now, I have to leave this speedy internet connection at the Fairview branch of the Multnomah County Library and go down to the convention center to get registered.  See ya!

Cocoa Pebbles Socks

Cocoa Pebbles Socks
Originally uploaded by JLW in PA

My latest office knitting project, the Cocoa Pebbles Socks, is now done. The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in colorway "Pebbles" (now discontinued), but I kind of renamed it "cocoa pebbles" because it looks so chocolate-y.

These were knit cuff-down in Charlene Schurch's "uneven rib" pattern. The toe is a star toe and ends in 6 stitches. Instead of doing the purse-style closure, I kitchenered those stitches. I thought it would result in a nice tight toe like the one you get with the figure-8 cast-on in a toe-up sock. It's a little nipply, though. I'll have to wear these and decide if I want to do that again.

I reinforced the heel by running yarn through the columns of slipped stitches on the inside of the sock (Cat Bordhi mentions this technique in New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One). It's easy to do, and I think it does make a difference!

All told, these socks took about a month to knit - but I only knit on them at work and the occasional weekend social event. That's like getting extra hours in the day!

Coriolis Socks

Coriolis Socks
Originally uploaded by JLW in PA

Katie's socks are done! Here they are modeled by a very helpful little boy. They are a little hard to get on and I hope they are not too small for her. I think the tightness is a result of the construction, not the end fit. I tried to make these a little bigger than the foot I measured last month, to allow for growth spurts . We shall see.

I also increased the stitch count around the leg a bit on the way up, for a little more shaping. This is very helpful in a sock with a stockinette cuff.

I've got plenty more of this yarn left - probably enough to make her another pair of socks when she gets older. Or... how cute is this hat made of sock yarn? (sorry, it's a Ravelry link)

Can we talk about my (sock) issues?

People, I need help with my sock issues. These are the Paca Peds harvest socks I've been working on for a while. Remember? I'm almost done with the first ball of yarn and here is what they look like:

Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to rip back. Why? Lemme 'splain:

1. The slipped-stitch pattern makes for a very dense fabric that will wear like iron but doesn't stretch much at all. The sock is tight.
2. If the sock fit perfectly, that might not be a problem. But since I'm not ace at the toe-up short-row heel sock construction, I made the foot too long. My instructions said to knit the foot until it reaches the ankle bone. I stopped short of my ankle bone because the foot just seemed so long, but the food was still nearly an inch too long. So these became Sharon's socks (that's her foot pictured).
3. Then I put on the short-row heel. I decided that I would not attempt to knit this in pattern but just do a plain stockinette short-row heel. But stockinette fabric seems so flimsy compared to the strength of the slipped stitch pattern (its official name is "faceted rib"), and the heel is the hardest wearing part of the sock, so I wanted to reinforce it. So I got some reinforcement thread (my LYS stocks Fortissima in 5 g packages and I bought the "pale brown" to blend in). I've never used this before. The mending yarn is much thinner than the sock yarn, but I didn't change needle sizes when I began double-stranding the heel. Consequently, the heel was really difficult to knit. What do you think about how the light brown blended in with the main sock yarn? (see photo below) I think it's less noticeable in person than in the photo.
4. The sock is really difficult to get on. I think this is because (a) the fabric of the foot does not stretch, and (b) the foot of a toe-up short-row heel sock is the same circumference all the way to the heel. I've only knit this construction a few times, but I'm thinking that it is not for me. Human feet get bigger between the arch and the heel, and socks should do that, too. When I knit cuff-down socks, the decreases after the flap heel cover that part of the foot very nicely. There is no similar change in sock circumference when you knit the toe-up short-row heel sock. I switched to the next size needle (2.25 mm) at some point in the cuff to make it easier to get on, but it didn't help much.
5. And finally, I'm almost out of yarn. I anticipated this would happen since the slipped stitch pattern eats up more yarn per linear inch than a regular one, and I figured I would have to finish the cuff in a contrasting yarn. I even picked one out of my stash. But now I'm not so excited about the look.
   

I think that covers my issues. I had such high hopes for these socks. I ripped them back once already to get them right, but I still haven't gotten them right. I think I'd better let these rest a bit.

In an attempt to recover my sock mojo, yesterday I cast on for Katie's birthday socks using some yarn that Kristina bought a couple years ago at MDSW. She brought it with her on her last trip in order to split one 100 g skein into 2 equal balls (using my scale). But I could tell that she wasn't excited about knitting it. Try as I might, I have not been successful in giving her the sock bug. I offered to knit socks for Katie out of the yarn. Her third birthday is coming up, and little girls often get socks from me for their 3rd birthdays. I'm doing the Coriolis sock from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book 1. It's a toe-up sock, but it has plenty of expansion rounds before the heel. Clearly I need to explore this type of construction more if I'm going to knit socks toe-up. [Side note: Have you seen Gretchen's Coriolis-in-progress? It looks gorgeous! Great yarn choice for that pattern.]

Kristina, is that Tess sock yarn? I'm not even sure! Photo coming next time...

Harvest Socks

Note: OOPS! I wondered why no one had commented on this post. It's because I posted it to my book group blog, not my knitting blog. Does that tell you how crazy my week was last week? I just now noticed it myself. So, here is a bit of a time machine, taking you all the way back to last Friday, 10/10.

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I have been wrestling with this sock yarn for about a week, but I think I've finally got it under control. This is a recent acquisition, Paca Peds (alpaca-wool-nylon) in color "Harvest." The colors are a little less bright than in this photo. By the time I got outside this evening, it was dark enough that the flash went off.

Because I ran out of yarn on the last pair of socks, I decided to do these toe up. I divided my big hank into 2 equal balls. I wanted to use Charlene Schurch's "faceted rib" stitch pattern, which contains slipped stitches on 2 out of 4 rows. I thought this would help prevent pooling in this variegated yarn. I think it does!

But... the first time I started these socks, I did the stitch pattern on the top and plain stockinette on the bottom. Because of the slipped stitches, the top fabric was much denser - and shorter - than the bottom. About an inch into the pattern, the sole of the sock was 50% longer than the top. I thought this would cause a problem by the time I got to the heel.

In the end, I used the stitch pattern as written on the top: And I modified it slightly for the sole. Here's the sole. See the difference? No purl bumps.

It's pretty subtle.... I went to an all-day library meeting today, so I got lots of knitting done.

That's Cat Bordhi's whirlpool toe, which was begun with a figure-8 cast-on. I love that beginning. I used it for both pairs of my sidestream socks (red for S, green for me).

Happy Forest, Happy Feet

Today I finished my "work socks" (meaning, the sock project I work on at the office). This is my second pair of Sidestream Socks, one of the new "sockitectures" from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters, Book One. (To see the first pair, check Flickr or Ravelry.) I love how simple and elegant this structure is.

This pair knit really quickly, probably because it's mostly stockinette (when was the last time I knit a stockinette sock?) and because the midfoot stitch count is only 56 (normally I knit socks at 72 or thereabouts). They fit like a glove. Cat's master numbers work! I chose the whirlpool toe, which is pretty, and the reinforced heel.

I adore this Dream in Color Smooshy sock yarn. It's soft and springy (4-ply merino), with plenty of color variation (for a semi-solid) but NO POOLING. I tire of pooling.

In spinning news, I finished filling a bobbin last night. I'll start another tonight and work toward plying again. The new bobbin is much smoother than what I did last week.