Stitches West 2008!

Had a great day yesterday visiting with my cousin who was up from sunny SOCAL. I sewed the last button on my mom's tweed stitch cardigan and she modeled it for the camera, so I will soon have pictures to post. The cardigan was originally for me, but gauge was not my friend once again. It was my first steeked garment, adapted heavily from a pullover in Sally Melville's Color book. My mom loves it, though, so it all worked out well. She's been wearing it with only three buttons all winter long.

I'm busy getting ready to go to Stitches West next week. I have homework to do ahead of time for all three sock classes I'm taking. I may not get much shopping done, which will be good for my budget and my stash. It seems like February is the month for knitting socks, both at home and in classes. I got in from the waiting last for one Cat Bordhi class, and also signed up for a class from Lucy Neatby and a more advanced design class with Cat as well.

I knit a little bit on my Printemps/Primavera socks yesterday as well. This is a really easy pattern that looks hard and makes the best of some of the more muted self striping yarns. I'm trying to get a few pairs of socks to the right point so I can have something to knit at Stitches besides homework. I don't like to bring a sock project out in public while working on the heel. I've finished sock one and started on sock two. I also turned the heel on the second spiral eyelet sock so I can bring them as well, and I just need to finish the top section of the first Cat Bordhi's Salish Sea sock from the last Rockin' Sock club shipment I got. I decided not to sign up again this year, since I haven't finished any of last year's socks. I have too much wonderful yarn and more patterns than I can ever knit now. I'm also working on a pair of hiking socks in DK weight wool for DH. The Thuja pattern from Knitty is another great, simple pattern that adapts well to many weights of yarn, and is really easy to knit.

That's My Story and I'm Sticking to it

Mea culpa (I'm not Catholic, but the image & words popped into my head.) It' s been over 2 months since my last post, so here's one I was working on BR (before )
I have been knitting, and here's proof: a felted bag project (my own design) finished and ready to shrink.

I also started (and finished) a larger felted tote, knit in a stranded design using two colors of Kureyon over the long, cold Thanksgiving weekend. The pattern was in MagKnits a couple of years ago and it turned out really nice. I hope everyone had some time to knit in the past few weeks.

I've gotten back into sock knitting recently as well. Must be the time of year. I finally finished my fishtail lace socks and started this spiral eyelet lace striped sock on Christmas Eve, and I'm also working on a pair of worsted weight socks for my DH.

I was an anthropology major in college but I got sidetracked by theater and costume design. My last semester in college I forgot to file for graduation so I took one Linguistics class and a whole bunch of fiber classes at the local junior college. This was back when they offered them for credit. I took quiltmaking, spinning and natural dyeing, weaving, upholstery and knitting, all in the same semester. The only two which stuck were knitting and quiltmaking. I stopped crocheting much and stayed with the quiltmaking through the following decades, coming back to knitting once when I got Kaffe Fassett's first book and then again about 9 years ago (for good this time.) The first item I knitted was a top down circular sweater made of Bernat Berella acrylic. My mom wore that sweater for many years up in the snow.

I learned to crochet right after high school and crocheted all through college, even during classes. Having something to do with my hands helped me to concentrate. If I didn't crochet, I would doodle and lose all of my focus. I made doilies, a tablecloth and a blouse from crochet cotton, along with shawls, afghans, ponchos and a room sized rug. When I learned to knit I switched to that because I liked the fluid look and feel of knitting better than crochet, even though crochet was easier and faster. I also wanted to make a fairisle sweater. Still haven't done that. Did I mention I was told that I was allergic to wool? I still am sensitive to Shetland wool and some other scratchy wools, as well as mohair and even some alpaca.

Instead of using my anthropology degree (did I mention I was also allergic to dust, which was a bad thing if you wanted to be an archaeologist), I owned a natural fiber clothing/fiber supply store for 11 years right after college. We had dye packets that didn't sell, so I dyed cotton and rayon t-shirts for the store. I also made custom cowboy shirts, wallets and quilts to sell.

I still love to dye fabric, yarn and clothing and create with color. I like to knit socks, felted items, scarves, cardigans and all manner of stranded and slip stitch designs. I first got into designing socks because I could never find patterns that fit my thick ankles & high insteps. I would just find a nice stitch pattern, adjust for pattern multiples/repeats and gauge and use my favorite heel and toe. After having success with socks, I have made sweaters for myself and family members. I would find a pattern with shaping that I liked and drop in my choice of stitch pattern. I usually don't write down what I do at the time I'm doing it, which I am trying to change.

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing

It's been a month since I posted. What can I say? I've been busy at work, knitting, and spending way too much time on Ravelry. I also went to a quilt festival and our big local whoop te do, the Half Moon Bay Pumpkin Festival. I'm lucky I can walk there, otherwise I wouldn't be attending. 300,000 people descend on our small town over two days, and traffic is a nightmare. All the locals do their grocery shopping on Friday night and stay home, or leave town early in the morning and come back late (like I did to go to the quilt show on Sunday). I also went to see Across the Universe on Saturday night after a sushi dinner for my husband's birthday. It was really a trip (back in time, too), and great singing too. I highly recommend it. Bono is great. I didn't recognize him at all, although I knew I had seen him before somewhere. I had to wait for the credits to see who it was playing his character. (I won't give it away.) I also went to two yarn stores last Thursday night during a local shop hop and had Chinese food afterwards. Great fun shopping with other like minded folk from my knitting group.

I've been knitting on my cotton sideways striped sweater in cotton. I saw this pattern in the Spring 2000 issue of Knitter's and have wanted to make it ever since. I had the solid colored cotton yarn, but I needed the variegated yarn, which is very thin, boucle loop cotton, and discontinued. I found someone who was destashing the exact amount I needed, in the right color. A trip to the Paypal site and it was mine! I've knit one front and most of the back already. I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the sleeves. Horizontal stripes don't look that good on my arms.

I also finished a stranded beret and am working on a few more. At least one is going to be felted. I found the free pattern through Ravelry and cast on immediately. I'd recommend you cast on fewer stitches for the brim, though, as the designer recommends. I'm plugging away at my lace socks, too, but they are usually relegated to waiting room knitting, or waiting for the movie to start.

Corrections to Fish Scales Pattern

I ran into a little trouble making my second sock.

Here is the corrected Fishtail Lace stitch pattern in its entirety:

Multiple of 8 stitches

Round 1: K1, *YO, K2, SL1, K2tog, PSSO, K2, YO, K1* repeat between *’s to end

Rounds 2, 4 & 6: Knit

Round 3: K2, *YO, K1, SL1, K2tog, PSSO, K1, YO, K3* repeat between *’s to last 6 stitches, end YO, K1, SL1, K2tog, PSSO, K1, YO, K1

Round 5: K3, *YO, SL1, K2tog, PSSO, YO, K5* repeat between *’s to last 5 stitches, end YO, SL1, K2tog, PSSO, YO, K2

Repeat these 6 rounds for pattern.

Sock Number One is Finished

Corrected 9/22/07
I finally finished the first sock of my most recent self designed pattern. Basically, I take a stitch pattern and plug it into my favorite basic sock pattern that fits me, but here it is if you are interested. I think that if I make this pattern again I'll leave an open area, or maybe a cable, between the lace repeats. The stitch pattern is Fishtail Lace, from the 365 stitch patterns calendar, and the yarn has a strand of glittery thread woven through it, so it's fish scales. I made my socks with 72 stitches, but my ankles are thick. The pattern is written for normal sized ankles. I wear a size 8.5" shoe, and I had about 10" of yarn left over, so you should be able to make a pair of 64 stitch socks up to about a women's size 11 shoe with 460 yds. of sock weight yarn.

Fish Scales Socks

Knitted on one 12" Circular Needle

Sized to fit Women's Medium (size 8 feet)
Gauge: 8 sts and 9 rows to the inch in stockinette.

Supplies Needed:

Size 2.5 MM Addi Turbo(r) Circular needle (U.S. size 1 (1.5) (or the size needed to achieve gauge)

Size 2.5 mm or 2.25 mm (1 U.S.) double point needles, which you will need for the heel and the toes, set of 5.

I prefer using a 12" ADDI turbo circular to knit my sock, so that's how this pattern is written. It can certainly be knit using any method you prefer. See my post about using markers instead of needles to avoid ladders and convert any pattern to your preferred method of knitting.

100 grams of Sisu Glitter sock yarn. This pattern will also look nice in solid, semi solid or self striping yarns.

2 small circular markers

Abbreviations:

CO = Cast on
K = Knit
KW = knit wise, or inserting your needle into the next stitch as if you were going to knit it
P = Purl
PSSO = Pass the slipped stitch over the stitch you just knitted (just like binding off)
PW = purl wise, or inserting your needle into the next stitch as if you were going to purl it
SL = Slip
SSK = slip a st PW to right needle, slip a second st KW to right needle, then move them back to the left needle knit those two together
TOG = together (as in K2TOG: knit two stitches together to decrease one stitch)
YO = Bring the yarn to the front of the work as if you were going to purl. Instead, bring the yarn back over the needle and knit the next stitch. This creates a hole, and a new stitch, which must be accounted for with an accompanying decrease
DD = Double Decrease (K1, SL1, K2 TOG, PSSO)

Sock Pattern
CO 64 sts. Join, being careful not to twist, and knit in 2 X 2 rib for 1 1/2 to 2 inches. *Knit 2, Purl 2*, repeat between *'s around.

Fishtail Lace Pattern Stitch (8 stitch repeat) Corrected/Edited 9/22/07

Round 1: k1, *YO, k2, sl1, k2tog, psso (DD), k2, yo, k1*; rep between *’s
Round 3: k2, *YO, k1, sl1, k2tog, psso (DD), k1, yo, k3*; repeat between *’s until last stitch, end k1
Round 5: k3, *YO, sl1, k2tog, psso (DD), yo, k5*; repeat between *’s until last 2 stitches, end k2

Rounds 2, 4 & 6: Knit around
Repeats rounds 1-6 for pattern

Place a marker at the join. The striping pattern of most yarns should look nice at this gauge. Knit around in the fishtail lace pattern stitch until the sock tube measures 6-7 inches long (slightly stretched), ending with round 5 of the lace pattern.

Remove marker until the heel is finished. Change to double pointed needles (or keep using two circulars or one long magic loop circular), keeping the instep stitches on the circular needle (or another holder). I knit the heel on double point needles. Knit across the first 32 stitches. This is the first row of the heel.

Heel: Eye of Partridge with slipped stitch edge (EOP)

Row 1: *slip 1, K1,* repeat between *'s to end

Row 2: slip 1, P to end

Row 3: slip 1, K1, *k1, slip 1,* repeat between *'s to last 2 sts, end K2 (Don’t end with a slipped stitch.) This alternates the slipped stitches, creating the EOP pattern. I originally discovered (unvented) this variation when I made a mistake doing the heel stitch and liked what I created. Later on I learned that it had a name. Many patterns will have you slip two stitches at the start of row 3, then K1, SL1, but for stability I prefer to have two knit stitches in a row instead of two slipped stitches.

Row 4: repeat Row 2.

Knit in this pattern until heel flap is 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 inches long. This is a matter of personal preference. Measure the bare foot of the intended recipient from floor to middle of ankle bone to determine the correct measurement. You can also knit until the heel flap is square, as many patterns state, but with the eye of partridge stitch drawing in the heel I prefer to use an actual measurement.

Heel turn: (round heel) Thanks to Dave Mackay's "heels by number" which was the inspiration for these.

(Note: SSK = slip a st PW* to right needle, slip a second st KW* to right needle, then knit those two together)

Row 1: slip 1, knit 18, ssk, k 1, turn

Row 2: slip 1, purl 5, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 3: slip 1, knit 6, ssk, k1, turn

Row 4: slip 1, purl 7, p2tog, p 1, turn.

Continue on, adding one st knitted or purled at the center of the row until all sts have been worked. I try to keep knitting the heel turn in the EOP stitch, but it's not essential. You should be ending with a knit row. If not, knit across the heel until you reach the first pick up edge.

Using a new double point needle, pick up & knit one st from each slipped st along the edge of the heel flap (about 20). If there is a little gap where the heel meets the instep stitches, pick up a strand and twist it, then knit it to close the hole. If you have to, pick up another loose area and repeat the process. Place the first marker here. Knit across the 32 instep stitches (still waiting patiently on the circular needle holder) , place the second marker. This will be round 6 of the fishtail lace stitch (plain knit), which you didn't knit earlier. Pick up & knit stitches on the opposite side of heel flap, knit across heel flap to three stitches from first marker. You should have about 88-96 stitches on the needle at this point. It is not critical to have an exact number of stitches, as you will continue to decrease the extra stitches away until you return to the same number that you started with.

NOTE: I've recently rediscovered a great band heel which mitigates the wider heel stripes and all decrease rounds at this great site. I knit my last two pairs using this heel and it is very nice. I still use the EOP slip stitch, which means I have to add a few rows to the heel flap before decreasing. Then I have a few decrease rounds after picking up the gusset stitches. Thanks to Nan for this great pattern and tutorial, and to Nancy Bush for popularizing the band heel.

Decrease Rounds:

Three stitches from the first marker, K2 TOG, K 1. Slip marker, and knit across the 32 stitch instep in the fishtail lace pattern to the second marker, slip it, K 1, SSK, knit around to the first marker. Around this point you will want to change back to using the circular needle. Knit one round without decreasing (or two, if you like a slower rate of decrease for a higher instep), and repeat decrease round. Repeat decrease and plain knit rounds until 64 sts remain on the needle, 32 on the instep and 32 on the foot. Knit plain, without decreasing, and keeping the instep stitches in the lace pattern and the foot stitches in stockinette, until the foot is about 7.25" long (2 to 2 1/2 inches less than desired length). .

Wedge toe:

Round 1: Knit to last 3 sts before first marker, k2 tog, k1, slip marker, K1, SSK, knit to last 3 sts before second marker, K2 TOG, K1, slip marker, K1, SSK.

Round 2: Knit around in stockinette stitch.

Change to double pointed needles again when you have too few stitches to go around the circular needle easily. Repeat these two rounds until 16 sts remain. Divide the 16 sts between 2 needles at the markers and Kitchener stitch (graft) them together (or do a 3-needle bind off like I do).

Now knit the second sock!

Copyright 2007 Margie Dougherty

All rights reserved. You may print this pattern and share it with others, providing this notice remains attached.

Sockapalooza

It's been a busy few weeks here. School started, which is always the busiest time of year for me, since I work at a district office. I received my package from my Sockapalooza 4 pal, Alice Yu, all the way from Onslow Gardens, London. When the package arrived I thought it was a Fairisle vest like Onslow wears so badly in Keeping up Appearances. What incredible socks Alice made! The yarn is my absolute favorite, Shelridge Farms handpaint from Canada, and the lace pattern is beautiful and Alice's own creation. How did she know my favorite early childhood book was Winnie the Pooh? The lace pattern, which somehow reminds me of oriel windows (don't ask me why), is called "Hundred Acre Wood". The socks fit me perfectly, too. Thanks so much, Alice!!!

Alice also sent along some incredible hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester wool from The Natural Dye Studio, a yarn I've never seen before. I am sharing the generosity with my own sockapalooza pal, whose package was sent off today.

Picture of her socks

I also finished up a UFO sweater project that had been languishing in the project box, lacking only half a sleeve and the button bands. I used vintage yarn purchased on ebay quite a while ago, a mercerized white cotton and a blue & white fingering weight yarn combined. I used the feather and fan pattern on the hem and cuffs, and crocheted a shell edging as well. I don't have a picture of the whole sweater, but here are some detail shots.

Six Degrees of Draco Malfoy

I'm supposed to post my assignment for the Hogwarts sock swap here for grading. I have to connect the Dursley family to Draco Malfoy in six steps, or degrees of separation, ala Kevin Bacon.

Petunia Dursley is the sister of Lily Potter, who is the mother of Harry Potter, who is in Gryffindor House with Neville Longbottom, whose parents Frank & Alice Longbottom are tortured into madness by Bellatrix Le Strange, whose sister Narcissa is Draco Malfoy's mother.