Today shall be forever known as the Day of the Dropped Stitches, for Better or for Worse.

For Better

I am obsessed with Jeanie, from the Winter 2007/2008 issue of Knitty. So pretty, so fun to knit. And it's lace (fun!) without being too "girly", and not floral at all. I think the cables help with the androgyny of it. Well, not that a lacy shawl could ever be truly androgynous, but as I said, at least it's not floral. I'm working mine in laceweight (Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace), and with fewer repeats of Chart C, so it will be more like a scarf than a shawl (hence Jeanette).

Even smaller than the original pattern, it's still the slowest knit I've ever encountered. It's all ribbing (even the cables), so you never get a good rhythm going. I also never seem to be able to put it down. It's addictive!

In the early hours of this morning, I got to the first row where I got to drop stitches. The yarn has a halo to it (being merino and all), and some of the stitches wanted to adhere together and not drop easily, but with a little persuasion and the help of my crochet hook, I got them to obey. It was terrifying (I couldn't help but worry I miswrapped ONE stitch somewhere along the line and the entire thing was going to fall to pieces in my hands), but oh god was it worth it.

So here, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, are three beautiful cables surrounded by dropped-stitch ladders:



(And yes, I am aware that however beautiful Jeanette is, my carpet is ugly of equal magnitude.)

I also LOVE knitting directly from the skein (no pesky ball-winding). I just drape it over my lap, revel in its softness, and try not to move too much. When it's time to put it away, I just twist it, and pull one end through the other. Easy as pie.



For Worse

Remember the Double-Knit Socks I posted about a few days ago? I was socking along, and decided to do a test-pull and make sure one wasn't attached to the other.

Well, it was.

There were two possible solutions: frog back two inches (really four, since it's two per sock!), or try to drop a few stitches down and fix it back up with a crochet hook. Needless to say, I chose the latter.

I got three stitches dropped down (and grabbed on a stitch holder to prevent further unraveling), and realized that somehow I had a 3" tail connecting the two socks that didn't want to let go. So I dropped a stitch on the other side.

Wait, no, there were TWO tails connecting the socks. What the hell was going on here? It looked like I did something really, really odd with one of the wrap and turns in the short-row toe.

My mind sufficiently boggled, I decided to set the socks down and finish fixing them in the morning when I have better light. Whatever the solution, it will probably include scissors and knots. Lots of knots.

Here's what my poor crazy socks look like right now:




Needless to say, tonight I'm drinking and working on Jeanette. At least she loves me.

Same blog, new look!

I decided things should be better-looking around here (Not that I don't like brown, brown is nice, but this is more knittery!), so I changed my page layout, colors, and ad style.

You'll also notice my new WIP progress bars! Aren't they great? They're powered by Ravelry, so any time I update things over there (i.e. every 5 minutes) they'll automatically change here. If you're a Ravelry member, you can click on the links to navigate to their respective project page over there.

I'm still making minor tweaks (especially to the progress bars!), so things will change a bit more, but overall I'm happy with my level of prettyness.

Oh, and aren't you just drooling over the yarn in the title banner? It's Cherry Tree Hill Merino Lace, in Indian Summer (my photo).

Today I'm working on a pair of my Perpetual Socks (I try to always have at least one pair of socks going, as an easy/portable project), using my Personal Favorite Sock Pattern.

I'm working with Regia sock yarn (4 fädig color).

I normally don't knit plain-stockinette socks, but these have something really fun and interesting about them: I'm knitting both at once, using double-knitting.

Over the holidays, I wanted to knit a pair of fingerless mitts, but didn't have DPNS in a size big enough for the yarn I wanted to use. I'd thought a long time ago that double-knitting (redistributing the stitches after casting-on so they didn't seal off the end) could be used to make a tube, and decided to try it. I ended up with my Either Genius or Crazy mitts (viewable on Ravelry):

The cables were a hell and a half to do, but the double-knitting was not hard at all. So I decided to do the same technique again on my socks.

Full tutorial coming Tuesday!

No new knitting recently because I've been too busy with arch stuff this week, but here's a photo from my recent night of mischief.



I bet you a pair of tip jar heels (worksafe) everyone would stop at intersections if they all had pole dancers on em.

I'm a size 8, just so ya know.

And yes, that is a giant motherfucking stop sign.

Socks are my absolute favorite things to knit. They're small and portable (if you're knitting on the bus you're not going to be poking the guy next to you with the ends of your 14" straights), they use small balls of yarn, so even if you buy two colors you won't end up with tons of leftovers, and you can make them in virtually any stitch pattern.

If you know me, you know I can't handle following a written pattern. I want to change everything. So after attempting my first pair of socks with a written pattern (and failing miserably), I graduated to a sock calculator, and then just started tinkering until I came up with my own pattern that worked best for me. Today I'll be sharing my Personal Favorite Sock-Knitting Pattern.

Gauge: Serious Business
Gauge swatches knitted flat do not work when the actual object is to be knitted in the round. Now, you could cast on for a swatch and knit it circularly, then measure, then start knitting your sock, but a sock is about the size of a swatch anyway. What I prefer to do is make an educated guess on what my gauge is going to be, then start knitting. If you guessed right, you'll already have the toe of your sock done. If not, well, it's no more work than a swatch would have been.

First, figure out what you'd like your gauge to be, When I'm using fingering-weight yarn (most yarns you see advertised as "sock yarns" are fingering-weight), I like to have about 9 or 10 stitches per inch. At this point, you'll need to look at the yarn label. Look at the recommended needle size and gauge. If you normally knit tightly, go up a needle size or two. If you normally knit loosely, go down.

Now it's time to do a little math. Nothing scary, I promise. This will be painless.

Measure around the ball of your foot (that fat part North of your toes but South of your arch). Write this down. Mine is 8.5 inches, so we'll use that.

You want your socks to fit nice and tightly, and knitting stretches, so make your sock a little smaller than your foot measurement. Multiply your measurement by 0.9. Presto, no more floppy socks. (I get a finished measurement of 7.65 inches, which we'll fudge to 7.7.)

Now use your gauge to figure out how many stitches you'll need in your sock. 7.7 inches at 10 stitches per inch comes out to 77 stitches. We want an even number here, so I'll round it to 76.

This is my short-row toe. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Now we know that we need 78 stitches around our sock. Well, a short-row toe is worked flat, so we'll only need half that, leaving us to cast on 38 stitches. For your toe, you'll only be using 2 of your 5 DPNs.

Use the provisional cast-on you like best. Two simple ones are to crochet a chain and pick up and knit stitches from the chain, or to use a regular cast-on in a waste yarn, then knit the second row in your "real yarn". Either way, your provisional cast-on should always be in a different yarn than your project yarn, so it will be easy to find and pull out later.

You'll now be working short rows to make your toe into a nice pocket. I like to use the wrap and turn method, but you might be more comfortable with a different one. If so, that's fine too!

Starting with Row 1, knit until there is one stitch left on your left needle. Wrap and turn.
On Row 2, purl until 1 stitch left. Wrap and turn.
Row 3: Knit until there are two stitches left. Wrap the first stitch and turn.

Repeat these rows, wrapping a new stitch every time, until half the stitches are left unwrapped in the middle of the row (for me, 19). Now we'll be picking the wrapped stitches back up and working them to make our toe.

Row 1: Knit until you get to the first wrapped stitch. Slip it to your left needle. Use the right needle to pick up the wrap, and slip both the wrap and the stitch back to the right needle. Knit the stitch and wrap together. Wrap the next stitch (it is now double-wrapped) and turn.
Row 2: Slip 1, purl until you get to the first wrapped stitch. Pick up the wrap and purl it together with the stitch, just like before. Double-wrap the next stitch and turn.
Row 3: Slip 1, K to the first double-wrapped stitch. Slip it to your left needle. Pick up both wraps with your right needle, and slip the stitch back to your right needle. Knit both wraps together with the stitch. Double-wrap and turn.
Row 4: Slip 1, P to the first double-wrapped stitch. Pick up both wraps and purl them together with the stitch, as in Row 3. Double-wrap and turn.

Repeat Rows 3-4 until there is one double-wrapped stitch left on each end. You'll work these after joining in the round.

To join, unravel your provisional cast-on. Pick up the new "live" stitches, and divide all your stitches so there is an equal number on each of your 4 DPNs.

Now just start knitting in the round. When you get to the double-wrapped stitches in the first round, pick up the wraps and knit them together with the stitch. After this round, you don't have to worry about them anymore.

This is important: Measure the length of your toe! You'll need this later to figure out how long your sock should be before you turn the heel. Mine usually come to about 1.5 inches.

Does it fit?
After knitting an inch or so, stop and try on your toe. Does it fit? Great, keep going! If not, you just made a swatch. Unravel it, and start back at the beginning with a smaller or larger needle.

The Foot
Now it's time to figure out how long the foot of your sock should be. Measure your foot from the tip of your longest toe to the back of your heel. Now subtract the measurement of your short-row toe. This is how long you need to knit before turning the heel. My foot is 8.5 inches long, minus 1.5 gives me 7 inches.

When you get to the right length, you'll start knitting your short-row heel. Decide which side of the sock you want to be the top, and which side will be the bottom. Knit across the top of the foot, but not the bottom. Your heel will be worked only on the bottom stitches, ignore the top for now.

Better than Achilles
Your heel will be worked exactly like your toe was! Repeat those instructions, doing short-rows down to half the number of stitches, and back up to the full number.

When you finish your heel, resume knitting in the round. The hard part is over, now all you have to do is finish the leg.

She's Got Legs
The leg of your sock can be worked however you like: all stockinette, a ribbing pattern, or stockinette with ribbing at the top. Having at least some ribbing will help your sock stay up instead of bunching at your ankle.

Finish the leg of your sock however you like, and bind off. You'll need a stretchy bind-off, or you won't be able to get it over your foot! I like the sewn bind-off explained at the bottom of this page.

Voila! You're done. Now all you need is a second sock.

This pattern definitely isn't the end-all be-all sock pattern. It's merely what works best for me. To get your perfect socks, I recommend trying it a few times with different modifications until you come up with your own "Sock Style".

Happy knitting!

These damn socks have been cursed from the get-go.

Seriously, I think the LYS that the yarn and needles were purchased at is built on an ancient Native American burial ground, or something similarly spooky. I honestly would not be surprised at all.

The first sock went off without a hitch. I can't even remember having to rip back once. I should have known right then that something was too good to be true. I bound off, and went on to the second sock.

First, a DPN broke for no apparent reason, as I was just knitting along in the middle of the row. Whatever, these things happen, maybe the wood just had a weak spot in it. I asked for a replacement from Brittany, which turned into all sorts of waiting around.

Finally, I got the replacement needle and started knitting again. The sock traveled with me a lot for a few weeks, to class and even on vacation to ski in New York with my family. All seemed well.

Then, on the return flight, I started to notice something was wrong. I was running out of yarn way too quickly. My ball seemed to go from a nicely-sized mass to something the size of a tangerine way too quickly. As you've probably guessed, I ran out of yarn. Two inches from the top of the sock. Yeah, it sucks.

I've been trying to track down the yarn (Online Supersocke 100, from the Afrika collection, colorway 996), and it seems impossible. None of my local stores have it, and anyway, it seems to be a bit wasteful to buy an entirely new skein to use less than 100 yards.

So right now, I'm staring at these, and wishing I had the magical ability to stretch my yarn.

Damn Indian burial grounds.