Shoe Shots

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Shoe Shots

Practice Pair 1

I finally got around to getting this shoe shot of my 1st pair of socks. I have no idea how other people take these photos. I found it awkward bending over and trying to take the photo with the camera upside-down. Can you tell this was taken upside-down? I couldn't really see the LCD very well and was using the Force. However after flipping the photo around, I think it came out ok.

The Born Bagely shoes look better than the socks. I haven't worn these shoes out because all my pants are way too long. I have a handknitsock/shoe/pant problem here. I need something with a much higher heel for my pants, unfortunately my higher heel shoes don't work with the hand knit socks. I think these shoes will just be used for sock modeling...

Yes I know these plain socks aren't very exciting to look at. I'm currently working on more knit/purl textured socks and I hope to graduate to something more interesting to look at, like lace or cables.

Blue sock post: 7 Feb 2009 post (11 photos).
Related posts: 30Jan2009 post (4 photos) , 19Jan2009 post (11 photos).

Practice Pair 2

And there is the shot of the pink socks, my 2nd pair of socks. These were my first attempt at toe-up. Yeah, the cuffs are noticeably different, huh?

My hand knit socks don't spend much time in the sock drawer. They are either on my feet, in laundry basket limbo, and back on my feet the day after laundry day. I need to knit more socks so I have more to rotate through during the week as hey seem to spend most of their time in laundry basket limbo.

Pink sock post: 16Mar2009 post (17 photos).
Related post: 4Mar2009 post (10 photos).

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I got this from Diane ... check out this awesome video involving sheep and the BBC video on how they did this. You absolutely must see it! Go on, go take a lookie now. Just remember to come back afterward so you can read about my latest sock project, ok?

New digs

Thinkpad T61 (specs here)

I'm quite behind in all my online activities, mostly due to limited computer time, partly due to spotty internet connection (our box, not the service provider), and partly due to a computer upgrade. Check out my new (computer) digs above. It's not actually a brand new computer. To adopt a marketing term from a luxury car maker, this is my new "certified pre-owned" laptop. Although it's not quite as sexy as an Apple computer, I am very happy with the faster processor, larger disk space and more memory. The one thing I don't like is the widescreen LCD which leaves me in want for more vertical space; I hope I get accustomed to this soon cuz it is driving my nuts!

Practice Pair 3 Sock 1

Related posts:
13Apr2009 post (13 photos).
22Mar2009 post (9 photos).

Ah... so you noticed that little bit of knitting sitting on the laptop keyboard, huh? That is Sock #1 of Practice Pair #3. You saw the beginnings of this sock here.

Pair 3 Sock 1 - 60 sts, 2.75 mm

I started this sock at the toe and I like how it turned out. I've found that adding the K2 P2 ribbing plus the Red Heart Heart & Sole variegated yarn (RavLink) has made it easier to count rows. :-D I know exactly where the foot section begins and ends and can easily count the total number of rows in this section. Similarly for the leg section too! And I also find the ribbing to be more forgiving with the laddering compared to plain stockinette.

Sock 1, heel flap & gusset

It's interesting to see how differently my first toe up attempt with a heel flap in a solid yarn compares to the same using variegated yarn. The variegated yarn does add some visual interest to the sock, making the solid colored sock quite insipid when placed next to it.


heel flap & gusset

You can see I have started K2 P2 ribbing on the back side (of the leg) after completing the gusset decreases. Read further to see what changes I made in this area in Sock 2 of the pair. So far I have not managed to make 2 identical socks in a pair. I wonder how many pairs it will take me before everything gets sorted out so that I can make a true matching pair.

Sock 1, top view

Heehee, I think the vertical ribbing helps visually elongate my foot/leg (compared to similar top-view photos of the blue sock and pink sock). Who said horizontal stripes were bad? I don't think it makes my foot/leg look wider.

Pair 3 Sock 1 completed

Yay, halfway done! I am pretty happy with how Sock 1 turned out and I like how it looks.

Practice Pair 3 Sock 2

Moving on to Sock 2 of the pair...

I started this one differently from the first. This time I gave Judy's Magic Cast On a try (it's linked in my sidebar under the Knitting Resources section) and love love love love LOVE it! No more fiddling around with waste yarn & crochet hook for a provisional cast on. I have never been comfortable with the PCO. I understand you're supposed to be able to "unzip" the waste yarn side and I think I managed to do that only once. Every other time I am liberating the stitches one by one because the easy unzip thing does not work for me -- and it makes no difference which end I try to pull/unzip from. I'm just PCO-chalenged.

The only slight downside to Judy's Magic Cast On is that you must have 2 circular needles of the same size to begin it, and I bet there are people who cannot justify the purchase of 2 circs for the sole purpose of doing this cast on. Fortunately for me this is not a deterrent at all since a bunch of sock size circs fell into my lap way back within the first 6 months of learning to knit. Want to know how many? I have a circular needle inventory from July 2005 and am pretty certain nothing has changed in the sock sizes since then. Yeah, that's A LOT of needles, huh? And at that time my comfort knitting zone was a 5 mm (US8) size needle! I had no idea what I would use such small needle for. Now I am happy to have found a use for them. Besides starting Judy's CO, they are also turning out to be very useful for slipping stitches onto before trying on a sock (cuz it's easier to put the stitches back on DPNs from a circ than from waste yarn).

Sock 2 gusset

Here's what I did differently in the gusset area of Sock 2. I picked up stitches along both sides of the heel flap for the gusset and knit around. Then I decided to start K2 P2 ribbing (on the back side of the sock) at the start of the gusset decreases. If you scroll back up to see the Sock 1, you'll see that I had started the ribbing on the back side after completing the gusset decreases.

So how do I keep track of the stitches that will become the back half of the sock? Remember, we CO 60 sts, so there are 30 sts on each half. Stitch markers! The center stitch marker indicates the "center back" of the sock. The stitch markers on the left and right are positioned 15 stitches from the center. All the stitches between the left marker and the right marker are the stitches on the back half of the sock. This means all those leftover stitches between the left/right markers to the end of the needle will ultimately disappear in the gusset decrease rounds.

Ah... so you've noticed that my "center back" stitch marker really isn't centered between all those back-half-of-sock stitches, eh? Yeah, I've slipped 3 stitches (1 knit & 2 purls) from the left needle onto the right needle so that I can begin the left needle with a knit stitch. I did this because I hated how the "center back" stitch marker divided two knit stitches. I suppose I could have just slipped the one knit stitch from the right needle to the left needle instead. Plus I prefer my needles to begin with a knit stitch, it's just easier for me to knit that way.

I have nothing against needles beginning with purl stitches. My instep section begins and ends with P2. I could have shifted stitches there so that all my needles could begin with knit stitches.

Sock 2, gusset complete

And here we have the completed gusset section of Sock 2. You can see how the ribbing starting at the beginning (bottom) of the gusset decrease section work their way up to meet with the leg section of the sock.

I could have worked ribbing into the gusset sides too (the rest of the stitches that were picked up along the heel flap), however I thought having a bit of stockinette there would give it more visual interest. So which do you prefer? Plain stockinette in the entire gusset decrease section like in Sock 1? Or a bit of ribbing on the back side in the gusset decrease section like in Sock 2?

Stalking

Ever since I got into sock knitting, I am finding myself stalking children's tote bags/purses as a possible sock project carry-all. The kids get cute bags that are a nice size for sock projects. Just last month while DD & I were at the big local mall, Valley Fair Shopping Center, she gravitated towards a kiosk selling childrens' knick knacks/toys. While she was looking at stuff, I was scoping out the sock carrying potential of a drawstring bag and a little tote bag. I was so tempted. But I was good. :-)

Missy received this little tote bag from her grandma for her birthday. You can get an idea of its size next to the laptop. See? Perfect size for holding a ball of yarn, needles, a sock project, and possible a few notions. Yes? No? Maybe? And there aren't any "snaggy" parts to it ... no zippers or velrco.

This is the back side of the bag. Alas, I don't think Missy will want to part with her little tote bag. She loves bags of all types too.

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