To the Pond and back

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Pair 5 Sock 2 is coming along nicely compared to Sock 1, despite a trip back to the pond.

Pair 5 Sock 2 64 sts 2.75mm

I've started Sock 2 of Practice Pair 5. You saw Sock 1 here. Of course I had to take this opportunity to try something different. I decided to give SRH another try. This would be my 2nd try after my first failed attempt with pink sock Pair 2. Since the SRH came out short with the pink sock, I decided to compensate by knitting the foot longer before starting the SRH. I should have stuck to this, but noooooo, I had to add one more change. I also increased 12 sts before starting the SRH (incr 2 st ev other rnd). And I worked the SRH until I had 12 sts left in the center before turning aronud.

SRH 1st attempt

My sock looked like this after completing the whole SRH dance. My sock looks weird, huh?

SRH (1st attempt) over 44 sts

Here's a close up look at the heel. Notice how the back protrudes in an odd way? Yeah, that's the problem. Perhaps it'll be more obvious when you see it on my foot.


SRH 1st attempt

SRH 1st attempt

There is way too much fabric behind my heel! I pressed the excess down so you could see it better. Well, it's time for me to pay a visit to the froggies at the pond...

I'm not sure where I went wrong. Surely it was a combination of working SRH on 44 sts instead of 32 sts, plus starting the SRH later in the foot. I had knit the foot for 7" before starting the SRH. Perhaps I should have stopped at 6" or 6.5" instead.

So what might have made this SRH work?

-- Knit foot for 6" to 6.5" before starting SRH? (knit shorter foot and make no stitch increases)
-- Knit foot for 6" to 6.5" AND increasing 12 sts before starting SRH? (knit shorter foot and make stitch increases)
-- Knit SRH until there are16 or 18 sts left in the center? (instead of 12 sts)

I dunno. All I am certain of is that this SRH is not going to work for me. I am not wearing a sock with excess flab hanging off the heel.

Deux heures plus tard

I can't believe it took me 2 hours to fix my SRH. I didn't know how to stick a needle through my SRH (like a "lifeline", see links in sidebar under Knitting Resources section) because of the extra stitches hanging off to left & right of the center stitches. So I ended up tinking back, one stitch at a time. It was a slow process, especially when the yarn would sometimes "stick" to adjacent strands.

SRH 2nd attempt

I brought it back to 18 center sts (I think) before turning around to go forward again. I think I could have gone another 2 sts (to 20 sts) for an even snugger fit. But I am happy with this 2nd attempt, and am not going to tink back again. I can see this will fit better than the 1st attempt.

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I am sad to see my favorite yarn from E going away for good. This became my favorite DK weight yarn after they discontinued the Highland Silk. E is having a bag sale on the remainder of their stock and they have remaining single balls here. Only 3 colors left in bags; they started with only 5 colors, so you missed the cream and purple. I've made 10 scarves from this yarn (this one in regency rose and ruby; this one in ruby; this one and that one in tapestry blue; this one in cafe au lait; this one in irish moss; this one in viola phlox; this one in merlot; and this one in capri blue. So I guess I really liked this yarn! Sigh... now I need to find a replacement (nevermind that I had already stocked up on quite a bit over the years and don't need more DK weight yarn).



I am nearly finished with this historical fiction and I find myself slowing down a bit because I know that it does not end well for the protagonist.

I've been plagued by allergies lately. They have never been this bad before. I've been taking B in recent weeks, but then discovered that it was making me drowsy; I had forgotten this little detail. Today I am trying out C instead, which is non-drowsy and lasts for 24 hours! I still had a runny nose for a little while after taking C, however I noticed I didn't have as many sneezing fits. Well that's an improvement! I should go outside and pull weeds right now, although I don't really want to "test" how well C is doing with my allergies. The K tissue company should be happy that I am helping to keep them in business...

Time to do another load of laundry, have some lunch, and return books to the library. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Just a couple of pics of a ladybug I found crawling on my kitchen floor. The odd thing is that this ladybug has no spots! It was hard for my camera to focus on something so tiny, so the pics aren't very clear. It seemed easier to take a photo of the other ladybug from June 2008. I let him crawl around in my kitchen for a little bit, and then I scooped him up and placed him outside where he may find things more interesting.

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