try try again

Related post:
28 March 2009 post (1 photo, shoe shot)
4 March 2009 post (10 photos)
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Practice Pair of Socks #2
Yarn: Elann Sock It To Me (ravlink)
Needles: 2.5 mm

I frogged the pink sock and started over, this time with 2.5 mm pointy sticks (instead of 2.25 mm). With any kind of troubleshooting, it is best to only change one thing at a time so you can clearly see what that change affects. I was definitely trying to do too many things in my last attempt.

This time I cast on for the toe and worked plain stockinette for the foot for ~6.5", about 69 rounds I think. I was aiming for ~8.5" total.

I did not want to do short rows again. So I decided to try a heel flap & gusset. Ok, I've done the heel flap when starting from the top, surely this should work starting from the top ... it's the same thing, just worked "upside down", right? I think it should work.

Well, the heel flap turned out to be 2.5" long. My total foot length is now 9". Will this be too long? I placed the stitches onto circs to try it on.

Well, it looks like it fits ok around the heel (compared to 7th & 8th photo on this page), however there appears to be some dangling toe bit. Doesn't really look great, but lets keep going...

I continued the leg for about 46 rounds and then worked 10 rounds K1P1 ribbing. I used K2P2 in my first practice pair (the blue one), and thought I'd try something a bit more snug for this one. I like it!

For the 2nd sock, I knit the foot for 6 inches instead of 6.5 inches.

Then I took a sampling of 28 rounds from the foot section to get a feel for how long the heel flap would be.... about ~2.5 inches, just like in the 1st sock. Then I continued in the same manner as the 1st sock, knitting a heel flap, working the gusset, and continuing up the leg.

This is what a "backwards" heel flap looks like. The heel flap portion that you normally see on the back in a cuff-down is now positioned on the bottom of the heel in a toe-up. I did a slip1-knit1 type heel flap on Practice Sock #1. For this Practice Sock #2, I decided I did not want so much "texture" when the heel flap is underfoot, so I just did it in plain stockinette. The heel turn, gusset stitch pickup & decrease are worked exactly the same as I worked it in my blue cuff-down sock. I think I did a neater job this time around, I think it'll just get better as I knit more socks.

After finishing both socks and trying them on, I realized that I made "pointy" toes on both. Besides knitting the 2nd sock foot 0.5 inches shorter, I had also meant to make the 2nd sock toe "rounded". Well I apparently forgot to work it that way when I started it. Oops! I do not like the dangling toe bits on the pointy toes. I think a rounded toe would probably fit my foot better. I'll try to remember this for the next pair.

Ladders are still quite visible. I'm still working on improvements in this area.

So here's the odd thing about my sock knitting so far. I seem to use a combination of 3 needles and 4 needles on my sock, and I am not consistent with using the same number in specific sections of the sock. I guess I am still trying to find a nice sweet spot with number of needles.

Here's Practice Pair #2. They fit ok. I like everything about them except the dangling toe bits. Maybe they'll sort themselves out after a few wash cycles? However do you notice anything odd about them? No? Take a look at them side-by-side:



Still don't see it? Let's take an even closer look:

The ribbing does not match. I worked 10 rounds in the 1st sock and 5 or 6 rounds in the 2nd sock. No clue how I could have made that mistake. Oopsie. The one with the shorter ribbing tends to fold over, rather than lie flat. I'll have to remember to work future cuffs 1 inch or more.






Here are side views of one sock, the one with the shorter cuff.

Here are side views of the other sock, the one with the longer cuff.

Overall, I like doing socks toe-up. Just need more practice with the fiddly beginnings, other than this, it is pretty easy the rest of the way... as long as I remember how many rounds I worked in the 1st sock. ;-)

Project Notes:
Yarn: Elann Sock It To Me
Needles: 2.50 mm
CO 10/20 toe-up, 56 sts total
Sock 1: 6.5" foot before starting heel flap, 28 rounds ~2.5"
Sock 2: 6" foot before starting heel flap
leg: 46 rnds st st, 10 rnds ribbing

Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.


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Short Pointy Sticks

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These are from Michele, from a drawing she had for these lovely pointy sticks. Christi won them but declined, and then I ended up as the next winner. It is such a lovely package. There's even a handmade card too! Thank you Michele! You can see these items on Michele's blog, she takes much better photos. I am looking forward to trying out these 5" Lantern Moon DPNs; I haven't had a chance yet since it's been crazy here lately and I have done very little knitting. These needles will be perfect for socks & mitts.

Michele has her own business cards. How cool is that? The image at the top of the card is the same as her blog banner. Also in her package is a cake keychain, stitch markers, and some lovely fingerling weight yarn in my favorite colors. And the little bear you see is for Missy.

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I mentioned starting The Ladies Of Grace Adieu (by Susanna Clarke) earlier. Unfortunately I was just unable to get into it, so I dropped it and started The Historian (byElizabeth Kostova) which is moving along much faster. I'm hoping the book won't be a complete waste of time despite the mixed reviews it has gotten.



Oh good news today. Remember that BBC SciFi series I mentioned in my antepenultimate post, the one I've been wanting to watch for a long time? Well I finally got my hands on Torchwood Season 1 on DVD, from the library of all places (who woulda thunk). Happy happy happy! I managed to catch Graham Norton (hilarious) and Ashes to Ashes (interesting). The Brit version of Life on Mars doesn't appear on Tivo's radar, hoping for reruns before the next Ice Age.

Oh, several people suggested getting a replacement for the broken zipper on the Knit Picks Options bag. I hadn't thought of that before. So I gave them a little call and they're sending me a replacement. Quite painless. I guess I'll give the bag another try when it gets here.

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Candyland, Dora the Explorer edition

I had some preconceptions a while back. One of them was that I could get away with never getting anything with Dora the Explorer on it. Ha! What was I thinking? We've got Dora on a small Lego set and on a toddler backpack. And now this board game, Candyland, Dora the Explorer edition. There's just no avoiding it. This is Missy's first board game, and also my first time playing it too. So here's the funny thing. M always chooses to be Boots, Pooh Bear gets to be Dora, and she always chooses Diego for me. However if DH plays, she makes him play as Diego and I get to be Map (she is still Boots). I never had a Candyland board game before (not even the "plain" version) when I was a kid. We'll see how long it takes before she loses the player pieces and deck of cards that comes with the board game...

Lego Duplo

This was Santa's gift to Missy. I think I could pick any random box set (of blocks for her age range) and she'd be perfectly happy with it.

It comes with 79 pieces!

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I love how they give you ideas on the box for what you can build with them. However not wanting to keep a collection of boxes, I wish they offered these ideas in a pamphlet inside the box. Well now I have photos to refer to, and I can get rid of the box. It's not like the blocks will ever make it back inside the box again! Now that would be a miracle...

Time to get some rest. I am exhausted and feeling extremely sore from too much weeding. Why are weeds so persistent? Hate weeds... hate them even more than seaming and weaving in ends. Busy weekend ahead. Going to a little girl's bday party. There's a little boy's bday party the following weekend, plus we'll be celebrating Missy's bday the following weekend too with the inlaws. She's getting one of these VTech Kidizoom (kid cameras) because the broken real camera we gave her to play with broke even further (when the protruding lens, stuck in that position, separated from the main body of the camera). She was perfectly happy with the non-fuctioning camera. Anyhow, she will really enjoy her new working kid-friendly camera. Hope she can hold the thing steady. :-)

Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.
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Lavette

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Pattern: Petra Lace Scarf
Yarn: Lily Sugar & Cream
Needles: 4.5 mm (US7)

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I found an old photo (from last year) of something I haven't blogged about yet. It's just a little wash cloth made from 2 repeats of the Petra Lace Scarf pattern. It knits up on the large size but will shrink back down to a smaller size after washing. I've noticed this with all my cotton washcloths. Or perhaps I'm just very good at shrinking cotton.

I've received a nice package from Michele, I need to take photos to show you what she sent me. I would have done it today if we hadn't had a toddler meltdown at daycare drop-off.

Look at all the goodies in the photo above. Want a chance to win all that? Did you say yes? Well then, go here and enter! Hurry, it ends 23 March 2009...

Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.
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secrets de grand-mère

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I've been wanting this knitting book, Omas Strickgeheimnisse, for quite some time and finally got my hands on one. :-) You can see it above with some sock yarn in my favorite colors. You can see the other 11 colors here, also beautiful colors, but the purples are my fave.

This is definitely a fine addition to my stitch dictionary collection. My Barbara Walker Treasuries, Harmony Guides, and other books all shifted to make room and welcomed this newcomer amicably. Flipping through the pages of this book brings me joy. It is mostly filled with lace . It doesn't have a whole lot of what I'm into (cables) or even plain knit/purl stuff. I will face some challenges if I ever attempt to use this book as it is written completely in German and charts only (not that row-by-row instructions in German would help me). One more thing. The chart symbols are unlike the more familiar ones I am accustomed to (viz. BW & HG).



We recently switched from Comcast (cable tv company) to this Direct TV (dish tv company). Besides a roughly 30 USD (not counting "mystery" charges that are always tacked onto the bill) monthly savings, I was really expecting them to be same shishkabob different texture.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I now get BBCA, which I did not get with my "peasant" cable channel lineup before. Yay! So in theory, this means I should finally get a chance to watch this Doctor Who spinoff, Torchwood (UK link here) which I've been wanted to watch for a long time. Unfortunately, I didn't see the show coming down the pike in the next couple of weeks so I guess we're off season right now. Boo.

However on the upside, I did discover that I can finally watch this British car show, Top Gear. I love this show, it is such a hoot to watch due to the highly amusing British commentaries that you don't find in American car shows.

Now I need to figure out what other shows I should watch on BBCA... suggestions?

Update: 14Mar2009 post

There's a bit of disappointment about the Knit Picks Options set I got in December. No no, nothing wrong with the needle tips or cords themselves. I'm talking about the zipper bag that came with the set. The zipper broke apart. It wasn't the denticular part or the zipper pull tab. It was the small part that slides back and forth (see photo above).

The breakage came as a surprise to me since I hadn't had the bag very long and it only had very light usage. I've probably opened/closed it less than 10 times. I've never had a zipper break on my this way before -- not in any of my toddler's clothing, or with any of my own bags or clothing, and they've all gotten way more wear and abuse than my new Knit Picks Options plastic bag.

The left part should connect to the right part where the green and blue arrows point.

There was a small piece broken off where the red arrow points that should connect to the left part to complete the "loop" to hold the zipper pull tab. I don't know where that very small piece went, prolly fell on the floor and crawled under the sofa to join the dust bunnies and whatever crumbs my toddler dropped on the floor.

I couldn't leave all the contents in the plastic bag now, with the bag wide open. Let's not tempt fate here. I can already see my toddler inverting all the contents onto the floor! So off I went for a makeshift Knit Picks Options set holder. I fished out an old zippered CD case that had the capacity to hold 20 or so CDs and put all my Knit Picks Options tips & cables into it. It's not exactly the best solution, but it will do. The tips are pretty snug when they lay horizontally and won't slip out.

I am happy with my Knit Picks Options needles. I am using the 8 mm (US11) needles for the red cable bag handle, and the 5 mm (US8) for my SIL's St. Albans Valentine Cable Scarf. The only trick is making sure I screw them on tight, cuz I've had them unscrew/loosen on me while knitting.

Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.

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Bottoms Up

Related post:
28Mar2009 post (1 photo, shoe shot)
18Mar2009 post (17 photos).
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I made Practice Pair of Socks #1 (blue pair) top-down. For Practice Pair of Socks #2 (these pink ones), I decided to try bottom-up. It seemed like the next logical step in my sock knitting adventures. Since the 1st sock fit neither loose nor snug, I decided to make this pair of socks using smaller needles. I used 2.75 mm for the 1st pair of socks (blue pair). I chose 2.25 mm for this pair.




Working from the toe is definitely very fiddly at the beginning. I would say it is much easier to work top-down.



The toe starts to take shape after working several rounds. Hey, this isn't too bad. I think I can do this!!!

So after finishing the toe increases, I decided on a whim to slap on a cable pattern to the front side. It's the same cable pattern used in the St. Albans Valentine Cable Mitts; I'm using this pattern because it is fresh in my mind as I am currently knitting the St. Albans Valentine Cable Scarf for my SIL. At the time I hadn't even considered the fact that cables tend to pull inwards. The thing is that I know this from knitting these 15 scarves! Putting a cable pattern on the front turned out to be a bad idea as you will see later. I should have cast on extra stitches to compensate. I had a few different ideas for what to do around the back side after working the heel area. Unfortunately, I did not get as far as trying out any of them.

Sidenote: There is something nice about working with a pattern repeat. It's so easy to know how many repeats you've done on the 1st sock (the foot section or the leg section) and this makes it a piece of cake when trying to duplicate it in the 2nd sock. With the my 1st pair of socks where the pattern was plain stockinette it was not as easy to count the rows, so measuring by length would be easier... but then I might be off by a row or two and that would really irk me if I happen to know about it. I actually did count the rows in the 1st pair of socks. That info didn't help when I changed the row gauge by knitting more tightly on the 2nd sock. However if I had knit them both with the same tension, then counting rows on the 2nd sock would have worked out.

Anyhow, I started to knit onwards with a cable pattern on the front. I had an awfully skinny foot section after a few repeats. I decided to try it on to see how it was going to fit. I slipped the stitches onto some waste yarn and tried it on. (BTW, it was a pain to put those stitches back onto needles, so next time I will just use circular needles instead) It was a snug fit around the toe end of my foot. Well, let's knit on and see how it goes...

Despite knowing that I should probably have cast on more stitches, I forged onwards through the remainder of the foot and tried that short row heel. Well what can I say about the short row heel. Words like hate, despise, and loathe come to mind, although they might be too strong to describe such a nice looking heel. And the short row heel is pretty in its simple seamless way. But oh how I hate working all those turns! I was in wrap, turn, knit hell.

Love and hate, what a beautiful combination.
Sending shivers up and down my spine.

Problem #1: I should have knit the foot longer before starting the short row heel.
You can see that the foot-to-toe section is much too short and I can barely pull the sock on around the heel. Need to remember for next time (if I decide to try a short row heel again) that besides doing short rows, the heel is also shorter than a heel flap type heel.

Problem #2: It is definitely too small around my foot.
You can see how the knitting is overstretched. I did wonder how the short row heel would work out since the number of stitches remains constant throughout. Now I see how this type of heel doesn't fit the "big" part of my foot as nicely as a heel flap and gusset. Lesson learned.

My first attempt at Practice Pair of Socks #2 went ribbit ribbit and was reduced to this.

I realized that my smallest crochet hook was a 3.25 mm, and that I should have a smaller one that is the same or smaller than the needle size I am working with for socks. So that could be a size 2.25 mm or 2.5 mm. This would come in handy for picking up stitches along the side of a heel flap. So I picked up a 2.5 mm when I stopped by this LYS, Nine Rubies, (plus some sock yarn seen here).

BTW, I do know that you're supposed to say cuff-down and toe-up. I just can't help myself. I used to say top-down and bottom-up in a previous lifetime (referring to something that was non-knitting related).

Booking Through Thursday

We’ve all seen the lists, we’ve all thought, “I should really read that someday,” but for all of us, there are still books on “The List” that we haven’t actually gotten around to reading. Even though we know they’re fabulous. Even though we know that we’ll like them. Or that we’ll learn from them. Or just that they’re supposed to be worthy. We just … haven’t gotten around to them yet.

What’s the best book that YOU haven’t read yet?

Had to think about this one as there are sooooo many books on my "to read" list. Here are some that pop up in my mind:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (I've actually started it, but put it down and never finished it)
Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (I've seen the episodes with Jeremy Brett, would love to read the stories)


Copyright © Smariek Knits 2005-2009. All full copyright rights are reserved by Smariek Knits.
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