Stupid Puppy Tricks

Samson
The other day I was sitting down as I was getting ready for work. Baru was laying at my feet and Samson was in the bedroom with Hubby.
Out of nowhere, Samson comes in, gets right up in my face (practically nose-to-nose with me), burps, and immediately turns and walks out.
It was so preposterous, and well timed, that I have to imagine he did it on purpose.

Baru
Remember that rap song from the 1980s with the chorus of "the roof/the roof/the roof is on fire. We don't need no water let the [expletive] burn"? Well, we turned that into a Baru song.
(Don't ask. I guess we are sick people. In our defense, my Brother started singing it spontaneously when we were visiting over the weekend. So I guess it runs in the family.)
Anyway. A few months ago I was in the basement folding laundry and a weird acoustical version of that song came on the radio.
Suddenly Baru was behind me, smiling and wagging his tail as though I had called him.
Two seconds later Hubby and Samson appeared. Hubby said they were in the Green Room playing. The music from the radio drifts up through the powder room. When the song came on Baru perked up and took off looking for the source.
It was just weird.
However, we have heard that version of the song since then and Baru hasn't reacted.

Effective Distraction?
Yes, I tell you these puppy stories to distract you from the fact that I didn't make any progress on the Peacock Sock this morning. All the crocheting recently has made my left wrist tweaky.
Sadly, crocheting, which I've been doing since I was little, causes carpal tunnel syndrome like pains. I even used to wear those little elastic wrist supports.
Knitting, fortunately and for some reason, does not bother me unless I spend all day, all weekend doing it. Which I try to remember not to do without frequent breaks/stretching.
Must be something in the positioning or the motion for crochet. sigh.

Wow, That's Huge

The crocheted cuff came out a little bigger than I expected.
From the center to the long point is 4 inches. gulp. The pineapple, which is what I was really after, is a respectable 2 inches.
As you can see, I wisely stopped before the fan bit at the end.
Sadly, I can't try it on to see whether it might look good on a leg because the foundation chain and single crochet row is too tight to go over my heel. Which gives me doubts about the sock top.
Grrr.
I'm thinking, maybe, if I can tone down the in between long part, that might help matters. Maybe if I stick with the 2 treble pairs without expanding them on the last 3 rows that will keep the length more in line with the pineapples.
Those long bits, at the very end at least, are actually the beginning of the big pineapples.
Alternately, I can take another look at the calendar. There was a pineapple pattern in there that had rows of straight up double crochets around the pineapples. But it looked like only one pineapple and the base was 22 + something, so it would have taken a lot of fiddling to get it to work. But I might be able to hijack some of the principles behind it.
The sad part of this prototype is that I'll be yanking it out eventually. However, that will be in aid of working it onto the sock for real, so it will be a noble sacrifice.

Train Chatter
One of the other knitters came over on the ride home to see what I was up to. Apparently they were aware that I had been working on a sock and I was obviously not working on a sock at the moment.
I explained the cuff idea.
She declared the bit I had done (two rows shy of what you see) lovely and expressed the opinion that the socks would be cool/pretty. So at least I'm not totally off base. Unless she was just being polite.
Unless I'm being paranoid because it's bed time and I'm sleepy.

Not Having Fun

And Knitting and Crocheting are supposed to be fun. And relaxing. But they weren't either last night because the cuff wasn't working out.
Actually, while I was trying to beat the pattern into submission, Hubby was being very cranky at the Yankees for losing again. So I'm not sure whether it was my own annoyance I was feeling or I was getting the tension off of him.
To make matters worse, when he was letting the game spool in the DVR so he could fast forward through commercials he switched over to playing his Medal of Honor video game. Which was on a really tough mission so he kept dying. So both his activities were making him cranky. sigh.
It was all so annoying I considered fleeing the living room, but I didn't. Because I am a supportive wife.

Stupid Lace
The portion of the pattern I chose at the big pineapple was just not fitting gracefully into the 48 sts I had available. I couldn't balance it/space the touch points evenly.
I even got out paper and attempted to make a chart. Much scribbling and erasing was going on while Hubby was wishing someone would pay him millions of dollars not to do his job properly. And Samson decided to snuggle, but he didn't want pets he just wanted to have his head on my paper. (See why I almost left?)
I ended up busting out the 365 Crochet Stitches Perpetual Calendar I received for Christmas. There were some stitches that had potential.
Then I took another look at the doily pattern. The smaller pineapples have a more flexible start. Through some careful counting on the existing doily I determined it would be possible to fit whole repeats onto my 48 sts properly.
Yipee.
And at that point it as late enough to legitimately start getting ready for bed, so I was able to flee the living room and still seem supportive.
Yipee, again.

Cuff Progress
The new plan was implemented on the train this morning.
I was able to fit 6 repeats of the base stitches, which should equate to 6 pineapples.
The next hurdle will be figuring out how to end it. I really like that fan bit at the end of the doily. I think it will be a better ending than trying to cut the pattern off in the middle.
However, I don't want to have to go through the big pineapples to get to it. That would be too much cuff. Currently I suspect that I can jump ahead to the beginning of the fan and drop it in where the big pineapples are supposed to come in.
But goodness knows I've been wrong before.
I'm making rapid progress, so I might even find out on the ride home tonight.

Doing Math Was an Option

Which kind of blows, doesn't it?
I mean, I got into this craft for the notions and the yarn, not so I could crunch numbers. Sheesh, I stopped liking math sometime around high school geometry.
But applying the row gauge information I diligently wrote down to some new measurements of my foot might have prevented me from needing three attempts to get the heel correct on my current sock.
(Yeah, pictures, they would probably be helpful.) The current sock is out of Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn in the Elderberry colorway. I'm working it toe-up, which I recently realized, I don't usually do. In fact, I think I've only done one pair toe-up, the second pair I ever made.
Don't get me wrong. I like toe-up. I've advocated for toe-up. I just haven't used it much. So I don't have an idea of the depth to work the foot before starting the heel.
Which is odd, considering part of the point of going toe-up is that you are supposed to be able to try it on.
Cuff down, on the other foot, for those I know where I want the sock to reach on my foot/toes before I start the toe decreases.

Back to the Heel
Despite the number of times you have read me typing that I don't like short-row heels, I'm working a short-row heel. And I was trying the sock on. And the needles were reaching the front of my ankle, but the sock kept coming up short meaning I really had to stretch it to get it over my heel. (Cinderella much?) Which makes me kind of glad I wasn't trying to do a reverse heel flap. That would have been really annoying to pull out and rework. And I wouldn't know where to begin.
Well, actually, I'd probably compare it to a top down sock and try to start the gusset where the other gusset ends...
Anyway, my heels seem to be going in threes recently, so the third attempt was finally long enough. Snug but not to tight. (Oh, I was using a lifeline on the row before I started the heel shaping so when I had to pull back, tada, the kite string was there to catch the stitches.)
Right, pictures. Well the yarn is dark so I would need good sunlight to get a good shot and the train was late yesterday...

About the Cuff
However, I've given over on the sock leg for the moment. I want this pair to have a lacy cuff that folds over. I'm inspired by a doily I crocheted a few years ago (2004?). (A single doily. Doesn't work very well for having doilies under both living room lamps.) After I conquered the heel last night I dug the doily pattern out. Now I'm trying to figure out where to start in the pattern to get the portion I want.
People on the train this morning must have been wondering what I was doing today. Sitting there with a pamphlet, an ecru doily, my yarn and a crochet hook, trying to find the place on the doily that the pattern was referring too. I got two and a bit repeats this morning. I think I need to figure out how many touch points I need on the cuff of the sock to determine positioning. If I can get three repeats in it will probably work, otherwise I'll have to start at a different point in the pattern. Or, possibly, find a different pattern to use. Because, since I'm starting in the middle of the pattern, it is referring to working this stitch in that space. Spaces I don't have. So I had to guess and just work in different parts of the chain as I move around it.
In case you are wondering, I'm not working this attempt onto the top of the sock in its current state. I went to the other end of the ball and made a foundation chain. What I want to know (other than repeats and positioning) is how many yards the lace cuff will use, which will guide how tall I can make the sock. Of course I must also consider the possibility that if the cuff ends up hanging down 3 or so inches and I can only work a 2 inch leg, that might not work. And it would also really suck if I ran out of yarn before I ran out of lace. At least I already divided the original skein in half.

Speaking of weighing yarn...
Blue Jitterbug=36g, Purple Jitterbug=34g, Sol Joy=24g and Sanctuary=5g. The Purple Jits took 76 grams to make, so I have plenty in these scraps for another pair. And I have a whole unused skein of the Mardi Gras Jitterbug that can contribute to the cause as well. Hmm, I wonder how the Madelintosh Glazed Sock Yarn compares to Jitterbug gauge wise?
Ok, I'm just thinking aloud now. Actually I was thinking aloud somewhere around the lace cuff discussion.

Second Sock Same as the First

The second Purple Jitterbug Sock was finished yesterday. yipee!
It is the one on the right in this picture. As you can see the pooling around the heel flipped on this one and the blue is on top, which is what I'd been hoping for on the first sock.
Took me three tries to get this heel flap knit. First I was cruising along and realized 10 rows into it that I'd forgotten to switch to the other end of the ball.
Rip.
On attempt #2 I twisted the yarns together intarsia style for some reason. When I came back around to the main yarn after picking up the gussets I had a massive hole I couldn't close up because of the way the yarn was pulling from the linking.
Rip.
Attempt #3 worked out just fine. The correct ends of the yarn were used, no funny twisting was executed, and the correct number of rows were worked. The foot blasted along after that. All in all it took me 9 days to make these, despite not being on the train for most of that time.

Ahh, Family.
Actually, I did have some extra car knitting time on Thursday and Saturday.
Thursday was a milestone birthday for my mom, so Hubby and I tossed the puppies in the car and trooped down to surprise her. (She would probably tell you she turned 30, which would be really weird as it would make her younger than both me and my older brother, but who am I to question?)
The only people who knew we were coming were us, my brother and his wife, because the gig would have been up if my niece and nephew knew. We were supposed to go Wednesday, but that migraine finally materialized and I didn't want to get left on the side of the road if I hurled in the newish SUV (we got it in March). (In fact, I am currently so full of chemicals because I can't shake the stupid thing that I would probably qualify as a Superfund Site.)
Mom, brother and the kids were out galavanting when we arrived, so we hung with the SIL. When they got home, Samson peeked out the living room door. Mom says first she thought they got another dog, then she realized who that fuzzy face was and what his presence meant. She tripped over him and Baru trying to get to us because they were busy jumping on her.
A grand time was had by all (as you can tell by the size of Baru's tongue in the picture above left).
Well, everyone except Samson. Brother's dog, Bailey, was coming out of heat, so she was driving Samson crazy but wasn't responsive. Poor thing, second time he's had his heart broken. The only time he wasn't by her side was when he dove into the pool. Which would have been ok, but we had to heave-ho him out (the kids were in the pool boosting his butt and Hubby and Aunt K grabbed his shoulders) since he couldn't negotiate the ladder. Of course the first time they dragged him out he did an end run around us all and dove back in. Then we got smart and closed the gate.
In addition to Bailey, a yellow lab, they also have a Shih Tzu puppy named Spike. Cute little teddy bear thing. Kind of squirmy. And Samson and Baru totally didn't know what to make of him. They ended up deciding to ignore him entirely, which is probably for the best.
Hubby and Brother bonded by playing video games and drinking beer, the kids asked me for handknit socks (denied), and the dogs got underfoot.
What more could you ask for in a family gathering?
We came home Saturday so I could have time to recover and do laundry before having to go back to work Monday.
As it is a 3 hour drive, I had plenty of time to work on my sock in the car. I can do plain stockinette stitch in the car since I don't have to look.

Onward!
And I have already worked to the heel on my next pair of socks using Mountain Colors Bearfoot Yarn. It's amazing what you can accomplish when all you do is lay on the couch all day knitting. Hey, maybe these headaches aren't so bad after all....Remember those cotton socks I was thinking of reknitting? The white and lavender ones out of Lana Grossa Yarn? Well, I was wearing them Friday and my 8 year old nephew, who doesn't knit, commented that they looked big on me and asked if I had made a mistake. Sniff! In their defense, it was the end of the day. But, really, when something like that happens isn't it a clear sign a redo is in order? They are drying now (I did manage to do the laundry, so the day wasn't a total waste. Not that a day spent knitting is wasted), but they might meet a violent end soon. I just have to decide if I should just redo the foot or start over from scratch.
Actually what I would probably do it go back to the end of the ribbing and decrease stitches away. I mean, the cast on is fine.
However, my current sock awaits, so I must away.

One Done

I finished the first Purple Jitterbug Sock last night.
After taking another look at my notes I determined it was ok I was on row 47. The toes on the Blue Jitterbug socks were decreased to 3 sts each needle, which I've since decided is too pointy. Now I decrease all my toes to 5 sts each needle. This also fits in nicely with having established guidelines for certain sock elements to make them a little more brainless—15 rows of ribbing, stockinette stitch heel flaps, toes decreases at the same rate to 20 sts.
So the two rows I lost at the tip of the toe since I didn't decrease as much just when into the foot. And the fit seems quite nice.
No picture because I only put the batteries in to recharge right before bed. If I hadn't needed the flash I might have had a fighting chance, but I would have needed the flash. I think the batteries are reaching the end of their life expectancy. We did get them three years ago when we bought the camera for Hubby's trip to Japan.
I did cast on for the second sock last night and worked around 10 rows of ribbing before bedtime.
Knitting progress has slowed the last few days. Over the weekend my left wrist was tweaky, so I laid off in order to give it a chance to rest and recover. Then every day so far I've driven to work. Monday I was anticipating a migraine that, thankfully, didn't materialize and I wanted the escape route. Tuesday I had to stay home for breakfast because my mom and Aunt K showed up unexpectedly Monday night. They live 4 hours away, but they still manage to "drop in" regularly. Ah, we weren't doing anything. They had been vacationing up in Canada so we were on the way home. Then today the morning fell apart, and I still don't trust that my head won't betray me.
All in all, it cuts into the knitting time. Good thing I'm not working on anything complicated or on a deadline.

Don't Wanna

Since I had made a pair of plain stockinette stitch socks using Jitterbug in the past, I am basically following those notes for the new pair.
I guess I hadn't done a proper swatch for the first pair, or my swatch was so close I rolled with it, because although I need the sock to have 48 sts for the fit I prefer the cast on starts with 56 sts and then I decrease 2 sts every 9 rows.
Actually, looking at my notes, I wonder if I had brain freeze calculating my gauge/cast on because I wrote the gauge right there first thing on the page. Guess I didn't want to rework 15 rows of ribbing.
I considered starting the new socks with 48 stitches off the bat, but then I thought the other socks fit so well might as well stick with it.
The heel has been modified, however. This purple skein seems thinner or has a tighter twist or something than the blue skein. (Why, no, I haven't verified my gauge, that would be too sensible.) I'm not having good luck with yarn that's been sitting in a cake recently. Maybe I keep winding them wrong.
Anyway.
Because the yarn feels thinner, I didn't trust the stockinette stitch heel I normally use would be sturdy enough so I decided to go with a heel stitch heel. Then I decided to throw in the garter stitch edge I learned in class, just for kicks.
(Ok, I made myself curios and measured. Still 7x10 gauge, the difference must be in my head.)
These pictures are from the weekend and the sock has changed considerably since I took them. I wanted documentation.

Bad Pooling
Normally I'm down with the way colors move around in hand dyed yarn. I like the swirly pattern that develops and I know pooling might occur around the ankle because the pattern gets interrupted by the heel flap pulling the yarn up in a different fashion. Usually I can roll with it.
But this time it just annoyed me. It was all purple on one side and blue on the other and it didn't look like it was going to straighten out any time soon. I don't know, maybe if the blue had been prominent or the distribution had been more interesting I could have lived with it. But it annoyed me, so I yanked it out to back above the heel flap.
Then I reknit the heel flap using the other end of the skein. (I also considered ditching the garter stitch edge because I'm not accustomed to picking it up and it made me cranky, but I was a big girl and stuck with it. It does look nice.)
After turning the heel I returned to the original/main yarn that was waiting at the instep, picked up down one side of the gusset, knit across the heel, picked up the other gusset, and knit across the instep back to the row counter.
Using the far end of the ball keeps you at the same place in the pattern where you were when you started the heel so should provide less interruption to the pattern. I think it is supposed to be even more effective if you use it in combination with a short row heel (but we know how I feel about those). I first heard about this method in relation to self patterning yarns.
The trick is this method moves the start of your round to the side of the instep instead of the middle of the heel. I suppose you could knit down to the middle of the heel if you wanted too and call it good, but to me that makes one gusset side a row longer (technically) and would throw off the balance of the decreases. Or maybe I'm just uptight.
Of course the yarn still pooled at the ankle. But now the purple is squarely on top, the blue is on the bottom, and the swirl came back just as I finished the gusset decreases. yipee!
And I don't have a picture because the batteries died.
I have about 13 more rows to work before beginning the toe decreases, provided this sock falls in line...whoa, wait a minute, my notes say 45 rows from pick up and I'm at row 47. Blast, I'll have to try it on again.
Ok, that's it for now. Here is a picture of the puppies looking adorable. Red eye and all.

I Made It

The Alchemy Girlfriend's Cable Socks were completed last night. They are quite warm and cozy.
Each one took most of a skein of yarn, leaving me with a full skein and smidgens of two. (I didn't get a chance to weigh them on the scale, but I intend to, just for grins.)
To recap, these are a heavily modified version of the published pattern. I made them a repeat taller, dropped stitches from the side ribs to make them smaller, changed the back rib into a twist (to make up for the lost balance from changing the ribbing), and worked a Cuban Heel instead of a short row heel.
I think they are lovely and now how to determine if they are too think to wear with shoes, in which case they will be house socks. But I'll have to remember to wear them with my fuzzy slippers to cut down on wear and tear.
Casting On
Of course as soon as all the ends were woven in on those socks I cast on for a new pair.
I can't say that I put much thought into selecting the next yarn out of my stash. I think I had sort of decided quietly in the back of my mind already while I was doing other things.
The main factor was I wanted to do a pair of plain stockinette stitch socks since the last two pairs had been heavily patterned.
Actually, I just remembered, I didn't wait to be totally done the GCS, I cast on the new Jitterbug socks on the train ride home. Right, I had finished knitting the GCS on the morning commute and left the kitchenering for home. So that morning I had already put the purple Jitterbug in my bag. Look at me planning ahead.
The actual color name is Florentina.
You might remember I bought this skein to go along with the leftovers from the blue skein (Fiesta?) I had kicking around. The blue wasn't enough for either a full pair of socks or peds and I was looking to supplement.
I think that all contributed to going with this yarn next. I did consider using the new, ultra bright Mardi Gras skein first, but then I felt bad and stuck with the purple.
It is amazing, although it shouldn't be, how much quicker a pair of plain socks works up.
And I like that Jitterbug smells vaguely of vinegar.

Another Barking Tale
Lest you think I was unfairly picking on Baru the other day for barking at the new air conditioner, which you might consider a perfectly legitimate activity, let me share another inappropriate barking story.
Over the weekend Hubby got the electric hedge trimmer and a shovel and cleared a path through the lower yard down to the river. He has to do this every year or two, it's fairly clear but there are sticker bushes toward the end, and debris on the steps.
Anyway, when I got home pups and I went down to join him. He was on his way back up. Baru stopped cold and starting barking at him—all because Hubby was holding the tools.
So, tell me, isn't my puppy dim?

Inappropriate Barking

In Knitting News, I've worked over 100 rows on each Girlfriends Cable Sock. I'm so close to the toe shaping it isn't even funny. Which means I've entered that black hole phase where no matter how many rows you knit you don't seem to be making progress. Still I predict I will finish at least one tonight.
The pattern calls for a short row toe, which I'm going to stick with since I am more sanguine about short row toes than I am about short row heels.
As opposed to the toe shaping for my Joy of Charlene Socks, which started on the sole and hook around to the instep, these start on the instep and hook down to the sole. I will have to be careful about my tension when I'm kitchenering it shut as a tight spot in that area would probably be uncomfortable.
My issue with short row heels is that I always end up with holes along the diagonal meter line where the decreases/increases/wraps are. Looks fine on the needles, opens up on the foot. Although I'm pretty sure I'm executing them properly, I have to imagine it is something in my technique that causes this. Happily, there are other heels in the world.
(end knitting content)

In Puppy and Air Conditioning News
Baru is scared of the new condenser.
Sadly, this does not surprise us. He is a spooky puppy.
When Hubby was traveling to Colorado last month (ha! see I didn't mention it so you wouldn't know pups and I were home alone) he met a man delivering newly graduated guide dogs to their new owners. They got to talking dogs and Hubby mentioned Baru's neuroses. Spooky/jumpy, chases his tail, dumb as dirt. The man said there has been some research that shows these traits are indications of a neurological disorder.
The good news is we didn't do anything to cause it. The bad news is we can't really do anything to cure it.
We've always thought Baru had a small head. And we've always wondered at how different the two dogs were since we raised them the same.
The man said the tail chasing is a sign of anxiety and the best course of action is for the Alpha to comfort the dog and try to distract him with a toy or other activity. Fortunately, Baru doesn't chase his tail compulsively and it hasn't ever bothered us really, so we've never disciplined him in an attempt to make him stop. Knowing what we now know, we would have felt bad about having yelled at him—poor thing can't help himself.
So we weren't surprised when he started barking at the strange, new thing is his backyard. Sigh. But it doesn't mean we have to like it, or put up with it. The trick now is finding an appropriate way to get him used to it. For instance, when I let him out at 6 am today, not even thinking of the new unit, he started barking his head off. I'm sure the neighbors loved that. So I went out on the porch, which seemed to settle him. Then, of course, Samson came downstairs, so I had to stay on the porch since we don't want him peeing on the new unit.
I've informed Hubby that he has to get a barricade erected ASAP because I don't have time in the morning to babysit the puppies while they are doing their business!

What? How did the new condenser come about?
Well, after the expensive quote from the first company Hubby filled me in a little more. He said the technician who came to the house was nice, but the lady he dealt with on the phone a few days later (the one who gave him the quote) was lacking in customer service skills and gave him the impression that our job wasn't worth enough money for them to bother.
So we called a second company. Hubby said the man who came from that company seemed to be someone in charge (so no potential for dealing with rude office people). That man took the time to explain the economics of the situation, i.e. it would cost almost as much to replace the coil as it would to replace the entire unit. He also pointed out that a new unit would be more energy efficient than our old one and probably quieter. (Quieter it is, cost savings are yet to be determined.)
So he came back with three quotes, all much more reasonable than company #1, and we decided to replace the entire unit. It took this long because they were out of stock when he was at the house (which he explained to Hubby up front). Then yesterday our new condenser was installed.
Hello, air conditioning. Good-bye, economic stimulus check.

Yawn

I've been really sleepy lately. I think it has something to do with the sun shining into the bedroom and the stupid birds starting to sing at 5:30 am. Ah, but the central air is fixed as of lunch time, so we'll be able to shut the bedroom up tight tonight. I'm looking forward to it.
But my sleep deprived state has not impeded my knitting, just my desire to take pictures of it. Both heels have been turned as of this morning's commute. One heel was turned yesterday (I think) and I've been cruising down the foot. The other sock would have been turned yesterday, but I stalled because the twist in the yarn has gone all wacky.
The yarn is constructed of 4 strands twisted together and on of those strands isn't tracking properly so there was a little loop sticking out. But then a few inches later it all evened out, but then about a foot later there was another little loop.
In fact, the whole center portion that I've reached looks a little fripply. This is the ball that I wound on the swift and ball winder at the store oh so many moons ago. I don't know if I somehow wound it in the wrong direction (if that is even possible) or whether sitting in the cake effected it.
I posted a question about it on Ravelry. The one response I received was that the loose strand might be silk (Sanctuary is 30% silk and 70% wool) so it is stretching at a different rate, which is causing it not to track properly. She suggested I cut the yarn and rejoin it.
Which, of course, was just what I was hoping to avoid.
The strange thing, well one strange thing, is that the yarn looks like a homogeneous mix of wool and silk, i.e., not a strand of pure silk twisted with a strand of pure wool. If it was two pure strands twisted together I could understand it going wacky. I've seen it happen with other yarns. The other strange this is the second skein, which I wound by hand just before I cast on, is fine.
Well, as you can imagine, I did not cut and rejoin because I'm a rebel like that. I unwound the cake, ran the length of yarn through my fingers a few times in both directions, then rewound it into a ball. Then I knit while pretending the little loop wasn't there.
Whether this will compromise the integrity of my socks is yet to be known.
Part of my reluctance to cut the yarn is that it's really looking like I'm going to be awfully close to getting a complete sock out of each skein. Which will be really mind blowing if it happens, although I'm not holding my breath.
Think about it, the pattern calls for two skeins--one for each sock. Although I have sized it down, I have also made the leg much longer than the pattern calls for. So I can't imagine that the yarn I saved in circumference was enough to cancel out the yarn I used in length. What will probably happen is the yarn will last to a few rows shy of finishing the toe and I'll have to bust into the third skein.
Really, it won't matter if the yarn does last because I bought it several months ago and have far exceeded the return policy. On the other hand, it would be nice to have a full skein to play with. I wonder if it would be enough for another pair of fingerless mitts?
And, finally, I apparently can't do math.
The structure of the Cuban Heel calls for it to be worked on half the stitches. You increase every other row until the needles with the heel stitches equal total sock stitches minus 4. In my case I have a 52 st sock. Half that is 26, so I divided the stitches on the needles and positioned my heel increases in the middle of the back 26. It split the center back twist nicely. I was supposed to increase to 48 sts. Which I figured meant I had to add 22 sts to the back of the sock between my markers. Which was 11 sts each needle. Wait that math does work.
Huh, well, after I had 22 sts between the markers I did count but just plunged in a turned the heel and then a few rows after I counted and only had 50 sts total when I should have been back to 52. The point is that I didn't increase my heel enough. This all work much better on my Joy of Charlene socks, and I didn't even know what I was doing then. Still, this actually does work out. I had originally been considering dropping the sock to 50 sts, but had decided it would damage the pattern. Here on the foot it doesn't matter. The instep is still balanced, the sole doesn't have a design, and the fit seems good.
Of course, I made the second sock match the first.
Ok, looks like lunch time is over.

A Lot of Moving Parts

The Deadline Setter commented once when I used that phrase in an article, so it must be one of the phrases I like/use frequently. Have you ever noticed that? There are things you say frequently and you don't realize it until someone points it out?
Anyway (and, yes, I do realize I say that frequently.)
I'm through the heel increases on one Girlfriends Cable Socks sock. :-D I think the Cuban Heel is working out very nicely with this pattern. It is centered under the back center twist and the purl columns split nicely down the either side. Now I'll double back and catch the other sock up before I turn the heels. That way how many rows I've worked, etc., is still fresh in my mind.
I started working on both of them so I could keep track of my yarn usage. I shouldn't have to worry about running out.
In other knitting news, I felted Wine Cozy V this morning. It ended up skinnier and taller than I expected. It is interesting to see how the direction of the stitches seem to effect how they react when felted. I haven't measured it to see whether it adhered to my predicted shrinkage. Still it fits the bottle nicely. I think I like it a bit better then the first one, size wise. I would definitely scale the horizontal version down if I made another one.
And, I think that's about it for now. I shall leave you with a puppy action shot.

Yippee!

Oh my gosh! It's sooo cool. I went and checked my just now and there was some mysterious looking message about a pending purchase. But something must have clicked in the back of my mind because I opened it and it was a message from PayPal that someone had bought my Eyelet and Feather Scarf pattern on Ravelry!
phew! deep breath.
So I had to go into PayPal and figure out how to accept the payment and upgrade to a premier account so the fees would be less. I considered staying a personal account, but I am hoping to put more patterns in my Ravelry store so you never know I might have more than 5 transactions and it looks like it's free to be a premier account so what the heck, right?
Oh, it's bad to get this wired up right before bed time.
So now I have $3.48 in my PayPal account, after they took the fees. It's not really the first pattern I've ever sold. There were all the Rainbow Swirl Socks for the sock club, but they were good faith purchases. And my scarf sold really well while it was the special of the month in the store. And I know several of the people who bought it. That was cool, because people kept asking about it while the sample was out on the counter while it was being test knit and going through the design process.
But this is like the first random purchase by someone who just saw it and liked it.
Of course I totally had to go scope out her profile and projects. She's got a lot of nice stuff queued. I'm in good company. giggle.
Ok, phew, I have to go get ready for bed now.
But first. I've worked 40 rows on each Girlfriends Cable Sock. I think 8 to 10 more rows will bring it to 6 inches and I can start the heel.
I still have to felt the other wine cozy.
Goodnight!

Go Yankees!

Ok, even though Hubby has admitted he doesn't read my blog unless I happen to leave it open on the desktop...I thought I'd be a good Yankee Fan Wife and add the All Star voting widget in an attempt to get Jason Giambi on the roster. (I don't care about the NL player, so I went local and chose the guy from the Mets.)
Um, I didn't expect the widget to be so very huge. And I think it could be a little more obvious that I support Giambi. Well, voting closes tomorrow at 5, so I won't have to put up with it for very long. sniff.


In Knitting News
I did finish the body of Felted Wine Cozy V on the ride home yesterday. At home I seamed it by purling the last row to the cast on edge and binding off as I went along. And I knit the bottom before I went to bed. It did end up much smaller than Felted Wine Cozy H, which is probably why it worked up so quickly. Even Hubby was surprised. I should be able to felt it tonight.
And I took a hard look at my socks. My row count is correct. I think the first sock just looks fluffier, which is why the twists look different.

Ok, off to mess with the MLB widget size and eat some lunch.

To The Point

As I was charting the ribbing decreases last night, it occurred to me that since I wanted to go from 6 stitches (K2P2K2) to 3 stitches (K1P1K1) the fastest and easiest thing to do would be decreasing a stitch in each column.
So I did.
It is, perhaps, a more abrupt decrease than I would normally use, but I didn't see the point in fading the ribbing.
As for the ribbing on the back of the leg, there wasn't a graceful way to convert it to a 4 stitch cable to match the other cables. It would not have been balanced with P2 on either side and then K2 beyond that. I would have ended up with K1 columns or some other, unbalanced pattern. I briefly toyed with the idea of eliminating 2 stitches from the back as well, but dismissed it.
What I did do is change the center back K2 column into a 2 stitch cable with the twist on the same rows as the bigger cables.
Since I didn't want to start from scratch, I just dropped the two stitches in question and reknit them the way I wanted them. It was a little fiddly but I have to imagine faster than going back to Row 1.

Double the Pleasure
Now the pattern is written for what looks like ankle socks using 2 skeins. So I bought a third skein so I could make them taller.
Before I made my changes I was scoped out other Girlfriend's Cable Socks on Ravelry to see whether anyone else had modified them (especially to make them smaller). One person used the 2 skeins and said she had just barely enough to finish. She also mentioned that she altered the heel, but didn't go into detail about how.
This made me glad that I had bought a third skein and was going to make the smaller anyway, because I shouldn't run out of yarn. Still, it made me nervous. After I finished messing with the first sock I turned around and cast on for the second sock. Having multiple pairs of dpns in the same size comes in handy. I was able to work through Row 8. I didn't wind all three skeins when I bought it and then I forgot the yarn at home on Saturday so I actually had to wind it by hand, which was a bit of a delay.
Although I stopped knitting because it was bed time, I probably would have stopped at that point anyway. The 2 st cable on Sock 2 doesn't look the same as on Sock 1. I'm thinking it is because the former is being worked from scratch and the latter is a little distorted from being dropped in after the fact. Still, I'm taking a hard look at my row counter and wondering if I was advancing it properly. Hopefully I'll be able to figure it out this evening in some better lighting.

Possible Tactical Error
Felted Wine Cozy V is working up much quicker than Felted Wine Cozy H did. I have about 15 more rows to go to finish the body. I did scale V down a little based on the shrinkage of H and more rigorous bottle measurements. But it wasn't by that much, so I'm still surprised. I don't know if the difference is because I'm working this one flat and the other in the round; or whether it is a perception thing because I'm working V during the commute in chunks, while H was a marathon over the weekend.
Regardless, I was working on it while doing to online reading/research and realized if I kept going I might not have anything to knit on the ride home. I didn't bring my socks or a back up project because H took so long. The real flaw in the plan however was that I didn't bring my US 10 dpns so I could work on the base. If I had those I'd be all set. But then I wasn't expecting to need those today.
In the mean time, I've stopped working on it for now to preserve it for the ride home. Since the wine cozy is so close to being done, I might skip the socks tonight so I can finish the cozy instead.

Willy Nilly

sos08 Alchemy Girlfriend Cable Socks
Originally uploaded by TravelingAnn
Most of the holiday weekend was spent working on the felted wine cozy prototype. I cast on for it Thursday night. Spent Friday on the couch knitting on it and watching the Twilight Zone marathon on the SciFi channel. Then finished it off Sunday afternoon. I did take a picture of it, but the picture is at home and I'm at work (lunch break!) and I haven't been able to figure out how to get flickr to allow me to blog two photos in the same post.
Oh, well, duh that's what the url box in blogger is for and the link to this pic html that Flickr provides. Still, it always seems to end up a weird size the few times I've tried it. This is the thumbnail size because when I used one of the other sizes for my first sock the other day it came out huge. I can't seem to win.
Anyway, the wine cozy was making me pretty cranky by the time I finished, namely because it took longer than I expected, I know I won't truly receive a price that will cover my time, and yet I was putting pressure on myself to finish it so I didn't work on any other projects. In the end I think it took a little more than 8 hours.
But then I felted the bugger. Felting is so fun and it ended up so cute (although bigger than I was expecting/planning) that I was all energized and cast on for the version with vertical stripes. It also felted much quicker than I was expecting. Not even one cycle. But I was basing the time and shrinkage on my Felted Ravelry Bag, which was much larger and a different color.

What was I talking about?
Ok, well, since I've buried the lead already, I might as well go with my original story. (I had been composing this blog post in my head and then thought, don't start with this story, get to the point. But after that wine cozy digression, what have I got to loose besides your attention?)
I was so young when I learned to crochet that I don't remember learning. I remember my grandmother teaching me and my younger cousin the double crochet stitch. We were sitting next to her making chains and blocks composed of chains. She was like ok that will be nice and warm but you will never finish anything. And she showed us the double crochet stitch. How I originally learned to hold the hook and chain, couldn't tell you. Double crochet was the only stitch I knew and used for years and I happily started blankets, made clothes for my stuffed animals and scarves for myself.
Then one day, I think I was in college already, my cousin found a pattern for an adorable stuffed cow. I wanted to make it badly enough that I got books from the library and figured out how to crochet in the round and other stitches. After that I was unstoppable and designed several adorable (if I do say so myself) stuffed toys. Finally, in 2001 or 2002 I took the plunge into crocheting sweaters.
My first one was the "Big Easy" from Lion Brand. In some lovely multi-colored blue based Homespun. I finished it in a weekend (and now I can't wear it because it feels squeaky).
Of course making clothes turned me into a yarn snob overnight.
But around the time all this was happening, I cornered my mother-in-law and got her to teach me how to knit.

The opening image
Coming back to the original point of this post, I don't know how much the age at which I learned these crafts has to do with it, but I've found that I follow crochet patterns to the letter and don't deviate at all. But I change knitting patterns willy nilly and sometimes on the fly.
The first sweater I knit was another free Lion Brand one out of Wool-Ease. It was supposed to be a striped crew neck in reverse stockinette stitch with ribbing on the hems. Well, there was a nice cream skein with little flecks of color on sale, so I ditched the stripes. As a new knitter (and without anyone to consult) I misunderstood the ribbing directions and discovered seed stitch. And I worked the sweater in normal stockinette stitch since I hadn't waited all those years to learn to knit to do a sweater in this weird lumpy stitch.
So I guess I was changing knitting patterns to some degree from the word go.
I'm about to unleash this tendency on my poor Alchemy Girlfriend's Cable Socks. My second pair for Summer of Socks 08 and the purple knitting pictured at the top of this post.
The pattern is written for one size at 6.5 sts per inch and I've suspected all along they might be too big, and in deed it looks like that is going to be the case. Which is why I hesitate to buy sock patterns unless they are written for multiple sizes (and actual alternate sizes, not just change your needle size adjustment. I tried that once, the socks are baggy. At least that pattern was free. [Didn't know enough about sock knitting at the time to adjust them down.])
I mean, sure the socks will fit as written, but they are going to be baggy and that will be annoying. Even if I do reserve them for house/bed socks.
Anyway, I worked through the first pattern repeat last night--20 rows--and tried the little bit on. It fits up where the cuff should go ok, but I'm really really certain it will be baggy at the ankle and on my foot. So I busted out the calculator.
My first calculation indicated I needed to ditch around 13 stitches! So from 58 to 45 based on the target gauge and how I like my socks to fit. That was not only ridiculous but would probably make it impossible to maintain the pattern. So I decided to meet it half way and just ditch 6 stitches bringing me down to 52 sts. Which should be a better fit, although not as snug as I usually like.
The easy thing to do would be to drop them out of the back ribbing, but that might pull the design oddly, so I'm thinking I'll ditch 3 from each side over the ankle and go from 2/2 ribbing to 1/1. Since I'm changing the sock anyway, I'm thinking I might change the back ribbing to another cable to disguise the fact that the ribbings don't match. I'll be on a roll at that point, so I'm thinking I might change the called for short row heel to my newly beloved Cuban Heel. Like the short row heel the Cuban Heel shouldn't interrupt the pattern.
Now I just have to chart out the ribbing decreases. Since the sock does fit well at the top, I've decided not to start over from scratch. Of course that will mean laddering the back of the sock down to alter the ribbing to cable. Depending on how fussy that is, I might end up starting over from the cast on.
In the mean time, I brought the felted wine cozy V (for vertical stripe) as my commuter knitting. It's mindless and fast and has to be done. And my lovely sock will be at home knitting. Hey I used to finish a pair of socks in 2 weeks just working on them at home before, why should things be different now?

Hooray Sock Stash!

I've been trying to be good by concentrating on using the yarn I already own rather than buying new yarn. Especially in light of the central air situation.

But a girl can only be strong for so long. I snapped when I was working the other weekend. I was able to rationalize because I had finally invoiced Cynthia for the sock club pattern and had "found money." (I ignored the fact the money could go to other things, such as gas, or the new condenser.)

First I bought this lovely skein of Colinette Jitterbug in the Mardi Gras colorway. This skein came into the store shortly after I bought that purple skein (Florentina colorway as it turns out) with the intent of making socks and using the leftovers in combination with the leftover blue I already had. (So buying the purple didn't really count since I needed it to use what I had.)

At the time I said "where was this when I needed it?" The colors are just so happy! But I was strong and didn't get it. However it's been hanging around the store, taunting me, for like a month. After my trip to Las Vegas, which meant I was out of the store for like two weeks, I told myself that if the Mardi Gras was still there then I was meant to have it.

Then I bought this skein of Sockina Cotton by Schoeller and Stahl. It sounds like this yarn came in when I was out of town so a lot of the colors had already been bought. When I first saw it I was excited about it being 55 percent cotton, but none of the colors really grabbed me. There was actually one that was a mix of orange and greens which totally reminded me of my Sol Joy yarn so I definitely couldn't get that one. I think I'm going to have to let go of my desire not to have duplicate colors in my sock yarns. After all, there are only so many color combinations available and if I really intend to fill my life with handknit socks, there is going to be some over lap. (wow, that's a long sentence, our copy editor would have a field day with it.) So the next day I bought this blue and white skein. I figure I should buy cotton sock yarn to encourage the manufacturers to keep making it and this colorway should be good with jeans.

I also bought three skeins of Cascade 220 in what I hope are sophisticated Christmas colors. I've already started what will be a felted wine cozy gift bag thing. It is part of building my knitting empire so right now the financial outlay doesn't count since I might potentially get it back. Since I'm hoping to sell the finished item, despite the fact that there are probably plenty of wine bag patterns available (in fact I'm fairly certain I remember seeing one on Knitty.com) I'm making up the pattern as I go along to avoid any infringement issues. Knitting this is, of course, cutting into my sock knitting time. So it's a good thing I'm not gunning for the next bi-weekly raffle. Really, I probably should have been making the wine cozy last week instead of my socks, but I don't technically have a deadline, so I was slacking.

Ok, speaking of slacking, time to go see if Hubby is making my big weekend breakfast yet.

First Socks of the Summer

I finished my Joy of Charlene Socks this afternoon. Yipee!
They are my first socks for the Summer of Socks 08 and I when onto Ravelry straight away to log them in so I would be eligible for the first bi-weekly raffle. Considering how many people are playing, and how many of them finished multiple socks in this two week period, I doubt I'll win. Oh well, I'm not doing it for the prizes.
Although I do wonder how those people knit so darn fast. Usually it takes me about two weeks to make a pair of socks. I had thought I'd move along faster what with being on the train and reclaiming that knitting time from the driving commute. Apparently that is not the case. Although I think all the fiddling I did figuring out the pattern held me back on these. I bet if I was doing a pair of plain old stockinette stitch socks, like I usually do, I'd have finished them much faster. Still, I think I'll dig my Alchemy Girlfriend Socks out of exile now. They are all cabled and complicated so I'm not expecting them to go quickly.
But back to the Joy of Charlene Socks. I did work a short row toe for sock number 2 in order to be consistent. The fit of sock 2 is slightly different than sock 1, so I didn't have to work that extra round after finishing the toe as I did on the first sock. Also, instead of closing it with the kitchener stitch I used the method Charlene suggested in an email, which seemed like a modified 3-needle bind off. She said it is from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts's Simple Socks Plain and Fancy. It makes a little ridge along the toes, which is kind of cute. (You can see it on the sock on the right.) We'll see how it feels in a shoe and I reserve the right to yank it out and kitchener it shut instead.
The socks felt all nice and squishy when I was running around in them right after I finished them. They are also full of dog hair now, despite the fact that we cleaned for the party yesterday. It's a never ending battle.
There is quite a bit of yarn left over, although I don't think enough for a full pair. I'm going to have to weight it and compare it to the left over blue Jitterbug to try and assess what I have. I might end up mixing it in with leftover Jitterbug to make obnoxious socks. I seem to be achieving the same gauge with them.
Oh, that's right, I didn't show you my new stash. But at this point it will have to wait for another day.

Thoughts On Sock Surgery

I got a comment the other day, which is terribly exciting because it doesn't happen often. :-)
Christy wrote that her very first pair of socks came out big enough to fit her dad, but then she noticed a dropped stitch and hasn't handed them over yet. She can't decided if she should leave them as is because they are her first, or frog them and rework them to fit herself.
My first instinct was to tell her to open up the toe, pick up the dropped stitch with a crochet hook, and then give them to her dad.
I suppose how much she likes the yarn would come into play. Of course she could always get another ball of it and then they would have matching socks. snicker.
She could, of course, rework them and call it practice. But she should look up articles about reclaiming yarn to get out the kinks, I think Knitty had a good one.
First socks are, apparently, notorious for being difficult and coming out weird. I base this assumption on the regular parade of first socks on the Yarn Harlot's blog whenever she is on tour. (And some day I'll figure out how to get blogger to link properly for me, for now I remain linkless.)
My own first socks where done using some self patterning Regia and a free pattern from Mary Maxim.

(Thanks Flickr for making the picture so huge.) Anyway, there they are. As you can see, they have a mutant shape. The cuff is a bit big and the foot is a bit small, but they fit and I wear them on a regular basis. My sock knitting skills have improved considerably since this pair, which were a necessary first step in learning the construction. Still, I think they are pretty good considering I was in the wilds of New Hampshire without contact with other knitters for guidance, using just books and the internet to guide me. People really need to take advantage of classes and guilds and knitting/crochet groups, it makes life easier.
And, to date, I've only reknit one pair of socks. The first pair I made using Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock yarn. I calculated the gauge incorrectly. They fit but they were a little big. I think I wore them twice before I ripped them out and reknit them at a smaller gauge.
Actually, is there a statue of limitations on frogging finished projects? I made a pair of socks from Lana Grossa Cotton Fun. I'm not sure if I did that gauge wrong as well, or if they have just grown since they are cotton, but they are starting to get on my nerves and the last time I wore them I was seriously thinking of frogging them. I have enough left over for a second pair, maybe I should make those first—at a smaller gauge—for comparison before I assault the original pair.
In the mean time, I realized on the train this morning that the foot row count from the first Joy of Charlene sock should still apply to the second sock and I'm going to aim for it. I'm thinking I'll do the short row toe, both for consistency and because it looks nice. (Whether or not the first sock is going to meet a bad end will depend on how they both end up fitting once I can wear them.) I'm closing in on the toe on the second sock, but I won't be able to try the sock on until late tonight or tomorrow. First, I'm wearing my Doc Martens today. Second, I acknowledge that trying on socks on the train is a bit creepy for those around me. Third, Hubby invited a bunch of people over for burgers before we all troop downtown for the fireworks so little knitting will probably be done at home tonight.
(Yeah, my town is doing fireworks tonight. It makes no sense.)

Is It Still Wrong If It Fits?

It's a good thing I'm already married. I made Hubby take this (during a Yankees game, the nerve!). Happily the only reason he batted an eye when I said "Take a picture of my feet" is because he was engrossed in the game.
I turned the heel of sock 2 on the train ride home. I must knit faster if I'm going to finish these for the first Summer of Socks 08 bi-weekly drawing.
Sock number one is on the right, you can see it is a little narrow but it has that cute diamond on the bottom from the decreases.
Sock number two is on the left and looks like a normal sock. Fits like a normal sock too, so far at least.
My mutant heel fits, but as I said the heel pocket is narrow so it's good I have small feet. And of course I've already discussed the issue of the sole drawing in. Knowing the correct turn saves me from this. But I was wondering if extending the rate of increasing or decreasing would address these issues. The increases are worked every other row, so say I did them every third row, that would make the pocket bigger. Also what if I had done the decreases on the sole after the turn more gradually instead (or as well)? That would effect the fit of the sock by introducing slack into various areas.
I suppose it is something I could fool with—after Summer of Socks 08 is over. Oh, sure, it's all about sock knitting right now, but there is also the consideration of the speed needed to keep up with everyone else. Boy am I glad I didn't enter the most socks contest!
Back to sock number 2. Assuming it is going to fit like a normal sock now, I'm not sure whether I should do a normal toe or do a short row one again to get them to match to some degree. It's not a comfort issue, since I kitchenered the toe shut there is no ridge to worry about, although it was a pain to do it for so many stitches.
There is also the wild card that was introduced when Charlene responded to my response with a way to knit the toe shut instead of kitchenering it. I might have to do a short row toe just to try it out.
Now the question is, how far will I get during the commute tomorrow? I will have to do a bunch of measuring and counting to line up the two socks considering all my row and pattern counts I used on the first one are pretty much out the door since I turned the heel differently.
But at the moment, it's bed time, so the socks will just have to wait.

Swoon

Although I made the sock fit, it was bugging me to know that something wasn't quite right.
So I e-mailed Cynthia and asked her to pass my issue on to Charlene. And Charlene e-mailed me back!
I don't know why I continue to be surprised when these fancy, published knitting gurus respond to me. (I had previously e-mailed Lucy Neatby about her garter stitch short row heel and also got a response.) I guess I think of them as celebrities and you don't expect to hear from celebrities. But I guess they are different kinds of celebrities than movie star celebrities and part of a knitting celebrity's thing is to get out in the public and pass on their knowledge. Part of it probably goes back to the fact that knitting was a communal activity once upon a time and let's make the sweeping, unfounded generalization that most knitters (and crocheters) are nice people.
And did I ever mention how I want to make a blouse from Interweave Knits but the smallest size is just a little too big for me. So I tracked the designer down on Ravelry and told her I needed to drop two inches and what I was thinking. And she e-mailed me back confirming my plan and with a discussion of how it would effect the arm and neck shaping. It was sooo cool. I really need to cast on for that already.
Anyway, when I e-mailed I was trying to think of a way to remind her which one I was so I mentioned my pink and purple yarn. Not only did she remember not liking my yarn (snicker) but she remembered I went to the prom! Which hadn't even occurred to me when I was looking for triggers. Which is silly considering the fuss I caused about it.
Anyway, it sounds like my sock problem is related to me being a ninny and following a class pattern, which is based on a 16 st sock, too closely. (I'd like to point out I'm calling myself a ninny.)
She said after I turn the heel I should have been back to 24 sts across needles 1 & 2, which would match the 24 sts on needles 3 & 4 and return me to my original stitch count. I, however, had stopped the heel turning process after I used up all the stockinette stitches that were added during the heel increases (those located between my markers). Apparently I was supposed to continue working the short rows until I had used up all 44 stitches on needles 1 & 2. Which makes sense and means I didn't have to do all the fooling with the pattern on the ends of Ns 1 & 2. And answers my question of not having enough stitches in stockinette stitch for the entire sole.
Currently I'm about 10 rows into the heel increases on sock 2. Obviously I'll be working this longer heel turn. Of course that means the socks won't match. But only the puppies and my feet should notice. (Well, ignoring the fact I just told the world.)
My current plan is also to be strong and not pull out sock 1.