Done: Tartan Argyles AND Green Step Socks

It's a good thing I've had this job for a few years, and I apparently do it well, and Boss Man has a good sense of humor.

Because I just ran into his office and demanded he use his iPhone to take a picture of my socks and e-mail it to me for my blog. Which is totally not work related.

Hubby has run off with our camera for some final yearbook related activities. Regardless, I finished the Tartan Argyles around 9:30 last night so it would have been too dark to take a picture anyway.

I'm so excited that I finished two pairs in one evening that I felt a super massive picture was in order.

Green Step Socks
You haven't heard a terrible amount about them, because they were my mindless knitting project, which meant there was very little exciting to report about them.

Yarn: Austermann Step in colorway 44.
Needles: US1
Pattern: my personal, plain stockinette stitch sock formula sized to fit my wee feet.

I forgot to weigh the leftover yarn last night. I'm sort of thinking maybe fingerless mitts with it. This is the yarn that is impregnated with aloe and jojoba so that might be good for mitts.

This is my second pair of socks with Step yarn (I made a pair for Hubby in 2006 from the Blue colorway 04). I didn't notice a big benefit to my fingers while knitting with it. Hubby didn't report any foot benefit, but I don't remember if I told him about the aloe.

I have a third ball in Red/08 that I plan to use for another pair of socks for Hubby.

Also, I've had a fingerless mitt spree building for a while now. My knitting plate is basically clear now, so I could jump into it. I have two complicated pairs in mind and maybe some plain ones from fancy yarn like this leftover Step.

Tartan Argyles
Ah, my beautiful Tartan Argyles.

I started them in August 2009 and you have seen every excruciating stitch of them.

Where you starting to doubt I would every finish them? I know I was.

But there they are in all their Yellow, Red, and Black glory.

sigh.

Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull.
Used almost all the Yellow and at least half each of the Red and Black, if not more. Again, I forgot to weight the leftovers. But I will be soon as they are key in one of the complicated pairs of fingerless mitts I want to make.

Needles: US1
Yes, two pairs of socks on US1 needles at the same time. Good thing I have two sets. Still, poor planning. A variety of needle sizes is much healthier.

Pattern: mine, mine, mine. But I might share the chart if you ask nicely. 60 st sock.

What can I tell you that I haven't already? Not much, they have their own tag so it will be easy to find all the posts if you really want to know.

I used traditional argyle construction for them. I attempted Elizabeth Zimmerman's Moccasin Sock sole and failed miserably.

Now that these are out of the way, I mean done, I suppose I can plunge into those polka dot socks I was planning around the same time.

Twitchy
Despite the fact that I finished both socks last night, with the final end on the Tartan Argyles woven in around 9:30, which should have been bedtime since I have a cold, I felt the overwhelming need to line up my next project.

This was not so easy.

Of course I have the Angora Bed Socks of Power and Fortune! hanging over my head. I should be good and focus on them. However they are complicated cabled socks so I need a rest pattern as well.

So I thought I'd finally make the mate to my Cubes and Cables Anklet so I could actually wear them. (The first sock was on display at the store for the longest time, which was kind of a demotivator.) However, they are worked on US3 dpns and those needles are tied up in the ABSoPF.

I briefly considered plunging into the fingerless mitts, but I need to make charts, and I need to measure my hands more accurately, and etc.

I ended up fishing out the Red/08 Step to start Hubby's socks, which are back to the US1 dpns, but at least still mindless St st.

Then this morning I grabbed yarn and needles to swatch for a sweater as well. But that story can wait until another day.

Smile Pretty!

Mmm, my teeth are so clean and shiny.

I will spare you a picture.

They are so smooth and happy because I got them cleaned today. But, of course, I have to make everything more difficult than it needs to be. Instead of a quick trip to the dentist, I went to the Fones School of Dental Hygiene.

I figure the students need victims, uh I mean, patients to practice on.

The upside: It only costs $20.

The down side: It takes. all. day. (Or two half day visits.)

Fortunately, I'm lucky enough to have a job with paid time off. One personal day, gone!

The cleaning takes so long because they are, you know, students. So they have to do a very careful and thorough job. They have to stop at certain points and have their instructor check their work.

At one point the instructor said I was a good case study because I have so many fillings and two crowns already. I suppose I should be flattered?

I let my student talk me into a full set of x-rays too, but that was only $15.

Really, the prices can't be beat. And since they are seniors they are one step removed from the cleaning you'd get at a dentist's office, so why not?

This was the second time I went. The first time was about two years ago (I know you're supposed to get your teeth cleaned every six months, but when it takes all day it kinds of puts you off. Despite all my righteous bragging.)

Last time the clinic was in a different location. All the chairs were just in one big room with green tile. Since then they moved to a spiffy new location across the street from the old one. They have a really nice waiting room now and the treatment area is broken up by walls and cabinets, so you have a little more privacy when you're in the chair.

Both times my students were careful and polite and it didn't hurt at all. She even did a fluoride treatment this time.

Unfortunately she also found some spots that might be cavities starting to form. I forgot to tell her not to find any problems. ha! Guess I have to find a real dentist to get things double checked. sigh.

Sock Toes
Another nice thing is that there is plenty of downtime during which you can knit. I worked on my Green Step Socks in the waiting room and also a couple times in the chair when she wasn't working on me.

I'm into the toe decreases! They are calling to me.

Yesterday I was home sick, which is why I didn't blog. Bit of a head cold. I slept until noon! Hubby was surprised. I was like, "I told you I'm sick!" He agreed sleeping all day was a good indication of that.

After I dragged myself out of bed I got some work done on the Tartan Argyles. Sewed all three seams up. So not fun when your head is foggy. They are also about ready for the toe shaping.

Wouldn't it be cool if I could finish both pairs tonight?!

Tartan Socks: Yawn

I finished the heel flap, turned the heel, and picked up the gusset last night.

Very exciting.

Oh, and the Green Step Socks are through the gusset decreases. Straight on for 50 or so rows to the toe shaping now.

Equally exciting.

It would seem that if I intend to blog this week I'll either have to start making stuff up or drop some stitches.

Tartan Socks: Triumphant Return

The pretty lace socks I was test knitting for P are squared away and for sale on her blog.

Which is good because I needed to harvest the US1 dpns for the next phase of my Tartan Argyle Socks.

Since I've been knitting flat all this time I was able to use the other three needles from the set along with a spare Brittany to work P's sock.

But now the instep is done and it's time to work the heel flap, which meant I needed at least one more needle.

Ravelympic Aftermath
Of course it also helped that I wrapped up my Girly Top on Thursday.

I will admit to some brief Post-Project Depression on Friday.

Sweaters are such big projects, with such a time investment, that I find I deflate a little after the initial high of finishing it.

Kind of like the end of a good book. I end up a little sad to see it go and need to spend some time savoring it before plunging into a new one.

In this case it wasn't a matter of plunging into a new project but returning to some active one.

So the Tartan sock and I spent quality time together during the Olympic closing ceremonies.

Be Woven Already
A great deal of time Sunday was spent weaving in the ends on the instep. That seemed to take forever and was really tedious. I was quite happy I had already done the leg. I'm sure the sock was still be languishing if I'd had to weave in all the ends on the leg and instep.

In fact, on Friday I couldn't bear to face all those ends and worked on my Green Step Socks instead. Amazingly, I'm still not done the gusset decreases on them.

Weaving the ends on the Tartan Argyles probably didn't take as long as I thought. And I was able to get the stitches for the heel flap joined and work about five rows before bedtime.

I'm well on my way now. I expect the rest of the sock to fly along.

However, there is the hurdle of seaming the back of the leg and the two foot seams. But I'm nowhere near ready for the foot seams.

Oh, while I was in end weaving mode I also took the time to poke in the ends that had squirmed out of my Pirate Arrgyle Socks. yawn!

Photo Disclaimer: The picture is actually of the first sock. Fortunately the second sock looks the same and I couldn't see the point of taking a new picture.

All Riled Up

The winter Olympics, and therefore the Knitting Olympics and the Ravelympics start tonight!

I will not be participating in the first two, except vicariously.

As I understand it, The Knitting Olympics are for projects cast on and finished between the opening and closing ceremonies.

I'm all about finishing a work in progress, so I'm sticking with the Ravelympics, which have far more event categories.

My plan is to finish my Stella Blouse aka Girly Top.

All I have to do is knit the front and seam it together.

I believe I've even already cast on and worked a few rows, at last count, so I'm over the hard part.

I know I can finish a pair of socks, even a pair of Hubby Socks, in two weeks if they are my only project. So I'm wondering how a sweater front compares to a pair of socks. It's a thicker gauge, so that has to help.

Anyway, I'm going to be confident in my ability to complete this challenge. And if it's not quite done on Feb 28, at least I'll be well on my way.

Tartan Sock Update
As promised, I counted stitches at many points on the first sock last night.

I counted on the toe just after the side seams and before the shaping. I got 60 sts.

Damn.

I counted across the instep and got 28. Which didn't make sense because I know the pattern is 30 sts wide. So I was looking at a 56 st sock. Where did the toe morph back into 60?

Oh, right, four stitches were eaten on each side for the seams.

Damn.

I counted the heel flap again and it's still 28 stitches wide.

I looked closely and think I found the second decrease.

It appears that I probably accidentally decreased those two stitches away since they are both on the same half of the heel flap. That is, if I'd planned them I would have deleted one from each half when I joined the flap together so things would have been balanced.

So it looks like I'll decrease two stitches from the second heel flap just to make them match.

As it is, I've continued on the instep and think I'll probably go ahead and finish the pattern repeat, weave in the ends, then double back to the heel flap like I did on the first one.

Of course, this is all out the door at 9 p.m. tonight when the Olympics start!

Tartan Socks: Stupid Heel Flap

So I'm cruising along on the second Tartan Argyle Sock, and then I get to the heel flap and everything falls apart.

On the first sock I can see that I decreased a stitch on the first row of the heel flap. And when I count the stitches I get 28 not the 30 I would expect in a 60 stitch sock. Which also indicates I must have decreased a second stitch somewhere, not that I can find it.

And I have nothing written down to indicate why I would have done this.

Nothing scribbled on the chart, which would be a sensible place since it's "the pattern".

Nothing in my little metal notebook I keep in my purse, which is where I scribble just about all my pattern notes.

Nothing in the numerous, long winded, supposedly detailed blog posts I wrote about the first sock.

Nope. Just randomly decreased from the 30 stitches that are half the sock down to 28.

Downsizing
I suspect that I wanted the foot to be 56 stitches, which will fit me better, but why not just take the extra stitches out in the gusset decreases?

In fact, I tried to count the sole stitches after the gusset decreases and I think I did get 26. But I didn't account for the stitches used in the seam, so I need to count the foot again.

Also, I tried to count the stitches after the heel turn, as a cross check, and got 16, which can't be correct because my little metal notebook indicates I usually have 18 stitches left after turning a 28 stitch heel.

Still, it might have been nice for me to actually write a note about this important point in the pattern.

Unless I thought I'd be finishing them so quickly that I'd remember. Obviously I didn't expect them to take me, like, a year. Or maybe I was still so flustered by the failure that was the Moccasin Sole that it didn't occur to me to write stuff down.

The Bright Side
Regardless, you can take all this babbling as an indication that I've finished the leg and am ready to divide for the heel.

Well, step back, I spent time last night weaving in most of the ends on the leg. I couldn't finish the last diamond because it was too close to the needles.

Remember I had that cunning plan to work the heel flap before the instep because I thought it would be easier to keep the instep and sole the same length?

Well, it turns out this heel flap stitch count mess stopping me cold is a good thing.

It occurred to me this morning that if I join for the heel flap now it will be rather difficult to weave in the rest of the leg ends later. I'll be working into a tube. I'd have to flip the sock inside out.

So I think I'll work a bit of the instep to give myself slack to weave in the rest of the leg ends.

Then I'll count foot stitches on the first sock obsessively a couple times. Then I'll plunge into the heel flap for the second sock.

On whatever stitch count that maybe.

All before the Olympics start tomorrow night.

Back to Socks

With Hubby's Chunky Cabled Scarf done, but a few days remaining before the Olympics (and Ravelympics), I returned to working on the numerous pairs of socks I have on the needles.

These Green Step Socks are my plain stockinette stitch pair for waiting rooms and anti-fidget activity when I'm battling writer's block at work.

I finished the first one over the weekend.

I noticed the toe ended at just about the same point in the color pattern where the sock started.

Against my better judgment, but because a girl can dream, I went ahead and cast on.

As expected, I was too far into the color section. The pinky salmony bit came up around row 7 of the ribbing when I shouldn't have reached it until row 14 or 15.

Since the idea of unmatched self-patterning socks still makes me twitchy, I reeled out yarn until I found the same section. I used tied a little knot in the yarn under then new ribbing, unraveled it, then used that section to backtrack on the working yarn to find the correct spot to cast on.

I think that little method worked rather well. I'm probably one a row shifted at most. Of course, I'm not neurotic enough to do that all the time. I'm willing to just eyeball it and have those rows of ribbing actually count for something.

Tartan Argyles
In the evenings at home I've been working on the second Tartan Argyle.

At this point I'm through the first two diamonds and into the third. Then it is just the instep to go in pattern.

I think this time I'll stop before the instep, work the heel flap/turn, and then work the instep and sole simultaneously to reduce the counting I need to do to ensure they match.

That means I'll have to fish the rest of this set of double pointed needles out of the test sock I was working on a few weeks ago.

At the moment I'm going to pause in the knitting and start tackling weaving in the ends. That takes focus and is not something I can do while I'm watching TV.

Snow Day!
My office was closed today because of the snow. It started this morning between 6:30 and 7 (I was up at 6:20 and didn't see anything, although I didn't have my glasses on). Not a ton of accumulation so far, but it's supposed to get worse tonight for the evening commute.

I'm really happy the powers that be at the office decided to close. We were worried they'd have us come in, then close early, and that would have sucked.

Of course, I'm working on an article that was due like last week, so I can't take a true snow day.

Still, I've managed to slack off most of the morning.

We finished the bread I baked, so I'm working on another loaf. I mixed up the starter last night in anticipation of being home today.

I asked Hubby I if should make the sandwich bread instead and he said the Scali bread was good so I should make that again.

This time I was smart and misted the started with olive oil (we have an atomizer that we can fill with whatever we want, as opposed to canned cooking spray) before I put the plastic wrap over it. Didn't stick so bad.

Also, I remembered that I did change the recipe. It calls for a bit of dried milk and I don't have any so I skipped it. I think it adds protein and helps with the texture or something.

Anyway. Last week I pulled out my box of dried milk. It did not have an expiration date on it, but I distinctly remembered buying it when I was living in TX, which shows you how much I use it. That made it at least 10 years old. eeewww. So I tossed it (finally). The only boxes I saw at the store were massive emergency reserve sizes, which didn't make any sense since I never made it through a normal size box.

I guess if I stick with this baking bread on a regular basis thing I track down another little box of dried milk. Until then, I think I managing fine without it.

Now, I must go weave in ends on my Tartan Argyle while I mull over my article topic.

Stay warm!

Forward, Sock!

As I said previously, I did get some actual knitting done over my Christmas vacation.

Top of the list was the first Tartan Argyle sock.

As you might recall, I was struggling mightily with this sock back in September in my attempt to use Elizabeth Zimmerman's Moccasin Sock technique.

I frogged that heel/sole combination then left the sock to languish as I worked on other projects.

Anyway, over vacation I was able to whip them out. Having learned from sewing up the feet on my Pirate Arrgyle socks, I was on the alert for things shifting out of place. This time around I counted the rows on the instep, then knit the sole to the same row count, then worked them one after the other (row on instep, row on sole) as though they were one long piece, in order to make sure the lengths matched. Then I sewed the foot seams and worked the toe in the round.

I was also able to knit the ribbing for the second sock over break. I've been working on it recently and am surprised at how quickly it is moving along despite being color work.

Angora Bed Socks of Power and Fortune!

I finished the first foot on my angora bed socks, picked up the stitches from the provisional cast on, and worked one row of the leg. Then abandoned them again.

This angora yarn isn't the easiest to work cables on. Or maybe it's that I'm still not accustomed to the 9" circulars yet.

Also, it's kind of a complicated cable, so I can't work on them when I'm watching a TV show that I actually want to watch.

In case you've been wondering, I'm calling them the bed socks of "Power and Fortune!" because I'm planning do work cable motifs based on runes of good fortune onto the back of the leg. snicker.

So this linked cable pattern will continue up the front of the leg and the stand alone cable will be on the back. Which just adds to the knitting chaos and increases the amount of concentration needed.

Perhaps you won't be surprised to hear that I've gone to the other end of the ball and knit 15 rows of ribbing to ensure I don't run out of yarn.

Well, that was just stupid.

Last week I decided new Lie to Me hat could benefit from a tassel. The top was a bit pointed and needed something to jazz it up. I whipped up a tassel and everyone says it's just the thing.

Although it now feels like there is a mouse sitting on my head when I drive (I flip the tassel forward because it is uncomfortable when it falls between my head and the headrest).

I was washing a load of handknits over the weekend (yeah, I toss stuff in the machine on the "handknit" setting. So sue me. Nothing bad has happened yet) when I decided my new hat could benefit from a blocking.

A little voice said, "Take off the tassel. Take off the tassel."

But, of course, I ignored it. So it was no surprise when I emptied the machine and found this tangled mess in the bottom. At which point the little voice said, "I told you so" and flounced away.

It was not salvageable. Well, the piece that had tied off the tassel head was, probably because the ends were knotted so it couldn't fray.

Fortunately I had enough yarn leftover to make a new tassel. I will be much more careful with my tassels in the future.

Tartan Socks: In the Name of Knowledge

Although I had decided that I really did want to frog the moccasin sole and go with a traditional construction, I forged ahead for a few more rows.

It was one of those situations where I had come so far and to turn back with so many unanswered questions seemed wrong.

What if some poor sole, I mean, soul working EZ's pattern ends up on my blog with these same questions? Fat lot of help I would be to them.

I knit around 5 more rounds last night. I have decided: it has got to go.

Happy Toes
As suspected, the extra fabric, combined with the distance from the needles, did indeed improve the fit around my toes. It's doable, but still not perfect.

Looking for Closure
Also, as you can see in the picture, I was able to divide the stitches evenly on two needles. This means I could probably kitchener the bottom shut without using the drawstring method at any point.

Cut Me Some Slack
My new complaint is probably more to do with the shape of my foot and less to do with the poor technique.

You see, my heel is narrower than the ball of my foot. When I saw this last night I identified it as one of those things I probably always knew just never thought about.

What this means for the poor sock is at this point the section by my heel can be pulled together and closed comfortably. However, the section at the toes still needs more fabric. Oh, I can stretch what is there and pull the sides together, but it is definitely stretched.

And that makes me wonder how it will stand up to wear and tear if the fabric is already strained.

If I work more rounds to accommodate the ball of the foot section, then there will be too much fabric at the heel. Of course, my little brain started pondering whether some form of short rows would help. Stop working the area at the heel and just up the sides, but still work the rest of the sides and toe area.

I squashed that idea right quick. It's a sock, it shouldn't be this difficult.

As it is (I don't know if you can tell in the picture), there is already slack at the heel and I'm wondering if it will bunch up when I kitchener it. I don't know about you, but I always get those corner peaks at either end when I kitchener a toe shut. That won't be fun at the bottom of my foot.

And have I mentioned that I'm not terribly happy with my original decision to go with a black sole? I think it's too much of a contrast. I suppose that is part of the fun of this construction, but it's a bit too stark for my taste.

Down It Goes
There you have it. I think I have beaten this technique to death (as opposed to beating it into submission). And I think I've laid out a compelling argument justifying frogging it. Which I shall probably do tonight.

Of course, don't rely on me alone. Things might turn out differently for you. Plenty of other people have used this technique and seem happy with it.

Maybe they just aren't as fussy as me. sniff.

Stella: Second Sleeve Slip-ups

The Tartan Socks continue to languish. I'm really leaning toward frogging them and following a traditional argyle construction. Although maybe I should soldier on for the good of the wider knitting community.

There is that rule of thumb: As long as we're knitting, we're happy.

Pair of Sleeves
This is all good news for the Stella sweater.

I finished the second sleeve last night. Mercifully, it looks like the first one, which was in some doubt for a while there.

First I had trouble transitioning from the pleats to the smocking.

You decrease a number of stitches as you work the smocking set up row. Well, I hadn't worked all my decreases and ran out of stitches.

I thought I had front loaded them too much, so pulled it out and started again. No dice.

The first sleeve was not so tricky. I examined it, counted spacing, and even put safety pins on the decreases to they would be easier to see/count as I worked the second sleeve.

Still didn't work.

Finally I had the brilliant idea of counting the number of stitches with which I was starting.

Yep, not enough.

I told Hubby I didn't know what we were watching when I worked that last row, but I messed up big time. I worked all the pattern decreases without the paired increases. sigh.

So I had to pull out 3/4 of that row and rework it. Obviously, the set up/decrease row worked fine after that.

Cap It
The smocking and most of the main sleeve section went fine until I reached the last set of decreases in the shaping.

You decrease every other row X number of times. My plan was to advance my row counter only on the right side/decrease rows. Turns out I started automatically advancing after every row. I arrived at what should have been the last decrease row, according to the counter, but I had waaay to many stitches.

I had to sit there, reading my knitting, counting decreases and making sure both sides were even. sheesh. At least I didn't have to pull anything out.

But then the penultimate direction was to decrease 2 sts at the BEG of the next two rows. I however decreased 2 sts at BOTH ends of the next two rows. And couldn't figure out why I was waaaay short on stitches. I figured that gaff out much more quickly.

You can see why I'm happy the sleeves match!

As soon as I finished the sleeve I cast on for the back. I was able to knit two rows before bedtime. I'm really surprised/excited at how quickly this top is moving along. I just have to stay focused.

Tartan Socks: Mocked by Moccasins

I have a feeling my experiment with Elizabeth Zimmerman's Moccasin Sock technique is about to come to an abrupt and messy end.

I suspect I'm not going to like the fit of the finished socks, which is a major de-motivator for proceeding.

However, it is a cunning construction. It looks all goofy on the needles, but magically transforms into a sock on the foot. It will eliminate the need to sew the side of the foot shut, which is a plus. I'm also surprised at how well the heel fits, even thought it doesn't have a normal turn.

The problem is I'm not sure how much of my discomfort stems from the construction of the sock, and how much is because I'm trying it on while it's still on the needles.

I'm closing in on the bottom of the foot, where the sole will be grafted shut. I can't decide if I should finish it and get a true fit, or if I should cut my losses now. I was smart and did not cut the red and yellow yarn after working the toe. Of course, if I was to back track, I would have to pull back all of the heel/gusset/instep shaping, which would take me back to the center of the last black diamond at the ankle.

Wiggle Room, or Lack Thereof
The main problem is in the toe.

Remember a few posts ago when I was worried the Tartan Sock was longer in the foot than the Pirate Arrgyles? Well, totally misplaced fear. Turns out the Tartans are three rows shorter, and I'm feeling their loss.

The toe pocket is very close. It is hard to flare my toes. And the foot seems short in general. It makes my toes curl under. But at the same time the fabric on top of the foot looks baggy.

You can see how much of the sole I've worked. I'm through both sets of toe decreases and the one set of heel decreases.

At first I thought I should pull it out and work the red toe decrease section over more rows to give myself more room. Then I realized the top of the foot looked baggy, so that didn't seem the proper fix.

I don't know if I should work more rows between the decreases on the theory the slack will stretch up the sides to my toes were I need it. Or if I DO need to make the foot longer. She says when you pick up for the sole you should have double the number of stitches you cast on, and I didn't.

Under Foot
Then I'm also worried about the feeling of the finished sole under my foot.

You graft the very bottom shut. This shouldn't be an issue. Grafting/kitchener stitch is seemless.

But it also sounds like you do that draw-string bag closure thing under the toe and heel. How much of a lump is that going to make? Am I going to feel it when I walk?

I once crocheted a pair of slippers with a sole that started with a chain that you worked around, increasing on either end. I felt the lump under my heel. It was pretty uncomfortable. Granted, that was with worsted weight 100% acrylic yarn and these socks are fingering weight wool. But still.

This all means the Tartan Socks are stymied at the point you currently see them. They've been in that condition for a few days now while I dither.

On the bright side, I've turned the heel on the Second Scrappy Socks and I've almost finished Stella's Second sleeve.

I guess there is something to be said for having multiple projects on the go!

Hold Fast! Tartan Socks

All this time I have been quietly knitting away on the Tartan Argyle Socks.

Aren't I sneaky?

Here I spring the first one on you, mostly formed.

What you are looking at is the leg and the top of the instep. So red cuff, leg, then the hourglass shaped portion is the gusset decreases. I'm heading for the toes.

I am not following the normal argyle flow of working the leg and instep, then heel flap, gusset decreases, sole until it matches the instep, and then toe in the round.

That method involved an awful lot of seam sewing.

Instead I'm giving Elizabeth Zimmerman's Moccasin Socks a whirl. She has you work leg and instep. But then you continue on through some funky toe shaping, pick up along the sides of the instep, and knit in the round down to the sole of the foot.

As far as I can tell, the only sewing should be the back of the leg and the bottom of the sole.

I have one more row in pattern to work, then I'm going to work even until the toe shaping. In the pattern she gives inches to aim for, but I'm like, "Uh, how do you know it will fit properly?" because the fabric has to stretch around your foot.

I'm probably a little fit shy because of the way the Pirate Arrgyles didn't look like they would fit until I was able to sew the side foot seams. After I sewed the seams they were able to stretch properly around my foot and give me a better idea of how the fabric was going to move around.

Well, thinking of the Pirate Arrgyles made me realize I had the perfect guides available. I'm using the same yarn and pattern, after all. So I counted the foot to toe rows on them and I'll work the Tartans to match.

Once again being too clever for my own good, I bet.

Cotton Baby Sweater and Hat Update
My Cousin X posted a picture of Baby M wearing the hat I made on Facebook. It's very exciting to see that it fits. She says they love the set. No picture of the sweater as it is still too big since I made the 18 month size and the baby is only around 4 weeks.

So nice when hand knit stuff is properly received.

These Are Going To Be So Cool: Tartan Argyles

I spent some time over the long weekend making charts.

I made a chart for my Tartan Argyle socks and I made a chart for some Polka Dot socks and I made a chart of the colors and amounts of yarn needed for the Landscape socks.

Despite all this charting, I made good progress on the Talking to Socks. I finished the first one, using a sewn bind off. And worked the second one through the heel turn and into the leg.

Aye, Lassie
You might remember, after the success of making the Pirate Arrrgyles, I was filled with a desire to make socks based on my (married) clan tartan.

My original plan was to do yellow socks with black diamonds and red diagonals. But after I finished the Pirate Arrrgyles and had an idea of how much yarn would be used, I decided to do red and black diamonds as I wasn't sure if I would have enough yellow, or something.

In a moment of panic last week I bought another skein of yellow, just to be safe.

Lesson Learned
The Pirate Arrrygles were based on a 56 stitch sock and the fit is good, but I don't like the way the stitches spread open. And I'm also displeased that the diagonals don't cross on the same rows were the diamonds come together. Of course, the last chart I made for them was my third attempt and I just wanted to start knitting already. I was determined not to make the same mistakes with the Tartan Argyles.

Chart This
To that end, the Tartan Argyles are based on 60 st. I arrived at that number in an arbitrary fashion. It was easy to divide up into even diamonds and for the heel flap. But I think the fit should still be ok.

I started out by finding the center of the sock, coloring those two squares on the first row black, and building the diamond from there.

In looking at other patterns and sites, I saw the widest point of the diamonds are usually half the number of the total stitches for the sock. So the center diamonds (the black and red ones down the front of the foot) start with two sts and are 30 sts across at their widest point, but the yellow ones are only 28 sts. Since the black & red ones are two rows deep at 30 sts they come together in a four stitch square and there isn't room for the yellow.

As I was charting, I realized the diamonds have to be as tall as there are wide, so they are 30 rows as well.

After I colored all the diamonds in, I found the center of the diamonds, colored the four stitches were the diagonals cross, and colored in the diagonals out from there. They all cross very nicely were and when they should. As it turned out, the diagonals both touch with two stitches on the first row.

(Actually, if I remember correctly, I colored in the first black diamond, but it wasn't 30 rows tall. Then I jumped straight to the diagonal, quickly realized it wouldn't cross correctly, and that is was helped me realize my diamonds weren't tall enough. They didn't have a good center.)

Because I can't do things the easy way, my diagonals are two colors—red on the black diamonds and black on the red diamonds.

As I said, these are going to be so cool. I want to drop everything and start them, but the time isn't right at the moment.

I hope all this information helps if you landed here because you were searching for how to make an argyle chart. I know when I did my Pirate Arrrgyles I was very frustrated because I saw people's charts, but not really directions on how to make my own. The charts I was finding weren't at the gauge or stitch count I needed for my little feet, so I had to wing it, and was too impatient to figure this stuff out the first time.

Not Much

Not Much going on here.
Deadlines are going to be the death of me, but it's the industry I chose. And I'm happy to have deadlines to worry about.

New Year's Sock
Is moving along. It is taking me a shockingly long time to finish these. According to my Ravelry project page, I started these on Dec. 30. So it's been over two week. However, I can't remember if that was the date I cast on for attempt number one. Keep in mind I knit practically a whole sock then pulled it all out and started from scratch. That will extend a project's time line!
I have to work about 20 more rounds, basically the toe shaping, then I'm done.
Still, this long incubation makes me wonder if I've been getting less knitting time in the evening than I thought. It's not like these are complicated socks that they should take a long time to knit.

Next Up
Oooh, I can't decide.
I should go back to Nell for a bit. That sweater is sooo close now that I've decided to just sew it shut. It's a matter of getting some quite time to work on it. We've been catching up on our TV shows and I want to pay attention them, so auto-pilot knitting rules the day. Hmm, I guess that means I'm excited for baseball season to start up again.
Of course, Sundae has been neglected as well. But, come on, it's a lace camisole. Not practical for this time of year; it was 18 degrees F when I got to the office this morning. (If I heard someone say that I'd tell them summer comes every year. I can't be expected to listen to my own advice, can I?) Yeah, yeah, finishing it will not only get it off my plate, but put me in a position for the first rays of summer sun. Yawn.
I think, though, that while the weather is still cold, and despite the fact that winter comes every year, I should jump ahead and start working on Hubby's mancho. I haven't even shown him the yarn, which really could be a big hurdle. I'm not sure how long it will take me, but it will never get done if I don't start it.

Hatching Plans
But then again, I had an interesting idea for a project on the drive to work this morning. I kind of want to swatch that. There is one tricky part to it. I would work the tricky part and worry about the easy parts later. It's a simple thing, but with some kick to it, so I want to show the idea to Cynthia to see if she would want it for the store. Which will influence what yarn I use, which would influence stitch count, gauge, etc. Which is why I would just work up the tricky part first to get the general idea to show her.

Tartan Sock notes
I wore the Arrgyle Socks to class Saturday.
Now I've worn them both before and after washing. The fit still seems good, with little signs of slouching. However, I spent most of the day sitting crosslegged on a couch, so it wasn't a legitimate test.
Despite this, I think I still want to increase the stitch count of the leg with the hopes of improving the chart.

Ok, time to get back to work. I'm still eating lunch, but I'm eating slowly today. I'm actually really considering shutting down my computer so I'll be forced to concentrate on work and not play online!

Arrgyles HO!

Yeah, I've been MIA lately. Between going up to the in-law's for Christmas and catching Hubby's cold (it was inevitable, I just can't remember not to kiss him), I've been down for the count.
Actually, I came down with the cold full blown on Christmas Day, so I spent most of it sleeping. I'm feeling much better now.
But I haven't been feeling so poorly that I couldn't knit!
In fact, I have two completed projects to share with you.
Um, no, not Nell. Um, no, not Sundae either.

Arrgyles Have Arrived
As you can see from the picture on the left, I've finally finished my Arrgyle Pirate Socks!
To recap. The pattern is based on the idea from the Moth Heaven blog. She has a PDF of the chart of just the skull portion. So I had to trot off and chart the rest of the sock myself. Oh, and the chart she provides is for one skull on the front, but I did a skull on each side (which she discusses).
Needles US1.
Yarn: Baby Ull from Dalegarn. One skien each purple, pink, green, and yellow. Used almost all the purple, but have a lot of the other colors left over.
Let's see, what would I change?
Or, better to ask, "What did I learn?"
First off, my chart is off. The diagonal line don't always meet correctly. Sometimes they just cross, sometimes they come together as a box, a little consistency would be nice. (You might remember, I'm all about consistency.) Also, these crossing don't always occur on the same row when the diamonds come together, which, I believe, is how argyles are supposed to be.
This issue might be remedied with a higher stitch count. I whined in a previous post about not liking the way the stitches open up, so increasing the stitch count is not out of the question.
Before I take that step however, I want to wear them a couple times to check the fit.
All of this information will come into play when I attempt the Tartan Argyles. (and I just realized I never put that yarn in my Ravelry stash, huh.)

Sewing Workarounds
Also, I would not suggest you make argyles if you are terribly adverse to the mattress stitch. I had to sew up the back of the leg (which wasn't too bad) and both sides of the foot (which was torture. It took at least three tries to get both sides to come out even). And don't get me started on weaving in the ends. That was the longest part. I thought it would never end. I suspect a normal pair of argyles wouldn't be so bad; it was all the ends for the skulls that did me in. There just wasn't anywhere to put them all! You will not be surprised to hear I won't be making skull socks again any time soon.
I'm thinking, when I do make the Tartan Socks, I might try to be very clever and work the foot based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's moccasin socks. As I understand it (I have her Knitter's Almanac which includes the pattern), the structure is awfully similar. You knit the instep first, then pick up around the edge and knit the sole down with funky decreases. As opposed to the argyle construction I just used of knitting both pieces flat separately and then sewing them together.
Ok, I think I've beaten the poor Arrygles to death.

Bed Socks
I finished Mom's bed socks back on Dec. 22, but that was right before we went out of town and such, so I didn't have a chance to blog about them.
As you might be able to tell, they are two different sizes.
Ack!
The smaller one is actually the second one. I swear I wrote down row counts and such when I made the first one, so they should match.
I suspect gauge is the culprit here. I did a lot of work on the second one when I was stuck in traffic in the snow storm the Friday before I finished these. I think it would be safe to say I was a little tense and I guess that came out in my knitting.
Well, I'm going to send them to her anyway. It would be a shame to rework the smaller one to be bigger and have her say they are too big. I figure this way she'll be able to check the fit and I can adjust from there. It is also entirely possible she'll like them this way as she can be a little quirky.
(Hi, Mom! yes, I did just call you quirky for all the world to see. And, hey, when you leave comments, sign them, ok? Otherwise you just show up as anonymous.)
I should get these in the mail before she gets it in her head to drive up and get them.

Vacation, vacation
Ok, I think that's quite enough for one post.
I'm on vacation this week. My company closes between Christmas and New Years, it's very nice. Plenty of time to pester Hubby and the pups, and get some knitting done. Speaking of which, time to scrounge for lunch and move on to my next project!

New Yarn? What New Yarn?

I don't know what you are talking about.

I'm on a yarn diet, remember? Which means that I'm not buying yarn. And the only way new yarn will come into the house is if someone gives it to me. And as people I know don't tend to give me yarn, no new yarn for me.

Oh, that yarn.

Well, that yarn has been in my stash for...oh, at least 48 hours, so it hardly counts as new now. Wouldn't you agree?

Besides, Hubby got to buy two new CDs over the weekend, so now we're even.

And, this is for a project that I've had in mind and we were running out of this yarn at the store so I had to get it on Saturday or I might have missed my opportunity.

Based on a Tartan?
Remember how I said I wanted to make socks based on the family tartan? Well I really have been thinking about this for a while. I decided I should act on it since my yarn buying prospects were looking a bit dim and we really are almost out of these colors (I bought the last black) and aren't they just perfect?

Now, I had been trying to think in my head (that doesn't sound good) about a way to do them to really mimic the tartan. I figure they would have to be knit flat and it would involve intarsia.

Of course, I also remembered the red as more dominant and two cross striped instead of three.

The other staff members and I tossed the idea around during slow times, we even considered using eye of partridge to try to imitate the light sections of the black (which probably highlights the difference between weaving and knitting).

But then they talked me down (or talked some sense into me) and I'm going to go with traditional argyles with yellow as the main color, black diamonds, and red for the little accent stripe. I'm thinking I might use red for the cuff and heel as well, to dilute the impact on the yellow. I'll cross that bridge when it's time to cast on, which could be a while. I should finish my Arrgyle pirate socks first.

Wedding Tangent
It's a little unclear whether this actually is the family tartan.
(It occurs to me that posting about the family tartan violates my personal rules about posting too much identifiable personal information on the blog that would allow someone to track me down, but I kind of crossed that line when I started selling patterns on Ravelry. And talking about the store I work in. Anyway. I'm still going to keep it vague. You will have to know about tartans, really want to know my name, and then do some digging to figure it out. And even then, this is the Clan tartan and we are one of the Septs so, ha! Anyway.)

This is the "of Lewis" dress tartan. The hunting tartan is greens and blues and not bad, but I like the dress one better.

Back when I was planning the wedding I was kind of stuck on colors. Then I bought a halter dress and my Uncle the Priest was like "You are not having bare shoulders in church." This is the same man who wasn't bothered by Hubby, our dads, and the groomsmen wearing kilts (that was Hubby's idea). Although the kilt question did get run all the way up to the Bishop (who said it was alright as long as we weren't in the main cathedral in NYC. Everyone along the way acknowledged kilts are traditional male attire, but it's not the Orthodox church for nothing.)

So here we are planning this traditional Russian Orthodox wedding (it's a Christian religion, similar to Catholicism, but better. :-) You know anyone who is Greek Orthodox? Same thing, different language) with the men in the party in kilts and a bagpiper.

At some point I'd been poking around online and found a custom in Scottish weddings is for the groom to give the bride a scarf of her new tartan. So when my Uncle the Priest declared that I had to cover my shoulders, it made sense to get a little scarf and have Hubby present it to me at the door before the ceremony started in earnest (we start at the front door, no marching down the isle for us). Problem solved.

And, since I liked all these colors anyway, it was an easy jump to let the tartan inform the wedding colors. My flowers, the decorations, the icing on the cake, my bridesmaids had black halter dresses and two had red shawls and two had yellow. Everything was sort of yellow and red.

Imagine my surprise then when, a week after the wedding, my father-in-law turns around and says, "By the way, we're not of Lewis we're of Skye."

What?

I have since chosen to ignore that fact. I couldn't find a tartan for "of Skye" anyway. (Actually, I did an internet search again over the weekend. A mug came up, but it looked awfully similar to the "of Harris" hunting tartan.) And the stuff he has around the house has this tartan on it, so I figure I'm good.

Back to the Tartan Socks
So the yarn for the Tartan Socks has been unceremoniously shoved into the dining room credenza with my other active projects. I can probably base them on the pattern for the Arrygles. I have to finish the Arrgyles first. The chart does need to be tweaked a little, which will be easier to do after I've got the fit and where the design is off confirmed.

I will leave you with this picture of Samson on the ride
home yesterday. Look how huge is tongue is! I forgot to include it in the post about the hike. Samson is actually in the picture with Hubby, but he's in shadow so you can't see him. Baru's back is in the foreground.