25 November 2006

Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts's Short Row Heel

I've been knitting like crazy all morning. Hedera has been taking up my time, these days. I've made the occasional error on the leg, but manged to fix it all without it looking too shabby. I did have to restart the sock last weekend, after I realized I was doing the ssk incorrectly (I forgot to slip knitwise), but since then things had been going relatively smoothly. Until today.

"The crisis of today is the joke of tomorrow."
—H.G. Wells

One can only hope. I had decided to work a short row heel for Hedera, instead of the heel flap/gusset it calls for. The problem is, perhaps, that I don't own a reference for sock construction, and the websites I've been going off of haven't always been very clear. Purlwise has been my main reference, and I don't mean to say that it isn't good; it just isn't always as clear as I would like. It was the TechGuy Sock pattern that helped clear things up for me when I was uncertain. Of course, had I thought about it in the first place, I could have figured it out on my own and saved myself an hour and a half of knitting/ripping back, but apparently thinking is highly overrated on Saturdays. Then again, so is wasting time.



As you can see, I eventually got the hang of the first part of the short row heel, and have just now finished the second part. Finally. After taking a close look at it, though, I realized that part of the rightside of the 'seam' that the short row heel (not a real seam, mind you) is full of holes—in other words, I messed up, and covered for the mistake poorly.

Tomorrow I'll be back to square one, then, the start of the heel; my hands ache and I can't stand to look at Hedera any more today. One of these days, I'm going to learn to use a lifeline when trying out new techniques. It'd save me so much time.

"After all, tomorrow is another day."
—from Gone With the Wind

Yes; it is, indeed.

—J

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16 November 2006

At Last: The Jaywalkers Can Jaywalk

Well, it's mid-November, but I finally knuckled down and finished the Jaywalker socks, my supposed Socktoberfest project; 'supposed' because I did, after all, start them at the end of September. My wrists and hands hurt after knitting the last four inches of the second sock in one evening, but it is decidedly worth the effort.

And there was much rejoicing. (Yay.)



Pattern: Jaywalker, by the lovely Grumperina.
Yarn: KnitPicks, Dancing in 'Square Dance' (41% cotton, 39% wool, 13% nylon, 7% elastic).
Needles: 2.5mm nickel-plated circulars
Time: Very gradually, over the course of a month and a half.
Modifications: Magic loop method.
Skills Learned: Magic loop, heel flap/short rows/gusset, kitchener stitch.
Comments: A great first-time sock pattern. Simple, addictive, fun. I would definitely knit these again, perhaps in a different yarn (due to pooling issues). The yarn itself, however, was very nice to knit with, and feels pretty strong.



We see the aforementioned pooling action in the above photograph. It's unfortunate (especially on the top sock, the one I knit second), but bearable. I am simply not experienced enough to come up with an easy fix that wouldn't have affected the fit of the sock. In any case, it makes it obvious that they're hand-made. :)



Hand-made, and quite comfortable, I might add! And despite my inability to take a decent picture of them being worn, they do, in fact, look rather splendid.



Isn't this yarn just fabulous looking? The streaks of white make it look shinier than it is, but the colors are wonderfully vibrant without being overstated and totally immature.

As you can see, four out of five rabbits approve of munching on freshly knit socks.



Mum, these are tasty!

It feels amazing to have finally finished my first pair of socks, and I must say, I am hooked. They are the perfect portable project. Tomorrow, I restart Hedera (in a stunning deep red), in hopes of getting the gauge better this time around.

—J

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03 November 2006

This just in: Socktoberfest celebrations postponed indefinitely

It's November, but no, my Socktoberfest socks are not yet complete. They were started before October anyway, so I don't feel too badly about it, and frankly this whole last-semester-of-my-undergraduate-collegiate-career/looking-for-a-job/trying-to-get-my-writing-career-off-the-ground thing tends to get in the way of my knitting time. Besides, they're my first pair of socks ever, and the journey has been fun. I'm going to make every effort to finish the heel flap and gusset this weekend between various papers that need to be written and books that need to be read. That way, when Monday comes, I can go back to knitting on busses and trains without having to worry about how many decrease rows I have left, and losing count, and all that nonsense.

In the meantime, enjoy your obligatory (and long-awaited) bunny photo:



Cheers!

—J

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