Random Things

Hello:

Negative Space
We had these threatening clouds today, but relatively warm weather, and then finally some rain in the afternoon.  It was freezing yesterday, and we had hail.  I kept checking the sky and noticed that rather than the clouds forming shapes, it was the sky between the clouds that made the star:

Sky Star

Bad Parents
Tonight, we went to see Jurassic Park in 3-D.

When my kids were young, they loved dinosaurs.  I'm sure many many parents can say this.  There is something about dinosaurs that is just so much fun.  When we lived in Boston, we had memberships at all of the best museums including the Science Museum, and went almost every week.  They had great dinosaur toys in the gift shop that were supposed to be very realistic, and in proportion to each other.  The brachiosaurus was huge and really heavy.  My kids loved these dinosaurs. 

When the movie, Jurassic Park, came out, the kids were too young, but they knew about it and really wanted to see it.  Being good parents, we did not take them (ages 0, 1, 3 and 5) to the movies to be scared by those dinosaurs.  Their uncles bought them Jurassic Park toys, and I remember one Tyrannosaurus Rex that was especially fun because it was made with soft plastic so you could move the jaws and make it bite.

We waited impatiently for the video to be released, then, again being good parents, we watched the movie during the day, at Nana and Grandpa's house, surrounded by cousins and aunts and uncles, to keep it as light as possible.  I was mostly worried about my 4th child, Himes, who was a dinosaur maniac, but was only 2 at the time.  Was he too young to watch this movie?  He sat on my lap, and never looked away or seemed scared.  I remember when the movie ended, and the TV was turned off, asking him, a bit nervously, "Did you like the movie?"

His response was simply, "ROAR!!!!"

The next time I saw him playing with that T-Rex, he was using it to bite his sisters' Barbie dolls.

Gryffindor Swap
The last swap for the Winter 2013 term was flower themed.  I made a project bag for my partner, but never got a photo of it.  She posted a photo in the House thread, and gave me permission to use her photo in this blog.  This is the Bucket Bag from the Bag Making Bible by Lisa Lam.  I wanted to make a single project bag, so I reduced the pattern to 75%.

Sock Madness Round 3
I wanted to post a photo of the interesting sole design for the Greenhouse Socks pattern by AnitaYarn. 

Much more work than a simple stockinette sole,  but it does fit really well.

Braveheart Socks
I wanted to show the progress on my Braveheart Socks that I am designing (and knitting) for the Doc.  I have finished the heel, and am about half-way through the gusset decreases.  I frogged the heel turns about 3 times until I had them the way I wanted.  I am making these toe up, with a sole flap, and a circular heel.  I have 2 pair of socks, one is the Unseemly socks that I designed last December, with this structure, and I like the way they fit.  However, their heels are plain, and I wanted to do a sl1 k1 heel for better wear.  I like the way it is coming out, except... I discovered that I slipped two rows in a row, rather than alternating with a straight knit row.  It made a funny line in the middle of the heel.  I really don't want to frog again.  I don't think it looks too bad.

Another thing I like about this sock structure is the gussets.  It makes it really easy to have a pattern on the gusset.

I like making the flap, turning the heel, then picking up the stitches on the sole flap, rather than increasing a gusset before turning the heel which does not require picking up stitches. Even though picking up stitches from the sole flap can be a pain, it makes a stronger division between the sole and the gusset, like a seam, and makes the sock fit more firmly.

Afghan Squares
What am I doing between Sock Madness Rounds? 

Finished the taxes.
Tidied the house (including lots of laundry).
Worked on more socks, specifically the Braveheart Socks.
Crocheted more afghan squares for the 'ghan I am making for my nephew and his bride's first wedding anniversary.

So far I have finished the Princess - 12" Square by Melinda Miller,

and the 6 in. Forever Lace Square by Donna Kay Lacey.

Hope you had a great weekend.  I'm trying to finish more squares, more on the Braveheart Socks, and another project bag before the next Round begins.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with new squares.

Sleeping in what sun she can find

Sock Madness Round 3 FINISHED!

Hello! 
I included the above photo of my finished Round 3 Sock Madness Socks because they come the closest to the true color of the yarn.

I think I am 5th in my bracket (Mighty Minnows).

These socks were fairly straight forward (I liked the chart) until the feet. Here is where I ran into problems.

I knit my socks 2 at a time on one circular needle magic looped.  Once you finish the heel turn on a pair of socks,  the pattern round starts at the middle of the heel.  This is fine if you are using double pointed needles, but can be confusing if you are using a method that has a definite front and back.  This isn't a huge problem if you are doing one at a time, but it can get very confusing if you are knitting two socks at a time.

Think about it.  If you place a marker at the middle of the heel,  and you are either using two circular needles or one circular needle magic looped, you can mimic the 4 double pointed needles:

Double Pointed Needles holding a sock

1 circular needles magic looped holding a sock

You still have a definite front and back, but you can divide your back into 2 parts.  You just have to remember that your round "begins" in the middle of the back at the marker. 

You knit the left side of the back (Part 1), then the front of the sock or the instep (Part 2), then the right side of the back (Part 3).  This is usually not a problem with top down socks, as the back or sole is almost always plain stockinette.  If there is a pattern on the gusset sides, it can get complicated.

This gets even more complicated if you are knitting the socks 2 at a time:

2 at a time socks on a magic loop

Ok, don't laugh at my graphics.  If you have two socks on your magic loop, you will start with Line 1 of your gusset pattern on part 1 of sock A, which is the left half of the back. Then you pick up the gusset and knit the back of sock B to the marker, then knit Line 1 of gusset pattern on Part 1.  You knit the instep pattern on both socks (part 2), then you finish line 1 of the gusset pattern on Sock A part 3, slip the marker, and start line 2 in part 1.  When you get to Sock B, you have to go back to the last part of the pattern and finish that line on part 3, slip the marker, then start line 2.

Are you confused yet?  I usually just knit straight until I am ready to start the instep (front) side of the socks, and I call that the beginning of the round.  If there is a gusset pattern, it will be on the second side of my socks, and split by straight stockinette of the sole.  I keep stitch markers to show where the actual sole begins and ends.  This also helps with counting in gusset reductions.

I knit the front of sock A, the front of sock B, the back of sock B, then the back of sock A.  This whole demonstration was a really long way to say that the Greenhouse Socks pattern for Round 3, were confusing when we got to the gussets and then even more confusing at the feet.  I cut and pasted the pattern so that I could knit them as though they were written Front and Back, and I found that helpful.

Then, there was an increase as the sole reached the ball of the foot.  This didn't completely coincide with the instep pattern, but I may have knit too many pattern repeats.  In the end, both the instep (top of the foot) and sole (bottom of the foot) were increased and shaped.  It actually is a pretty comfortable fit.  The bind off was really different, also.  Again, it was difficult to do on a magic loop.  The 2 at a time part didn't really affect it. but, it was really awkward for magic loops.  This isn't a huge problem, but I wish I had had some warning.  Like the directions might say, "The bind off is difficult on a magic loop or 2 circular needles.  Please switch to double pointed needles at the last toe round." 

All of that being said, the socks fit great, I love the Cascade Yarn, and I think the pattern is really nice.  I am happy that I learned a new sole structure, and a new bind off.  I am happiest that I am finished with this round and I can go fold the 4 loads of laundry that are in a huge pile on the TV room couch.

This photo has the top sock twisted so you can see the top of the sock pattern.  I really like how the 1x1 ribbing is carried both down the front and back center in a V, and also down the sides and into both the heels and the gussets.  I wish I had taken a photo of the sole, but now it is too dark.  Maybe tomorrow.  I can hear laundry calling my name.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with Round 3 Finished.

Sock Madness Round 3 Day 3

Hello! 
It's after midnight and I need to get some rest.  I have finally finished reducing the gussets for the Sock Madness Round 3 socks, Greenhouse Socks by Anita Grahn.

 I was up and knitting by 7 am.  I finished the first heel flap, and was getting ready to make the first heel turn, when

I noticed that I had either dropped 2 stitches or knit them together... something was making the heel flap count wrong.  I frogged the heel flap back about half way, picked up the missing stitches, and got back to work.  I do not know why, but I was knitting really slowly for some reason.  But I did finally finish knitting both heel flaps

With no dropped stitches.  I picked up the gusset stitches, and just finished reducing the gussets on both socks.  There looks like there is sometype of pattern on the sole of the foot section, not at all sure what is involved.  Unfortunately, there is no chart, so I will have read the instructions carefully to make sure the sole is knit up properly. 

With the gussets finished, I need to knit about 5 more inches for these socks to fit me.  That means 3 more inches of the foot, then the toes.  As I said, there is some type of sole shaping, and the toes are supposed to be weird.  I will just have to go line by line.

Anyway, good night for now.
Peace,
f1berat
shaping the planet with blooming daffodils.

Sock Madness Round 3 Day 2

Hello:

Sock Madness Round 3 started yesterday while I was at Vogue Knitting Live, Bellevue.  By the time I got home, and checked the Ravelry threads, I was already 7 hours behind.

The sock pattern, Greenhouse Socks by Anita Grahn, is a simple (so far) lace and rib pattern.  The toe is weird (from what I hear, I am not that far), but everything else is straightforward otherwise.

I cast on some really pretty turquoise Cascade Heritage Sock that I had in my stash.  It was left over from some socks I knit last year.

There are 4 possible sizes, and for Sock Madness, we have to knit Small at the least.  I was worried that Small might not fit my feet, so instead of casting on 68 stitches for each sock for Small, I decided to cast on the 76 stitches for each medium sock.  I knit the cuffs, I am knitting these 2 at a time, then decided that I was crazy to be knitting 76 stitches when I was 7 hours behind and everyone else would be knitting 68 stitches.  So I frogged them, and started over with 68 stitches and size Small.  This time I cast on Red yarn (because Solid Socks is doing a red challenge, and why not get a twofer for these).

Sorry but the red photos will all be horrible. Red just doesn't photograph well.  Anyway, I knit the cuffs, then went to bed.

This morning, I was knitting again by 6:47.  At 8:30, I took a short break to walk up to the top of our hill, and eat a bit of breakfast.

 I decided that even if I got cut, I was going to make myself take some breaks to stay healthy.  The walking was perfect.  It's not very far, not even 1/4 mile, but the hill is steep, so it's a nice walk.

At 11:30 I took another break to walk up the hill, and eat a bit of lunch.

I stopped at 4:30 pm to make dinner.

Then at 8:15 pm, I was ready to start the heel flaps.

Only I wasn't.  The legs of the pattern are given in a nice chart.  You knit the chart from row 1 - 42, then repeat from row 27 - 42 as many times as you want for the length of leg you want.  For Sock Madness, we have to make 1 of the repeats.  Or so I thought.  I did the entire chart, then went back to row 27, and knit back up to row 42.  As I was reading the directions for the heel flaps, I saw that I was supposed to stop the chart at row 34.  Rather than rip back, I decided to knit the repeat again, this time stopping at row 34.

So I am way behind because I started late, frogged my first attempt, and now I am making the legs unnecessarily long.  UGH!

I had hoped to knit both heels tonight, but I only got about 3/4 of one heel flap knit.  I have a lot of work to do tomorrow.  Someone in my group has already finished.  Wow!  crazy fast knitting.

Good night for now.  I'm super tired.
Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the world with sock legs, and an ENORMOUS Honey Crisp Apple.

The apple on the left is a pink lady, and the one on the right is an opal.  I added them for sizing comparisons.