Why Can't I Count?

Everyone told me the circle socks are not very stretchy.  I kind of have cankles, too (that's fat ankles, where my ankles and calves are one big piece so:  calf/ankle = cankle).  I am making these socks for the Sock Knitters Anonymous June challenge (this group gives you 2 months to complete the challenge).  I'm using the gorgeous Honey Crisp sock yarn by Huckleberry Knits that I bought at Apple Yarns during the 2012 Puget Sound LYS Tour in May. 

Anyway, the pattern has an 8 stitch repeat (super easy by the way), and it calls for 64 stitches cast on.  So, I am thinking brilliantly that I will cast on 72 stitches, to help with the lack of stretch, and the cankle situation.  I can put 4 sets of 8 on one side of the magic loop needle, and 5 on the other. 9 x 8 = 72.  That should fit me.  But then I decide that I like this yarn knit tightly, so I drop down to a size 0 US needle.  With 72 stitches, that should still be ok.

I did 4 and 1/2 repeats of the leg pattern.  I split one skein of  yarn, and because I had to add stitches, I am a bit worried that I will run out.  These are more than 3 inches required to count for SKA, but won't be super long socks.

The heel is an Eye of Partridge pattern.

 I added a small side garter stitch to frame them.

I am knitting these socks 2-at-a-time, of course.  I finished the first heel, and was getting ready to start the second, when I realized that the first sock actually had 80 stitches, and the second sock only 72.  I am not kidding.  Somehow I never noticed that one sock had 7 stitch markers, and the other one 8.  I couldn't believe it.  How could I be so unobservant?  How could I knit the legs and not notice this? And, what to do now?

I tried on both socks, and the 80 stitch fit much better.  I actually could not really pull the 72 stitch sock over my heel.  Not stretchy, indeed.

So I frogged the 72 stitch sock, and cast it on a 2nd pair of needles, and spend the last 3 days reknitting it.  When I got to the heel, I put it back onto the same needle as the first sock, finished the heel turn, and went on with picking up both gussets.

I am back to working 2-at-a-time.

I love the look of the yarn.  I love the circles.

I REALLY love how the yarn looks on the heels.

I have finished the gusset and am now knitting the feet.  The pattern has the circles stopping at the heels, and a plain stockinette foot, but I have continued the circles down the foot to the end of the gusset at least.  I hope to finish these socks this week.  I plan on wearing them.

They better fit.

At least they are now the same size.

Stay safe and well, and if you live in the USA, hope you had a wonderful Independence Day.  We sure did.

Yours,
f1bercat

almost shaping the planet with completely mismatched socks because I can't count to 10

Eastside Stitchers Meet and Stitch and Laugh at Crossroads

2012.04.18

Hello! f1beristas!

I ventured outside for the first time in almost 2 weeks to meet up with my knitting buddies in the Eastside Stitchers Group on Ravelry.  I am still coughing a bit, and have a headache, but I had to go to knitting group.  I just couldn't stand to miss it 2 weeks in a row.  So I posted in the group thread that I was still coughing a bit, but really wanted to come.  They were really accepting, so I headed out to Crossroads Mall for dinner and knitting, and lots and lots of laughter.

We were missing some of our regulars, MsWiz and Cleothyla were not there.  But we had a nice size group never the less.  So, who was seen stitching at Crossroads, and more importantly, what were they working on?

Chockelet was there with LOTS of show and tell.  She brought her finished lace scarf.  This is her very first blocking project.

Chockelet also brought some art yarn she had spun,

and also, a new lace scarf in Noro Yarn she was working on.

GwenS made it.  She had the most beautiful beaded cowl  The yarn is Malibrigo Lace, and I know I did not capture the true color.  She had her teeny tiny crochet hook with her to attach the beads as she knit.  I took about 4 photos trying to capture the color AND get the beads, but this was the best I could get.  Super beautiful work.

Colleen brought a finished baby blanket in mint green,

and a new baby blanket she was just starting in lavender.  Both have lovely stitch patterns.

Jenknotsed8 made it to about 7:30 pm before she started falling asleep at the table.  Jen comes after back to back shifts, but still manages to add quite a bit of laughter to our little group.  She was working on her very first set of 2-at-a-time Toe Up socks.  She complained that they seemed to be going slowly, and I had to laugh a bit.  Everyone says that the first time they make 2aaT.  It does go slowly!  But that is because you are knitting 2.

BrainLady and Allifer came in the later shift as usual.  One of the fun things about our group is that people come and go as their schedules dictate.  Some people get off work early, make it to Crossroads, and grab our table.  Others get off late and join us for the last hour or so.  Brain lady was working on a lacy knit top.

Allifer brought a Crochet top from the latest Interweave Crochet Magazine.







We stayed until 9 pm when the Mall started playing angry music at us to remind us that the MALL WAS CLOSING.

What was I knitting?  I brought my Red Hot Sweater for Lewk, about 3 more inches to go on those sleeves, and my last Snuggly Sock.  I made good progress on both.  As long as the pattern isn't too complicated, it is amazing how much knitting you can accomplish while chatting with your friends.

We discussed the upcoming Puget Sound LYS Tour (local yarn shop tour) which will happen May 17 - 20.  We are hoping to go as a group, and discussed who can drive, etc.  Chockelet had the map from the site, and had started planning out a route so that we could hit every shop on the tour.  It will be a really fun few days.

We also talked a bit about 2012 World Wide Knit in Public day.  I told the group that Eastside Knitters Guild plans to spend the day knitting at Crossroads, and I am sure that we will join them.  The mall will be full of knitters.

Where in the World is f1bercat?

I'm feeling better and better and hope to be back on the bike next week.

Until then, stay well  And really, Allifer, SORRY I GAVE YOU AND A THE FLU.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet one super sick daughter and her boyfriend at a time =(

Eastside Knitting Guild Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Life
Last night, as I was getting in bed at about 11 pm, my little cat, Selena, asked to go outside, as usual.  This has been happening for about 2 years, now.  She goes out just as I get into bed, and, her usual pattern is: just as I am falling asleep, she scratches to come back in.  Whether it takes me 5 minutes or 1 hour to fall asleep, she manages to time her Come Back In scratches perfectly.  Except, lately she has changed her routine to, just as I fall asleep, she scratches on the french door (we have a back deck that runs the length of our house) , I get up and open said french door, and she backs away and runs.  GOTCHA!  I will get back in bed, then as I am falling asleep again, she scratches on the door again.  Now why don't I just leave her out?  Well, we sometimes get coyotes and racoons in our yard, and I don't like her to be out all night...  Anyway, last night I had had it with this game, and the first time she knocked, I opened the door and stepped outside to grab her and just BRING HER IN, and omg, I stepped into a spiderweb, right across my face.  Now, we live in the pacific northwest, and we don't have many bugs, but we have tons, I mean tons of spiders.  Especially in the fall.  Tons of big spiders building webs all around the eaves of our house.  And I walked into one at about 1 am.  So, I'm wiping and dancing around outside on our deck in my nightgown at 1 am, brushing my hair over and over again and shaking my arms and brushing all over making sure that there is no spider on me.  Of course, this time Selena calmly walks into the house...  I get back in bed, and have a horrible time falling asleep because I am sure all night that there is a huge spider in the bed.  Wisely, I never tell the Doc any of this.

EKG
Monday night was the monthly meeting of the Eastside Knitters' Guild.  They hold their meetings at the community room in Crossroads Mall, which is super close to where I live.  Meetings are 6:30 - 8:30 pm the 4th Monday of every month.  What a nice group!  We started with a few updates, then they had a "speaker."  I guess they sometimes have technique teachers, etc., but this was a Feldenkrais therapist.  Her name is Irene, and she went over some easy exercises to relax and reteach ways of using muscles during knitting to relieve or prevent stress and strains.  The gist of it was to use variation and attention to how you are moving.  One of the questions we had was how to relieve tension.  Her suggestion was to deliberately knit with EXTRA tension, then relax back to your usual tension.  This will eventually teach you how to knit with less tension all the time.  I didn't find the wrist exercises very helpful, but the turning ones actually felt good to me.  She had us turn and look right, then work at turning using our shoulders, coming forward and back, also arching or rounding the back as we turned, holding in the stomach muscles, etc, just trying to really FEEL what muscles in addition to your neck are being used when you turn.  By the end, I was turning more fluidly and quite a bit farther.  One of the funny things about the presentation was that every so often Irene would have to ask us to put down our knitting.  Ha!  well, that's what we do.

This group is seriously into charity knitting.  Some of the projects they discussed were:

Project Linus.  This group provides blankets to kids in hospitals, shelters, etc.  Anyone in need of comfort.  The Eastside knitters knit and crochet (many of the members are also in Eastside Crochet Guild) as well as put together felt blankets and donate them.

Operation Holiday Stockings:  This group makes, stuffs, and sends holiday stockings to US service men and women overseas.  You can donate stockings (they have a pattern on the website) or money, or goodies to be stuffed!  Here is a photo of some of the stockings made by the Eastside Knitters' Guild this year:

That is Renee, displaying her stockings!  They deliberately try to use many colors so all soldiers can enjoy a stocking, even if they don't celebrate Christmas.

The 3rd charity the group is participating in right now is the Special Olympics.  The group is busy knitting and crocheting scarves in red white and blue to be given to every participant in the event.

After the updates, and the therapy!, we went around the room and had a show and tell of projects.  Of course, many of the members showed the stockings, blankets or scarves they were knitting, but in addition to all this wonderful charity knitting, there were other fun projects as well.  One member made a darling baby sweater, and another had a book of knitted animals to share.  Amigurumi.  I am so sorry that I didn't make a note of the book's title.  But the patterns make animals that are a few inches high.  This member (I didn't get her name...) was using super bulky yarn and big needles, and getting these really cute LARGE stuffed animals.  So clever!  I might try that myself.  The one she was making almost looked like a pillow pet.

I definitely will go back next month.  If you live on the Eastside (for those of you in the Seattle area, you know that means the east side of Lake Washington), you should check it out, too.

KNITTING KNOTES:

I have finished my Hermione socks!

They are on the blockers, and I should be able to mail them out tomorrow.  I want to include the blurb from the pattern about the Hermione Granger inspiration, and some care instructions.  I know she will love them.

Today I had to take my car in to get the oil changed and the tires rotated.  Somehow they didn't notice (nor did I) that the right headlight was out.  I'm kinda mad.  Oh well.  Got to fix that ASAP.  But, anyway, at the dealership, yes I have to take my car in to the dealership to get the oil changed, for some reason JiffyLube won't change the oil on hybrids, I was able to knit knit knit on the Mystery Sweater!

Before the oil change

and after:

No kidding, I knit about 15 rows.  I am on the stockinette stitch part, and it's pretty boring, but very fast.  I will be at the armpits in no time.

Not having any socks on my needles, I am just Itching to cast some on, but I am resisting the urge.  I want to wait for November 1 so I can cast on projects for both the SKA group and Solid Socks group challenges.  I have to dig out James's Aran Afghan, and alternate the Mystery Sweater with the afghan when I am bored.  That should help with the single project syndrome.

C. A. Losi

Knitting Groups Monday, October 24, 2011

Today I am going to a monthly meeting of the Eastside Knitters' Guild tonight.  Here is their post in the "Sheepless in Seattle" Group in Ravelry: 

The Eastside Knitters Guild meets monthly in Bellevue, WA. Fun people, awesome knitters, and lots of activities, including great opportunities to hook up with charitable orgs. There's a small membership fee to sign on, but you can come as a guest to check it out.
Details are at: http://www.eskg.org/

I have been wanting to find some type of group to join, something that meets once a week, bi weekly, or monthly.  Just somewhere to go on a regular basis to hang out with fellow knitters.  This group meets at a Mall right near my house, so it is really perfect, location-wise, anyway.  I will try to get a sense of what they are all about.

If you can't tell from my posts, and the books I have for sale here, I am a children's writer.  When I was writing more regularly, I belonged to a writers' critique group which met every other week.  It was very helpful in keeping me motivated to write regularly.  Also, you can find out what is happening in the writing world, publishing news, etc.  And the support is wonderful.  Writing is a lonely business.

I am hoping that this Eastside Knitters' Guild will serve the same purpose.  I don't really need motivation.  Goodness knows I have to force myself OFF the needles rather than on them.  But, still it is really motivating to see other people's projects.  IRL.  (in real life).  Ravelry serves the same basic purpose.  It is  community of knitters, cheering each other on.  I have joined 3 different sock groups.  Why?  Why?  I just love scrolling through everyone's entries for the various competitions.  Yarns, patterns, techniques, etc.  So much fun!

Anyway, I will report back on how the meeting goes.  Keep your fingers crossed.

PROGRESS

I am almost to the toes of the Hermione socks!  I am very excited by my progress.  Yesterday, my husband, Doc, and I drove Samantha back to Portland State University.  She was home for the weekend because she was miserable with Mononucleosis.  Doc drove, so I was able to knit the entire 3 hour drive there.  Unfortunately, it was too dark to really knit on the way back, but still, I need 2 more iterations of the 4 row pattern and I will be at the toes!  I should finish tonight or tomorrow.  That would be my 3rd SKA entry on time!

Here is what the socks look like now:

This is a front view, and a side view.

I also finished the bottom pattern band on the Mystery Sweater I am knitting for the Sharing Our Gifts Group:

I double checked the gauge, and it is still 4 st/in.  So the width should be good for size Medium.  Here is an attempt at a close-up of the pattern.  It is very difficult to see pattern in dark colored knits.

You can kind of see a row of arrows running around the bottom.  Now comes the boring part though.  I will now knit about 50 rows of st st.  KKKKKKKKK  forever.  At least it should go fast.

It is interesting how the flash turned the black yarn green...

While I was down in Portland, I got my daughter, Samantha, to model the Glass Slippers Socks I made for her.  She told me she likes to wear them with boots, pulled up over her pants, so people can see the socks:

I also took time this morning to photograph and enter some yarn that had been just lying in a bag into my Ravelry Stash database.  I am hoping to become more organized this way.  So I can know when I really need to buy yarn.  It is so tempting to buy buy buy.  I vow I will knit with what I've got for a while at least...  I need to knit down a bit of all my goodies to justify more yarn purchases!

C. A. Losi

Quick Post with Math Saturday, October 22, 2011

I saw this cool book, The Sock Knitter's Workshop , so of course had to buy it.  It has many things that are new to me, like different shaped toes and heels, picot cuffs, etc, that you can mix and match into your sock designs.  

I have one complaint about it, though.  Everything is given in numbers instead of equations.  For instance, at the back of the book are some charts for heels and toes using different yarns such as  "Heel Sizes with Fingering-Weight or 4 Ply Sock Yarn."  They then give the number of stitches for every size from children's size 5 to women's size 15.  Wouldn't it be easier to give measurements for those sizes, then designers/knitters can figure out how many stitches to cast on with a simple equation?

number of stitches to cast on = width in inches X gauge in stitches/in

The number of stitches varies with your gauge AND the size of the sock you are knitting.  If you can't get your gauge exact, the sock will not fit.  Let's say you are off by 1/2 stitch.  You are knitting 7.5 stitches/in instead of 8 st/in.

Reversing my little equation I gave above:  Number of stitches cast on / gauge per inch = Width in inches

with a gauge of 7.5 st/in and 64 stitches in the pattern:
64 / 7.5 = 8.53 inches width

with a gauge of 8 st/in and 64 st in the pattern:
64/8 = 8 inches width

this is .5 or 1/2 in difference in the width of the sock with just a 1/2 or .5 difference in stitch gauge.  If the gauge is off by 3/4 of a stitch, the difference is greater:

 64/7.25 = 8.82758  which is more than 3/4 of an inch difference. 

Below that line, there is a line that says how many stitches should be on each needle. For instance, if you have cast on 64 stitches, then using 4 needles:  16 stitches/needle.   Really?  Knitters can't divide the total stitches by the number of needles?

Anyway, here is some of the math for the foot part of Hannah's Hermione socks:

(sorry that I switch back and forth between fractions and decimals)

Foot length: 9.5 in

heel & gusset 3 5/8 in

Toe 19 rows (from pattern)

foot length - heal & gusset length :  9 4/8 - 3 5/8 = 5 7/8in

5 7/8 in x 12 rows/in = 70.5 rows

70.5 - 19 = 51.5 rows of foot pattern (rounding down to 51)

the pattern is 4 rows, so 51/4 = 12 3/4 iterations before beginning the toe decreases.

This math is not hard.  I think I will look at the stitch charts and try to make more equations for myself.  These can be used in EVERY occasion, truly tailoring each sock, needle, yarn combination to fit the particular foot.  The only problem comes with pattern.  If you cannot get the the gauge (I never seem to be able to do this), you will have to add or subtract from a pattern, changing the look a bit.

C. A. Losi (former Math teacher)

Life Happens Friday, October 21, 2011

I was all set to super CRANK on my Hermione's Socks for Hannah .  But we received a frantic call from our daughter, Samantha, who is going to school in Portland, OR, and I had to drive down and get her.

Not to worry.  She had a horribly sore throat all week, and I do mean Horribly sore.  It came back positive for mononucleosis yesterday.  But before they diagnosed the mono, the doctor thought Samantha had strep throat, so prescribed an antibiotic, I believe it was amoxicilan.  Anyway, yesterday, Samantha had a bad reaction to the antibiotic, and broke out in hives.  Her whole body puffed up, including her face.  As she put it:  her face is one big hive.  Really, her ears are puffy and swollen.  She has ugly sores all over her arms, legs, torso.  Poor kid.

It is about a 3 hour drive to her college, Portland State University.  I got the call at about 11 am.  LOL!  I was in the middle of  a stitch on the Hermione socks. I know this, because when I got home, and picked up my knitting, the stitch was ready to take off the needle.  Anyway, about 7 hours in the car with all of the traffic on the way back.  I wanted to take a photo of Samantha, really someday I am sure she will laugh at this ..., but she will have none of that.  So you will have to just imagine a big puffy fat face on my beautiful daughter.

Before I left, I had finished my goal of 3 rows on the Mystery Sweater, and was almost finished with the gusset of the Hermione socks.

I was dead tired when I got home, but I managed to finish the gussets.  This sock has a very cool heel.  There is a "modified eye of partridge" heel, with the right side rows alternating k1 s1, and s1 k1 every other row.  This gives the heel some strength, but  seems to keep the simple pattern going.  Also, the first 3 stitches of each side are done in garter stitch, forming a nice frame for the heel.

I had also dropped down a needle size, to 00, so these flaps are nice and tight.  Isn't the pattern gorgeous?  Here is what the inside (wrong side)  looks like:

I finished the heel turns:

and here is what the socks look like now, with finished heel flaps, heel turns, and gussets:

 I need to measure how big the heel and gusset are so far, regauge the knitting on the foot, and then chart out/figure out how many rows I will do for the toes so I can decide how many rows to knit of the foot.  Hannah wears size 7.5, my guess is that I won't be knitting too many foot rows.  But it is better to take time to do the math before, then have to frog back later!

Seriously, I love these socks.  They are beautiful.  They feel wonderful.  They are almost finished.

C. A. Losi