The Fleegle Heel

Second Sock Fleegle Heel

First Sock with Heel Flap

Well, the Fleegle Heel has converted me to toe up sock knitting. This heel fits like a glove. No extra fabric around the flap. No wrap and turn!!! I have one small hole on one side of the gusset decrease that will be easily mended. I did kfb for the gusset increases and P2tog on the purl rows for the heel decreases. I'm now knitting the leg.

On to boiled starching!

Mine, crocheted in the 1990's from a charted pattern in Magic Crochet

Fannie Howard, crocheted before 1963

Toupie and Socks

Toupie Nesting in my Totebag

This after pulling down the package of paper.

The Tucson Sock

These are knit from the top down. Now I messed up one of the gussets. Considered frogging, but decided against it. I'm still learning, and more interested in getting fit and deciding which method (toe up or cuff down) I prefer for knitting socks. These socks fit both my foot and my leg with negative ease. I really like the k3p1 ribbing at the top of the sock. Wasn't wild about the colour of the yarn once I started knitting it. The colour pooling that occurred during the gusset decreases convinced me that I'd rather use solid coloured yarn that is subtly dyed--like the kettle dyed yarns--especially as my shoes are colourful: purple, lime green, sherbert orange. The leg length is perfect for summer and spring.

I'm going to hold off on doing the toe and starting the second Tuscon sock and finish my second toe up sock with the Fleegle heel this weekend. This sock also took about the same number of days to knit as the toe up sock.

Gaga

Traffic tonight was horrid. Where are those traffic people in the yellow jackets when you need them? Why do drivers continue to block the box when all that does is block traffic? Why won't people move to the back of the bus when there's plenty of room?

It wasn't really raining more like very light drizzle. No foreign leaders in town bashing off to dinner at the White House. Only Lady Gaga at the Verizon Center. Was she born this way or born to tie up traffic? I walked to the bus stop. Knew I had a 10 minute wait minimum. Opted for another option and landed in the malstrom of traffic going nowhere. Finally walked to 13th Street to ensure getting a bus with seats still available and then we sat...and sat...and sat...
The bus finally crawled along until we got to U Street. I didn't arrive home until after 7.

Awaiting me were three boxes. One with yarn and The Sweater Workshop for the summer kal.
The others contained my Amazon orders. New ironing board cover!!! After going all fashion conscious and getting a cloth cover with flowers a few years ago, I've returned to silicon. Better life through chemistry, me!

Toupie was in a right state. It was dinner time and I was just coming through the door. Between bouts of following me around, he munch frantically at his treats until I filled his food bowl. I popped a helping of the Lebanese string beans in the oven with two slices of spam; turned on the BBC for the latest news on Libya, and promptly got into my pjs and bedsocks. Postponed are the plans to do handwash. Have I mentioned that Toupie waits until I sit down to eat before he eats. He does.

Today was stressful at work because I forgot my computer glasses. I found them in the chair where I always collect the items I need to put in my bag in the morning.

Finding Argo Starch

The chorus of Big Yellow Taxi starts: Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone...

My Aunt Fanny Howard was perpetually ill. I know she had a cardiac condition, but since I was a child, I was never told the exact nature of her condition. She was taught to crochet as part of her rehabilitation after a long hospital stay. Aunt Fanny lived with her mother from the mid-to-late 1930's until her death in 1972. I lived with my Aunt Fanny and my Grandmother for a year when I was ten. We only watched television on Sunday evening and only Ed Sullivan. Our evenings after dinner and before bed were spent with my Grandmother reading and my Aunt Fanny crocheting and teaching me to crochet. She taught me in the way that people were probably taught craft skills for millenia. No books, no written instructions, I was taught the stitches and patterns by verbal instructions, by doing with Aunt Fanny correcting and re-instructing. I'm left with a repetoire of recipies for anti-macassars, dresser scarves, and doilies.

But more importantly, after the death of my Grandmother, I have inherited Aunt Fanny's crochet pieces that decorated the apartment she and my Grandmother shared. I am also left with the skills to care for these items. I can't recall how often we took them up and washed them, but I do remember the process.

For years, I washed the items and kept them tucked away, but in the past few years I've been using them. But what they need to preserve them and also to make the fluted edges on some of the pieces stand up is starch. Not the spray starch so ubiquitous in the stores these days. But the old-fashioned boiled starch. I searched stores to no avail. Online the choices were to buy enough starch for a lifetime or pay more than the cost of a box for shipping. I finally went to a small neighborhood market. This is one of my favorite places to shop. They carry a lot of products that have been pushed out of the major supermarkets by flashier, more expensive items. The women who own the market, have told me how excited customers are to find they carry my favorite cleaner: Breath o' Pine. So as a last resort in my search for Argo Gloss Laundry Starch, I stopped by this week. Lo and behold, they had it. I was also in search that evening for some spices to make Lebanese string beans. I found those as well at a fifth of the price they cost at the Safeway across the street.

Now I am set this weekend to wash, starch and dry the pieces. I will post pictures when I'm done.

And the Lebanese string beans are heavenly!

1 Onion, chop into small bits
Cloves of garlic, chopped into bits
1 scallion, chop into bits
Olive oil
Allspice, either ground or whole or both
White and black pepper
Cinnamon
Margoram
1 can of French cut string beans
1 can of chopped tomatoes or fresh tomatoes chopped
Now the string beans in this dish are supposed to be mushy, not al dente. So to cut cooking time, use either canned or frozen beans
Heat the skillet or wok on high until hot
Add the whole allspice, margoram, and grind pepper to taste
Let them heat until you can smell them
Reduce the heat
Add two tbsp of olive oil
Add the onions, garlic, and scallions
Cook until clear
Add the chopped tomatoes, stir
Add the string beans, stir
Add cinnamon to taste (little more than pinch)
Stir and let the contents simmer until the green beans are mushy
This dish can be served hot or room temp.

Some have been fascinated by my rosemary bacon:

Heat the skillet on high until hot
Add dried rosemary to skillet
Cook until you can smell the rosemary
Reduce the heat
Add the bacon
Cook until ready
Now I eat rosemary bacon with fried tomatoes. What I do is remove the bacon when it has finished cooking and add sliced tomato to the skillet flipping the tomatoes once. You basically want the tomatoes to get a hot and a little mushy but not too mushy.

Toupie is a Nester

I've had cats as pets since age 11. Toupie has been the most unique in a number of ways.

Verticle Experiments: Basically knocking things off shelves and tables for the fun of it. This behavior has gotten better with age. He no longer wakes me up in the morning by pushing at the ends of books until they fall off the shelves.

Trash Runs: Toupie loves being in the hall; loves seeing and watching other people. Knows that being cute and cuddly gets him attention from strangers. He's the most sociable cat I've ever had.

Bathroom: I don't know what it is about cats and the bathroom. Well, I sort of do. It's the constant anticipation and fascination of the flushing toilet. Toupie really has to be dead to the world not to wake up and stagger to the toilet.

Cooking: Want to get Toupie to meow? Shut the door to the kitchen and make coffee. Most cats I've had will sit and watch the back and forth of cooking. But not Toupie. He's on his hind legs at the sink--still can't see anything--but he's straining to figure out washing dishes or chopping onions. Take a baggie out of the drawer and Toupie is right there front paws on the drawer head peering at the box of baggies. Stirring the pot: Not without Toupie on his hind legs trying to see what's happenin'. The kitchen is where we have the most collisions/tail steppings. I get engrossed in pulling ingredients from the pantry, step, turn, and then jump at the loud shriek.

Last but not least, the microwave. The microwave sits on a table that is low enough that he can see inside. It's like kitty tv in 3D. He loves watching the plates of food and bags of popcorn go round and round.

The Alarm Clock: Heaven forfend this should go off when I'm in the shower. He meows, howls, and paces at the door. The moment I open it, he runs, jumps on the bed and waits for me to turn it off. I've tried to convince him that he can do, but no dice.

Nesting: Now this is where Toupie is really different. He rearranges items in my tote bag so that they are comfortable enough for him to curl up on the bag and nap while I'm at the computer.
I folded up my bedding each morning so it doesn't become so cat hair encrusted (fruitless, I know). Toupie has two strategies with the folded bedding

He curls up behind it and if I move around or pass by, he peers over it to watch me.
He paws at the edges until it is arranged the way he wants before he settles in and curls up, often using the side of the stack as a pillow.

Tonight he discovered that one of the comforters was on the drying rack. He meowed so, that I had to push a section between the racks and create a sling for him to nestle in. He climbed in, settled down facing the door.

Yarn: He's very good about yarn. I've only caught him once walking around with a skein of yarn in his mouth. He rarely bothers me or the yarn when I'm knitting, except for crochet hooks. He gets the same excited look in his eyes when he spots a crochet hook as when he sees an emory board. However, I have to keep the drawer with the knitting needles closed. He likes to sit on top of the cabinet and dig around in knitting needles with one paw. I think because most of the dpns and straights are stored there and they do tend to roll around when pushed.

Context

I had an experience in a college course my second year that proved to me that context is everything. In the Intellectual History of the Western World, I had to learn and understand the basics of trig and calculus and their impacts. This for someone who missed algebra and barely got through geometry in high school. But because the topics were taught in the context of history, I was able to grasp and apply the concepts we were required to learn.

Knitting has moved my math calculation skills by light years. Knitting is all about math. When creating fabric, one is constantly measuring, multiply stitch and row gauge to determine size or where you are in a pattern. Then there's the counting. And the percentages. I was so proud a couple of weeks ago when I bought a skein of yarn at 40% off to arrive at the register and have the price of the purchase be the same as the calculation I had done in my head.

Now I am the world's worst photographer. Before I bought the digital camera, my photos constantly had fingers in them. Somehow the digital camera cured that. A couple of weeks ago, I was having a problem with a dark shadow in one corner of my photographs. Turns out I was using the flash.

Whilst searching this week for some issue I wanted to resolve on the socks, I ran across a page of photography tips for knitters. With time this weekend, I returned to the page and read. Suddenly those little settings and functions indicated by symbols on the back of the camera made sense. The things that I'd been trying to achieve--like clearly showing stitch definition--I now know how to do. I truly feel empowered. I've decided to get a light tent to shoot my knitting. I considered following the instructions to construct one and decided to purchase commercially because the commercial ones come with a carrying case making storage easier.

This is my Tucson Sock. A good yarn for practicing photo techniques because of the variegated colours. The ribbing is a k3p1 ribbing that retains the stretch of ribbing but looks more like stockingnette stitch when the sock is flat.

Sock One at the point where I changed from 3mm needles to 2.5mm needles.


Sock Two knit on 2.5mm needles except for the toe where I used 4.5mm to try out the new cast on technique.

The piece underneath is a lap quilted square I made from left over dress fabric.

End of the Week and a 4-Day Weekend

This is our short week at work. We work several 8 hour days and every other week is a compressed week with a free Friday. It's so nice when these occur and the following Monday is a holiday.

Lots to do on the knitting front. I am doing the Fleegle Heel on the second sock and am at the point of doing the gusset increases. I've switched back to magic loop for this portion of the knitting and to do the heel.

I want to finish and wash the Foxen Sheep gauge swatch in preparation for the Limerick Hat and I want to cast on for a top down sock in Palette.

Went to the doctor yesterday because the arthritis in my neck has been bothersome. The x-ray technician there is so wonderfully friendly and professional. I was a little agast when he had me hold 10lb bags in each hand to get my shoulders down and level. It so odd seeing your skeleton on film. I mean we know we have bones, it's just that we don't often think of our bones or see them in pictures.

I was a little agast when the Dr. said there was no sign of a fracture. Isn't it usually the patient jumping to the worst case scenario. It had never occurred to me that there could possibly be something else going on besides the arthritis. Whatever this current aggravation is, there's no involvement of my rotator cuff or the muscles in my shoulder and arms. I am to continue taking the Aleve; have been ordered to PT; and was given a muscle relaxer to take at night. Looked up the drug on the Internet. Whoa! The drug is addictive. Lots of warnings not to give it anyone with a history of drug addiction. Knowing the ability of muscle relaxers to turn me into a gelatinous squid, I only took half a tablet. In about hour, I could tell the difference in my neck. But more importantly, I was awake to tell the difference.

I own well under 100 CDs and about a dozen DVD's. There are a few that I'd like to own--Out of Africa, Gone With the Wind, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Cassablanca--but there is one that I have been looking for to rent on Netflix or to buy: The Mahabarata television series with English subtitles. This series kept me entranced every Saturday morning for almost three years when it was broadcast on WNVT, which was the local international television station here. When I moved, I could no longer get the signal. This week I found it on the Internet; all 94 episdoes with English subtitles. I have been watching an episode a night.

Toe Up Sock One down One to go

Extra fabric around the heel

The leg of the sock fits perfectly.

Sock One is finished. The foot part of the sock lacks negative ease and the heel is a little wide (which with my 5A heel isn't that unusual) but the leg of the sock is perfect. I do like the gusset on the bottom of the foot. It creates a little cup for the heel.

I'm switching sock two to dpns instead of magic loop. I knit faster on dpns and seem to have better stitch tension.

This has been a wonderful learning process thanks to the other knitters in the kal. It's been an interesting--and frustrating--discovery that fitting information on socks is so scattered when fit in socks is so crucial. I totally agree with the one person on the forum who said they'd gladly knit a vanilla sock if fit perfectly.

I'm happy that I've conquered my two obstacles to toe-up socks:

• finding a cast on that works for me
• knitting the gusset and the heel

I still need to get over wrap and turn anxiety; but figure that will come in time.

Projects! Projects!

The sock so far.

The Nomad Hat and Scarf

The gauge swatch of the Foxen Sheep yarn. This yarn knits up firm but lofty. It's not as springy as Merino.

The Half Circle Shawl

An Embroidered Pillow

An interesting question was posed in the KAL forum. What are the benefits of the different types of heels that one can knit for socks. I've only knit a gusset heel. But I'm really interest in responses to this question from those with more experience knitting and wearing hand knit socks. I can see the advantage of the afterthought heel in doing bicolour heels and toes in a pair of socks. I understand that the afterthought heel makes replacing the heel easier.

We had a discussion during the knitting lunch group at work today about the nesting habits of cat. I write this as Toupie has made himself comfortable on my shoulder bag.

More on the Socks

Today my second skein of Foxen Sheep yarn arrived. Also my darning thread so I can start darning socks.

Toupie has these little nesting habits. He rearranges bedding, items in my tote bags, his blanket so that he can either curl up or sit like a door stop. Sunday he curled up on the white comforter on the drying rack and stayed there until the start of the Super Bowl.

Here are some more piccys of the sock-in-progress.

Chausettes Deux

I’m not sure I like toe-up sock construction, but no matter, I am on the leg portion of my first toe-up sock. Doing this KAL (knit along) has been exciting, helpful, and an all around good experience because there has been so much encouragement and help from fellow participants.

The pattern I chose is Toe Up Socks with a Difference by Wendy Johnson. I’m using a 3.00mm circular needle which is 1mm larger than the recommended needle. I have since learned that socks should have a bit of negative ease, which these socks will lack. I’m not bothered, because at this point in my sock-knitting career, ending up with a sock is more important than getting a perfect sock. I was little thrown by the gusset instructions and knitted two rows wrongly, but the knowledge I’d gained my previous work with gussets (thumbs on fingerless gloves) kicked in and I was able to compensate. I didn’t frog. I hate frogging. But now the construction makes sense and I will apply the gained experience on the second sock.

The next problem I encountered was with the heel flap repeats. I ended up with a few holes that will be easy to close up.

I think I don’t like the wrap and turn bits and picking up the wraps. Before I start the second sock, I’m going to view a video and reread wrap and turn instructions.

When I finish these socks, I think I will do a pair of top down socks using the Ann Budd book. There is, however, a toe up sock pattern that I really would like to do. That is Maeva from Winter 2011 Knitty.

Updates:

· I’m still knitting the scarf part of the Nomad Hat. I don’t think I shall make the scarf as long as the pattern calls for. First because this part of the hat is a little boring and second because the purple coat has a high collar, so not that much scarf is required.

· I still need to sew the flaps onto the Cabled Hat.

· I’m still waiting on my second skein of Foxen Sheep.

The world is really a very small place. The laundry room was madness this morning because one woman managed to dominate all the washing machines except the two I was using. I shared this information with another poor woman who showed up with one small basket and was frustrated at finding all the machines taken. Fortunately the washing machine hog showed up and empty a machine. I was unloading my washing, and the woman with small basket asked about my large granny square afghan. Turns out she recently took a crochet class at Looped Yarn Works and also works with the daughter of one of the owners. I had met the daughter a year and a half ago and that’s how I learned that Looped was coming. I spread out the granny square afghan and showed her how from a circle a square is created. Later on when I was washing the crochet shawl, I showed her how from a row of single and double crochet, the shell pattern of the shawl was created. It is so nice to talk to a perfect stranger who shares your passion. She confessed she hadn’t been able to stop crocheting since the class and I totally got that. There is something so rewarding in creating. It’s a constant learning process; it’s relaxing; and there is an irreproducible feeling of accomplishment when you’ve finished. I think it’s the learning that I enjoy. Sometimes I don’t realize (like with the gusset) that I understand what is going on until I get there and the light bulb goes off. I graze through old knitting magazine issues and look at patterns that I’d not considered or considered with longing and know, “I can do that!”

I do have a quandary. I think the economic downturn has hit the knitting magazine industry. Subscription offers are coming fast and furious in the mail. I subscribed to Vogue again because the offer was cheaper than when I first subscribed in2009. Also because with the subscription, I got a $20 gift certificate to the Vogue Knitting Store. Well now I don’t know what to buy. I bought the few patterns I really wanted when Vogue had a killer sale on downloadable patterns last year. The store is offering Hattitude and Cowlgirls, which are both want to haves; but I can get both of those from Amazon for a total of 23.51 without paying shipping. Whereas with the gift certificate, I can only buy one of the books and will have to pay shipping.

I discovered whilst getting details on the trunk show at Looped Yarn Works is the 15% discount after accumulating 250 points. I didn’t see any place on the website to sign up, so I asked about it yesterday. It turns out that your points are printed on your receipt. I’ve got 130 points. A real woo hoo moment to realize that I’m over half way to my first discount.

I’ve bought another knitting book that has rocked my world: Designing Knitwear by Deborah Newton. There is so much juicy stuff about process in this book. She’s made me excited about swatching. There are also great patterns that illustrate her points.

Movies:

I got hooked on watching season 1 of Mistresses. It was the innovative and the soapy. The plot for the doctor is utterly mad and totally stupid. The lawyer’s plot is a little melodramatic although I really grew to like the character of her lover. The Trudy and Jessica plots are really innovative. Enough so, that I can’t wait to see season 2. Of course, Netflix doesn’t have season 2.

I watched 49th Parallel again last weekend. It had been years since I’d seen it and there were whole bits that I’d forgotten.

I watched an episode of Midsomer Murders was like Friday the 13th in the Cotswolds.

I’m waiting for Netflix to get Stephen Tompkison in Aftermath.

Sock KAL

Toupie foraging in the plants.

I've started my sock, from the toe up. I tried and failed (again) to do Judy's Magic Cast-on. Even watching three You Tube videos demonstrating the technique didn't help my success. So I just did a provision cast on (the Hyacinth coloured yarn at the top of the toe) and soldiered on. By the time the increases for the toe were finished, I'd learned to read my knitting so that I knew without using a coiless saftey pin to mark the increase rows.

I read a customer review on the 62 Degrees North website about the comfort and beauty of socks knitted with their yarn. So my goal is to master sock knitting and making a pair with Faroe Island yarn from 62 Degrees North.

Coiless Safety Pins: I first learned about this from EZ and bought a package when I saw it in the tools section at Looped Yarn Works. I'd previously been using the Knit Picks plastic safety pin markers, but those do have a tendency to break. The nice thing about the Coiless pins is they are metal, thin, and because of they are silver they don't fade into the yarn. They aren't as bulky as the plastic markers and they don't break if you accidently squeeze them too hard.

I am still working on the Nomad Hat and Scarf. I really need to pay more attention to ribbing instructions. I always seem to do k1p1 when I should be doing k2p2 and vice versa. So instead of k1p1 on the scarf, I did k2p2. I thought about frogging and bagged the idea. Changing to the larger sized needles (US10.5) is making the work go a bit faster.

We had another wintry mix event today. I don't do ice or freezing rain so that day was a cat-filled telework day for me. The problem with telework is I am so comfortable, can control the background noise (no wafting co-worker convos about weekend concerts etc.,) that I just beaver away for more hours than if I were in the office. I was so done in by 5:15 this evening, that I had a nap before putting in another hour. My only interruptions were Toupie demanding cuddles.