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.