AmphibiaKnits

Regress

The story of my knitting life is one step forward, one step back. Possibly 2 steps back. 

I have a pile of single socks which needs attention.  It's  pile of completed single socks.  There are umpteen other first single socks which are in progress in various project bags. 

It's why I decided the other day that I need to get cracking and make the mates to these poor lonely babies. 

So I started with the Prism socks.  There they are on the bottom -- two of them.  Working upwards we have a Papaver in HK Entice in Spanish Wine (2.25 mm needles), Yarn Love something or other in Spring Crocus (2.25 mm needles), Sweet Georgia November sock club Autumn Jewels (2.25 mm needles); HK Artisan in Lavendar Batik (2.50 mm); ZYG Serenity Sock in Flaming Desire, Cherry Tree Hill Northern Lights, Socktoupus Sokkusu Shur'tugal, Jubilee Sock from Cookie A in Socktopus Siffie, Cookie A Orange Pekoe Sock in HK either Artisan or I might have used Piquant Lite; Three Irish Girls BFL something or other in Rimefrost (which has been languishing for 2 years now), and a Flabella in Lorna's Laces Bittersweet.

I have about 8 rows of the second Spanish Wine sock done.  The second Lavender Batik (IB Footsie) is on the needles already, as is the second Jubilee.

So I decided that I could start a new project for every one I finished.  Since I finished the second Prism, I decided to start a new sock.

I fell in love with Alice Yu's De Stijl when I first saw it.  I love how the strands of yarn stand out and seem to prevent any obvious pooling.  In the Socktopus book, Alice has used a skein of Sokkusu Extra in the Coraline colourway, but I have to say I did love the Wollmeise version.

And what did/do I have lurking in my stash?  That skein of Wollmeise Guide to the Galaxy which Christy gave me.  I thought it would be perfect for the De Stijl sock. 

The pattern calls for 2.50 mm needles for the hemmed cuff and 2.25 mm needles for the body.  I decided to do the large size, which is 72 stitches.  The pattern requires a multiple of 9 stitches.

At first I didn't realize that when you're picking up the stranded stitches, each new stitch has to come from behind the already stranded threads.  Otherwise, you end up with only strands in one direction and then kind of a twisted rope effect. 

In my first stranded repeat, I didn't figure that out until part way through, so you can see from the photo in the top left that there are some twisted bits rather than strands.   Here's a close up:

Alice suggested wrapping the yarn around the needle twice when anchoring the strands on the purl stitches.  So that's what I did for the first row.

Then I changed from the DPNs to the 9" circular Chiaogoo needle to see if that would make it any easier.  I struggled for the next two pattern repeats and then decided that the needles are just too blunt and it's too awkward.  So I switched back to the DPNs.

For the second and third repeats, I was following the directions which say to pick up the strand from front to back and then to knit it.  I was just getting way too frustrated because the angle made it very difficult to knit the knit stitch.  And with 8 plies of the Wollmeiese, I was having difficulty picking up all the plies.

So I finally got smart for repeats 4-7.  I picked up the strands from back to front and then knit through the back of the stitch.  It was way faster and produced a much tidier result.  These are the bottom repeats moving down into the heel.

Not bad looking if you can ignore the ubiquitous animal hair.

So I was cruising along.  I love this pattern.  I think it's genius.  I was going through my stash to figure out which other variegated yarns I can use with this pattern.  I think it may even be the solution to the vexatious Sweet Georgia Honey Fig which does not want to be tamed. So I can see making this pattern a bunch of times.  It goes quickly once you've figured out how it works. 

But I should have known that 72 stitches with something stranded on 2.25 mm needles is nothing but a recipe for disaster for me. 

Not only would the sock not go over my heel, it wouldn't even go over Lola's heel, and she's positively anorexic.  

So back to the frog pond she goes.  I have re-wound the Wollmeise and will pick it up again when I'm not feeling quite so defeated.

I want to try this pattern again but with more stitches and using bigger needles. I really think I need 81 stitches and probably 2.50 or 2.75 mm needles.  I have a cake of STR mediumweight in Chapman Springs which I think would be divine for this.  I also have a cake of Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label in Lightning (which is yellow and violet and red and orange).  Either one of them would do.   But I'm a little gun-shy, I have to admit.  

I looked at the De Stijls on Ravelry.  They all seem to fit.  There are plenty of knitters who have actual feet inside theirs.  And they aren't even necessarily anorexic feet.  So I think I just need to realize that as a tight knitter, knitting with 2.25 mm needles is a non-starter.

There was a tiny bit of other stashquisition this week. 

I have been watching video podcasts.  And I'm the kind of person who has to start at episode 1 and go all the way to the current episodes.  I did that with the Lime & Violet podcast a couple of years ago, and I'm part way through David Reidy's Sticks and String. 

So I occasionally watched Alcariel's Round the Twist with Carin, and recently I caught up and watched every single episode. Carin is a rehab nurse who works night shifts.  She's apparently 6'2 or something equally ginormous, and she is a classical beauty.  She knits very quickly and is very accomplished.  She also spins.  So her podcast is about whe she's currently knitting, her finished objects, her spinning, and various and sundry.  It's a really excellent podcast and I highly recommend it.  When she started, the episodes were on YouTube, and were either about 10 minutes long or broken into two parts of about 10minutes each.  Since she switched to Blip, she's been able to record a continuous podcast of longer than 10 minutes.  If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.  It's fascinating and well done.  

Carin has referred to The Knit Girllls podcast on her podcast a bunch of times, and she even became friends with the Knit Girllls.  The Knit Girllls are from Mississippi.  Laura (Lala) is 6' and Lesley (udontcallmeles) is 5'3" and currently has braces.  They're both about 30 and they knit more and faster than anyone I've ever seen.  I'm constantly in awe of how much output they get.  Anyway, their podcast is also fabulous.  I think I'm up to episode 42 out of about 100.  Some of their episodes are upwards of an hour long.  It's like a combination of your favourite tv show and an evening with friends.

They've had some cameo appearances on their podcasts, including an entire episode shot at Wendy Johnson's condo in the Washington DC area (Alexandrea Virginia, maybe?), and an episode with Megan who is CraftyPancakes on Ravelry.

Lesley and Laura are pretty much complete polar opposites when it comes to knitting. Lesley is project monogamous, and Laura is proknitscuous (I *love* that word and have appropriated it).  Laura has about as many projects on the go as I do.  Lesley is a little OCD about her knitting, including requiring that she start her socks at the exact same space in the yarn so as to ensure uniformity.

They also both spin.  They're hilarious and have the most delightful southern US accents. But I think Laura said she's only been down in the south (which is a 2-syllable word say-owth) for 6 years and she was from Pittsburgh before that.  So I'm not sure about the accent.

Anyway, they're hilarious and informative and very entertaining.  They're also great enablers.

Between the KnitGirllls and Alcariel, I have decided that I have to start knitting some self-striping socks.   Most of the indie dyers who dye the yarns run out of their product because of high demand.

But through a little etsy surfing, I managed to acquire two skeins of self-striping 80/10/10 MCN from Dye Hard.  She's in Markham, Ontario, so there's no wretched customs and duty to worry about.  I ordered "You Had Me At Hello" (pink, purple and black) and another one whose name is not on the tag (fuchsia, teal, red-orange and purple).  I think I may have found my new obsession.

 It's now a toss-up between attempting De Stijl in the Chapman Springs and starting a vanilla self-striping.  I'm going to do an afterthought heel, and coincidentally, there's a free pattern on Ravelry written by Laura of the Knit Girllls.  

There are other self-striping yarns out there such as Twisted Limone and Vesper and String Theory Colorworks, but they're difficult to come by.  

You can check out Nalani on Etsy as well as Dye Hard. I might have ordered Minnie Mouse and Perry the Platypus from Nalani.  And I might have joined the 3-month self-striping sock club.  

Oops. 

I blame that ALL on the Knit Girllls. 

So what's my plan of attack?  Do I attempt De Stijl v. 2.0?  Or do I wind a skein of Dye Hard and start knitting something nice and mindless and stockinette? 

And on the dog front, the beasts got into the cupboard this morning while I was at the gym and dragged out a brand-new almost completely full bottle of canola oil.  

It was everywhere.  They apparently decided to eat / drink it.  But that might have been after they dragged it up onto the red couch (which of course is not the leather couch which could be wiped down) and glugged half the bottle onto the couch.  The couch is an oily saturated mess.  I can't even thnk about it.

Then their precious digestive systems decided that the oil doesn't really agree with them, so they vomited it up all over the floor in a big foamy mess. 

I came home to about 2 tablespoons of oil in the bottle lying on the floor. Princess couldn't deal with the dog vomit (or the oil, apparently), so she had to go out, leaving me to clean it up. 

What made me think I needed more pets ?????

I am going to nap and then decide what to knit next.  

 

Progress

I got so caught up with that wretched bit of knitting that I ended up not finishing the blog post.  So now I have way more things to add, so this will be a new blog post.  Or perhaps I’ll break it up into several blog posts.

Under the category of Random Things I Notice on My Travels we have the uber-safety conscious esteemed institution of higher learning’s half-hearted compliance with the Fire Safety Act regulations and the Fire Code of Canada.

I finished the Roger Socks (Roger That) in the November Nudibranch Bugga for Princess.  64 stitches.  One sole was a double gusset decrease, and the other was a single gusset decrease every 3 stitches.  I like the original way better.  But they’re done.

I had ordered some DK Lively from Hazel Knits in earthy colours for mitten / hat colourwork stuff.  I am going to do Adrian Bazilia’s Squirrel Sampler Mittens, and I thought the Arroyo would be a good acorn / squirrel colour – either with the Nekkid or maybe with the Cephalopod orange. 

And yes, that’s an 11” circular needle you see on the side.  I was reading one of the Robyn Gallimore designs, and she suggests doing colourwork socks on a 12” circular needle.

Preposterous, thought I.

Then when I was on my trek to LK yarns several Saturdays ago, I saw that they had a 9” Chiaogoo Red Cord 2.0 mm needle, and I decided to try it.  It has quite short stems (stalks?) and took a bit of getting used to, but I did cast on a sock with it.  The problem is that the Chiaogoo needles don’t have a very sharp point, and I was attempting to do a pattern with twisted stitches.  (Yes, that falls in the category of DUH what was I thinking…)

So I ended up ripping it out after about 3 inches.  And I had a panicked thought wondering about how to do the heel – do I need to do an afterthought heel, or would a heel flap and gusset work?  Hmm…. So then I frogged it because my mind was spinning. And 9 inches is a wee bit small.

When I was looking at the HK site, I saw that she had 11” Hiya Hiya stainless steel circs in 2.75 mm and so I ordered one.  Haven’t cast on with it yet, but I think I shall do an experimental sock.

I had ordered another 3 skeins of Cepahlopod yarns.  They are Ghost Moth (love), Rhinoceros Beetle (for colourwork) and Eurota Purple Wing.  When I opened the package it was at night, and the Eurota Purple Wing looked almost exactly like the Charaxes Tiridate, so I was a little disappointed.  It’s better under natural light, but it’s still not quite as violet as I was hoping.  But I still love it, so there’s nothing bad here.

What is bad is poor Sarah’s struggles.  You should read her latest blog post – A Smaller Life.  I am pretty sure I have encountered no one who has worse luck than Sarah, and yet she always manages to come up with an air of calm acceptance even if she isn’t exactly smiling. So if any of you have cosmic connections, try to throw a little good luck and good wishes her way.

Remember the bags of yarn barf?

I have been patiently undoing the various Gordian knots and winding things back into balls.  I was not going to be defeated, dammit.  I love my Sokkusu and my STR too much for that.

I have managed to rescue 6 balls so far.  The STR Seastone (with the partially knitted sock), the Dream In Color Smooshy with Cashmere, and the Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label in Gem are still an unholy mess, but I’m 66% of the way there.

When I read Mapleweave’s blog which showed her 40 pairs of socks all in nice boxes, I decided I had to hurry up and finish the second socks for all the ones I have lying around.  So I did a round-up of all the single socks, and decided that I have to finish off a second sock before starting a brand new pattern.

So I finished the Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Prism sock.  It’s funny – this one looks more vibrant than the first, but it’s the same skein of yarn.  I did the double gusset decrease for sock #2.   I love the way this particular pattern (which I’ve now done 4 times, I believe) doesn’t end up pooling or flashing.

But look what I discovered on the first sock -- a dropped stitch.  EEEEEeeeeeeeekkkk! 

I did a standard gusset decrease on the first sock.  You can tell because it has that little column of knit stitches which then disappear into nothingness. 

I did Turtlegirl76's Double Bottom Gusset Decrease on the second sock.  I think it's a tidier looking sock that way. The double gusset decrease also hugs the heel nicely. 

So I’m pretty pleased with this.  I have to finish the second Crocus sock in the Yarn Love base, but since it’s the identical pattern (with maybe a difference in where the knits and yarnovers go), I decided to take a break.

So I cast on for the second Papaver Sock in the HK Entice in Spanish Wine.  I got 4 rows done before deciding to cast on for the Wollmeise Guide to Galaxy which Christy had given me.

I haven’t actually knit with Wollmeise yet.  This is 100% merino, and it has 8 splitty plies. I’m using my Knit Picks Nickel DPNs because they’re a little more slick and a little less pointy than my Signatures.

I was originally thinking of doing the Om Shanti pattern from Alice Yu.  Then I thought that the Mad Color Weave would be good.  So I started that and then discovered that the yarn is way too stripey and the little slipped stitches are getting lost. So I frogged.  I’ve started again with Fences by JC Briar from last year’s Rockin’ Sock Club.  We’ll see how that goes.  I’m on the first row of ribbing….

And the other thing which arrived was the January installment from the Yarn Love Sock Club.  The yarn is Amy March which is a 2-ply 100% superwash merino in that kind of pebbled twist which I don’t love.  The colour is called Ice Princess, which I do love.  The February installment will be purple.  It’s like the Yarnista Sock Club in that you get to choose one of two colourways every month. 

I was sick as a dog last week and am still not fully recovered.  I’m not managing to get to sleep, and I still have the nasty end of the flu / chest thing. 

 

The February 23 Post

This is what happens when I don’t blog for a couple of weeks – things get out of hand and then I have an epic post.

My blogging is largely dictated by the photos in my camera, so stuff is in no real order.

First off, in the category of Oddities, remember the pictures I posted of the spooky mannequin people in the empty lot downtown?  I passed it during the day and took some more photos.  In the day it’s less spooky and more bizarre.  They don’t all show up perfectly in here, as it had snowed, and the mannequin people are white and wear white shirts.  But they’re odd nonetheless.  This is apparently an art installation for which the city paid several thousand dollars.  I assumed it was some kind of renegade and amusing stealth project, but it’s a commissioned work.  That’s perhaps even more disturbing.

Then we have the recent acquisitions.  In my newfound love of mittens and hats, I decided I need to augment my DK yarn stash.  I ordered 3 skeins of Traveller from Cepahalopod yarns, and a skein of Skinny Bugga.  I think when I ordered there were no skeins of Bugga in the shop.  But since I actually prefer thinner yarns, Skinny Bugga is better for me.  So I ordered a blue (Charaxes Tiridae) in the Skinny Bugga.  I’m on a blue kick right now, believe it or not.

Then my first Cookie A sock club package arrived.  The yarn is a beautiful bright red from a dyer I’ve never heard of before. 

They’re building more houses across the street from us.  When we moved in, there was one house on the opposite side of the street.  Now they have completed another three, and are working on the foundations for several more.  It’s a fascinating process.  I love house building.

My penultimate Nudibranch club offering arrived.  The only thing which irritates me is that the value on the box said $32.  And Canada Post or customs or whoever decided that I needed to pay an extra $13 in duty.  It’s the first time I’ve ever been charged extra for delivery of a sock club.  I think it’s because it was a box rather than an envelope.  Grrrr.

This month’s colour is a blue with some peach and lavender.  It’s not bad, but I won’t be using it for a garment for me.  There’s also a shot glass with a Nudibranch on it.  If you check out the thread on Ravelry, you can see how many people actually thought it was a va-jay-jay on the glass.  Of course I didn’t take a decent photo of the image on the glass, so you’ll have to check it out elsewhere. 

I also received the first Art for Your Feet Tsock Club offering.  It’s called Love in Idleness and is based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream.  Tsock Tsarina has changed yarn suppliers. She used to work with Holiday Yarns and used a 4-ply tight twist wool/nylong yarn.  Now she is using Moose Manor Hand Paints and the yarn is called Tsilk Tstocking.  It’s 65% wool and 35% silk.  It is a bit rough to the touch and has an odd sheen.  I’m reserving judgment.

The Tsarina has a brain like Cat Bordhi, but more complicated if possible.  I am utterly unable to follow her directions, because my brain isn’t big enough.  So I decided I’d modify this and do it cuff-down rather than toe-up.  This particular pattern is based on a leaf motif for most of the leg, and then there is a flower on the back of the heel flap and a fairy queen on the front of the leg.  Overlaid at the top in a cobweb laceweight (with beads) is an Estonian flower design.  It’s all very interesting, but hard for me to do the mental math.

So I sat down with graph paper and pencil to see if I could convert it to cuff down.  The pattern is 60 stitches for the medium and 68 stitches for the Large, and calls for the sock proper to be knit on 2.25 mm needles.  I decided to bump it up to 66 stitches (because the majority of the leg is a 6-stitch lace pattern repeat) and 2.50 mm needles.  If I ever finish and have a hope of getting it over my foot, I need more space there than provided. 

So I started with a provisional cast on at the top.  I’m going to have to go back and join in the overlay of the flower lace, and I’m going to have to knit up and finish the leaf edging at the top.  So I thought a provisional cast-on would be the smartest thing for me to do.  I gave myself a little pat on the back for figuring this out.

Then I did 6 12-row repeats of the leaf mesh lace pattern down the leg.  The original pattern calls for a short row heel, but you know how I despise toe-up and short rows, so I decided to do just a plain stockinette heel flap.  I’m stuck at the Cupid’s flower, however.

In order to translate the stitch patterns from toe-up to cuff-down, I’ve turned them upside down.  I have even made allowance for the row where you have to do extra yarnovers in order to have sufficient play for the stitches in the next row.

But I admit that I’m flummoxed by the cable direction things.  The pattern calls for 3 over 2 right leaning, 3 over 2 4 left leaning, and 9 over 7 centred. This doesn’t look like normal cablespeak to me, so I think it’s something different.

I checked the little instruction book that came with the kit, and it has a section on Estonian stitches.  It says the first number represents the number of stitches produced, and the second represents the number of base stitches.  Thus, 11/5 means you gather 5 base stitches together and work k1 (yo, k1) 5 times through the gathered base.   Okay, that makes sense.  It’s one of those odd Estonian things.

Then the next thing says # over #, Right leaning.  In preparation for working the figure (what figure?  The flower figure?), gather base stitches together as if working for a right-leaning decrease.  – So does that mean that if I’m supposed to be doing a 3 / 2 right leaning, that I gather 2 stitches and slip them knitwise onto the needle?  Then do I slide them back to the right needle, and do k1, yo, k1?  Or do I do that while keeping the 2 base stitches together?  This is the hard part for me.  I just don’t get it.

Okay, I think I might get it.  I just tried it.  Good thing I’m using Signature Needle Arts needles.  There is no way on the green earth that I’d ever be able to do that without these stiletto tips.

But the instructions says slip the right needle through the base stitches from right to left.  So I assume that means I knit them through the back loop for the right-leaning things?  I’d have to, because otherwise I couldn’t be slipping the needle through the stitches from right to left.  Fine. 

But what about the left-leaning ones? It says, to work 3-3L, slip each base stitch knitwise to the working needle, then insert the working needle through the base stitches from right to left, so they end up in the same configuration as the s1 s1 k1 p2sso decrease.

Huh?

All I take from this is that if I’m inserting the working needle from right to left, I have to be doing the knit stitch through the back loop.  You can’t insert the needle from right to left in front and then knit the stitches.

This is why I’m a dolt.

Frig, I just realized I forgot to slip the first stitch of the row, so I have to undo the whole thing.  I’ll try this again.

The other issue that I’m having with this is that because I’m doing a heel flap, the fancy flower stitch has some rows which are purl, so I have to figure out the equivalent of the k2tog and ssk.  Are they p2tog and ssp?  Or is it ssp which is the equivalent of k2tog and p2tog which is the equivalent of ssk?

I am utterly unable to find this information anywhere.  It’s very frustrating.  Even in the stitches section of Knitting Estonian Lace.

Okay, this flower might possibly be the most complicated thing I’ve ever done.  And I’ve just had to rip it out because I realized that after my herculean effort, I ended up with 11/7 rather than 9/7.  And since I end up placing the beads on purl rows, they’re facing the inside of the sock.

So my third plan is to try knitting backwards rather than turning the work and purling.  How effing complicated is this ????

Okay, the backwards knitting thing worked.  The heel flap is done and the beaded flower is done.  So that’s two brand new things for me in one day:  backwards knitting and beaded knitting.

I have too many stitches on the needles to be able to photograph the sock in progress.  I’ll have to wait for a bit.  Besides, I have other things on the go ….