Monday, November 28, 2005

Small and satisfying

I finally schlepped myself down to Michael's to buy another skein of ribbon yarn to finish off this scarf for my aunt. I did not love knitting the ribbon yarn - kept getting my needle point caught in it, but I did like the overall effect. I'm sending this to her right away in hopes that she can wear it for the holiday season. I don't think it'll actually keep anyone's neck warm, but it's sort of semi-glamorous.



And, I finished off some ankle socks for my daughter, with yarn leftover from these twisted rib toe up socks . There definately wasn't enough for a full sized pair, so I did these with an afterthought heel. I don't know if I liked the afterthought heel at all. It seemed overly fussy and when I cast something off, I want it to be done, not have to go through the additional steps of re-threading stitches, picking out waste yarn, etc etc.

Opening the heel here:


and finished socks here:

I offered to rip them back and make them longer, because I did have a little bit of yarn left, but she said she liked them this way. I won't say no to suggestions tha make life easier for me.

The Road to Oslo socks are pretty much turning out to be wearable practice swatches. The one on the left is my first stab at two handed fairisle. I've got WAY too much tension on the contrast yarn, which I held in my right hand, which I don't normally knit with, so those stitches get pulled into the overall colour. The one on the right is my stab at carrying both yarns in the left hand. Tension is all over the place here, but for the most part, crazy loose and gapping and bagging strangely. However, I'm learning a lot, and geez, in the end they'll still be warm and wearable.



And finally - I was mortified to get a phone message from one of my kid's judo teachers, who found one of my DPNs at the dojo. Curse DPNs and their sneaky rolling-off-into-a-corner ways!

6 comments:

Loretta_S said...

I never use the afterthought heel since I discovered the short row heel. It's like an afterthought heel that you knit as you go along, rather than afterwards. The cool thing is that you use the same instructions for the toe.

Tension tips for two-color knitting. Try turning the sock tube inside out so you're knitting around the inside. Then the yarn has to go farther around the outside and you're less likely to make the carries too tight. Like EZ says, you can correct too loose caries, but too tight..nevermore.

BTW I adore the socks you made for your daughter.

Loretta_S said...

P.S. I wish I'd known that you were interested in the Folk Socks book. I gladly would have passed it along to you. You should ask me first before you buy knitting books.

Sophie_vf said...

Oh! I'll remember that in the future. But, I guess I assume knitting books are like yoga books - one always ends up wanting their own copy anyway :)

OK - so, if I try doing the inside out thing...does that mean I'm actually purling in the round?

I love short row toes and heels. The only reason I didn't do it this time is because I was sure I'd run out of yarn.

Loretta_S said...

You are not purling, but you are knitting around the inside so the yarn being carried is going around the outside. If that doesn't make sens I'll try to post a pic this weekend after my exam.

Sophie_vf said...

I *think* I get it - so, you're knitting the "far side" of the tube rather than the near side, right? I'm going to give this a try. I'm on the plain color section of both socks now, so I'm going to cast on a hat and try the inside out thing with that.

Loretta_S said...

Correct! far side of tube.