camo lace sock….check!…or ‘my thoughts on short row heels’

 

i finally got it finished folks!! both of my camo lace socks are finally off the needles. again, forgive the poor photo…this was by the stairwell light!

“the camo lace sock”
ribbed lace pattern from sensational knitted socks
lorna’s laces shepherd sock in camouflage (0708)
57g / 215 yds m ; 75% superwash wool 25% nylon
started: november 22, 2006
finished: december 9, 2006
needles: 2 circulars, #1 addi turbos
changes: used short row heel/toe

i’m quite partial to the short row heel/toe these days. no picking up stitches (well, sort of) and no extra needles to fiddle with. i’ll have to say it is the heel of the moment, for me, at least. the short row heel produces a somewhat shallow cup for one’s heel…and the pattern extends further down the ankle if you are on of those types who doesn’t like the ‘break’ in pattern once the heel flap starts. both +’s for me. on the other hand, you miss the satisfaction of turning the heel, and, you have to get over the matching pointy-ness of the heel/toe. that said, it is the best heel to use while traveling (i tend to use 2 circ’s since stitches are less prone to jumping off my needles). i can’t remember exactly where i learned to use this heel…probably from this knitty article or anyone of these tutorials .

don’t like the short row heel? i’ve read that some don’t like this heel because of ugly little holes like these:

see the holes?
i don’t think they’re that big a deal.

you can avoid these by wrapping VERY tightly. misocrafy suggested that instead of picking up the wrapped stitch, she slips the wrapped stitch over. if the holes on my short row heels become more noticable, i would probably use this method. however, i don’t mind the holes, as they are only occassional. most of the time the yarn blooms in the wash and the holes are not noticable at all! here is a better example:

ahhh, much better!

as promised, i got out the light box and did a mini yarn pr0n shoot. a color corrected picture of the december yarn from the sock club follows…plus, some yarn i couldn’t resist when i went to knit with a friend at the lys.

december yarn from the sock club – color corrected

lorna’s laces shepherd sock – flames
flames!…burning…on the side of my face!
(come on!! you know what movie i’m quoting)

denmark socks, they are finished!!

even though i am knitting the pattern ‘denmark’, i’ll sheepishly admit i know very little about the country.

<furiously types, then clicks> don’t you just love google?

the lonely planet describes denmark as “the littlest and most southern of the scandinavian countries, denmark offers a storybox mix of lively cities and rural countryside. ancient castles, ring forts, jazz festivals, the sleekest modern design you’ll ever see and the people who invented lego – who could ask for more?”… <click, click, scroll…> ah! and knitting as political statement was recently the buzz in copenhagen…anybody ever been?

anyway, i am happy to report that the socks are finally done. i just finished kitchenering the toe and bravely attempted photographing the finished project by the light from our ceiling fan. (it’s not pretty, folks, but the studio is out of commission. df is on ‘phase 1’ of finishing our basement). forgive the bad lighting, lack of creativity and blurriness.

denmark socks, from knitting on the road by nancy bush
yarnsmith’s sockezze in jazz
2 oz/145 yds; 90% wool/10% nylon
started: august 17, 2006
completed: september 3, 2006
needles: set of 5, #2 lantern moon ebonies

here is a gratuitous close up shot:

i twisted the stiches that i picked up from the heel, is it worth it?

these socks will shortly be on their way to my mother’s as a birthday present for her. she has been requesting hand-knit socks but refused to give me any guidelines as to what she wanted. hm. i hope she appreciates my first attempt at cables. otherwise, i suppose i could go shopping for more yarn…i’ve been very good these past few months, although stacey has told me that CTH is having a labor day sale…

<gets up and runs away from the computer…must…stay…strong…>

cankle socks

(boston accent:) ev-ah feel like a sock goes on forev-ah and ev-ah? the combination of this yahn and stockinette made this pai-ah take for-eh-vah. lion brand was the only sock yahn that i ev-ah saw when i st-ahted knitting.  of course, i only thought you could buy yahn at the craft store at that time, too.  my first ev-vah pai-ah of socks were lion brand (if you check to the left of this photo you can see one peeking from behind my presents)…anyway, here they ah in all of theiah glory:

cankle socks, my own basic pattern with larger ankles
for lisa, pregnant and suffering from swollen ankles
lb simple stripes in sea blue stripe
100 gm/ 300 m; 75% wool/25% nylon
started: august 2006
completed: august 2006
needles: 4 – #2 metal dpns (?brand)

 

they don’t look all that different from a normally proportioned pair of socks…but on the model:

 

 

ahhhhh! sock relief!

 

i’m still experimenting with my new mini-photo studio. as i’ve mentioned before, i’m no ansel adams (probably a bad comparison since my ‘work’ is in color)…i’m also missing a few pieces to the studio…like a mini-infinity backdrop and, um, photo talent. 😉 anyone know a good, beginner web resource?

 

why the accent? i’ll be taking a break from the blog over the weekend and then some. we are off to newport (via boston) for a wedding…and i need to plan my lys tour! i’ll try to take some worthwhile photos to share…and i’ll have a cuppah chowdah for you since you won’t be able to join us! bye for now!

old fo, mamluke update and cankles (not necessarily related)

what do you do if you have bad pictures of an old fo that are unsalvageable even through the magic of photoshop? post them.

well, technically you don’t have to post them. but admittedly i haven’t made much progress on my mamluke socks. so i am filling the void with past projects.

the socks, below, were a gift to one of my first knitting friends. i love this pattern. it is complicated enough that it is interesting, yet mental gymnastics are not too tough…good for tv watching. these were knit during a marathon of ‘lost’ episodes. my df and i decided that we should figure out what the hype was about….so the ONLY logical thing to do was watch from the first episode until we caught up with season two. well, we’re hooked…and i have a very cute pair of socks (and a very bad picture – hey i gave you the best i could with what i had to work with) to commemorate it:

child’s first sock in shell pattern, knitting vintage socks by nancy bush
for gena, just because
cth supersock merino yarn in indian summer purchased on ebay
113 gm/ 370 yds; 100% merino wool
Started: April 2006
Completed: April 2006
Needles: 2 – #1 addi turbo 24″ circs

gena says that she is afraid to wear them and muss them up. honey, i say go ahead! enjoy them, throw ’em in the washer….but pull them out to air dry. if you superly-love them. give them a good handwashing/air dry. my cth socks have survived my ‘no hand-washing’ rule…heck, even survived a few trips through the dryer. (but i would definitely recommend the air dry for longer-lastingness).

speaking of longer-lastingness (of knitting hell) the mamlukes, meh,i am so discouraged!! last week i went to a sock knitting group (yeah! first organized knitting social i’ve had the privilege of attending) where i was told i could solve my tension problems by carrying my floats (boo! bad student!). i’ve never been very good with strict instruction (sorry lynn!)…i need more of a process where i get the gist but then ‘wing it’ from there. this is why the internet and books are the first place i got to for instruction…then i just ‘figure it out’. up until my attempt at fair isle knitting, this has been a successful process for me.

i think that i’ll put down the two-color knitting for a bit and get some mindless knitting in (don’t worry, i won’t give up…we’re just on “a break”)….i’ve been currently working on a gift started at the request of a pregnant friend.

let’s not beat around the bush. she has cankles (albeit temporary…oh come on, calf-ankles!). so i set to work at making a pair of slouchy socks to accommodate her…and hopefully a matching pair for the little bundle of joy set to come in about a month or two…let’s hope he doesn’t have cankles too 😉 (i only have 100 g of yarn for the both of them). any pattern suggestions for the newborn? it’s one of the last two balls of lb simple stripes in my stash. i hoarded this stuff when it went on sale at the local craft store. i have since ‘graduated’ to a more expensive yarn habit (hence the current yarn diet), but cankles wanted blue socks and that’s what i have in my stash! pictures of the wip in my next post if there is any progress…

basket case socks…finished!

hooray! they are finished!! may I present to you, my red bird knits SOTEOM socks:

basket case from red bird knits SOTEOM club (march)
lana grossa meilenweit colortweed #1008 from http://www.redbirdknits.com
100 gm/ 420 m; 80% wool/20% polyamide
needles: 3 to 5 1.25 mm birch dpns
modifications: short row heels and toes
started: march 2006
completed: july 1, 2006

and for safe measure, i have also included a couple of pics of my other projects from these past few months (i’ll try to add posts in the future of other past projects)…

friday harbor from knitting on the road by nancy bush
blue moon fiber arts socks that rock mediumweight in fairgrounds
100% superwash merino; approximately 380 yds / 5.65 oz
needles: lantern moon ebony dpn’s us 2
modifications: 5.5 repeats to end pattern higher on instep
started: July 2, 2006
completed: July 14, 2006