Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Stretching


Peach, did you do this?


Still mulling over this colorway. In looking at the hank again, I can see that I missed the importance of the black.


It is such a stretch for me that I could only find one thing in my house that is the same color grouping. A little box of matches that I bought in Amsterdam.


I was very frustrated at my inability to understand how to turn the heel. The directions for a Jojo heel use a term particular to Lana Grossa. Double stitch. I emailed the designer, Monika Steinbauer, for help. She replied promptly with the explanation. When beginning a row, slip the first stitch as if to purl, then tug firmly on the working yarn to pull the stitch below up and over the needle to create a false double stitch. When beginners mistakenly add a stitch at the beginning of a row, this is usually what they have done. In the case of the socks, the double stitch is done deliberately.


I did make a mistake and knitted the bottom of the heel wrong side out. I am going to leave it and make the second sock the same way. I am a very confident top down sock knitter but do not have much experience with knitting toe up socks. When I picked the pattern, I knew it would be a bit of a stretch. I am now at the point of beginning the leg. And it is for the leg that I chose to make these socks. I should have some leg to show you tomorrow.

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7 Comments:

Blogger Sangeeta said...

I cannot imagine that something so small could have made such a big mess. Is she coming to see us on Sunday?

3:56 PM  
Blogger jayne said...

Hmm...Cate's gonna "show some leg."

Racy :)

I reeeeaaaalllly like those green socks.

Teri Kay IS very prolific!

8:04 PM  
Blogger Suzann said...

Like Jayne, I am waiting to see some leg girl :-)Top down no problem. Toe up, not so good. Also I find that most short row heels don't fit my daughter that well.
The green socks are beautiful and very spring looking. You had better wear them quickly. You know how long spring lasts in Virginia.
I do think the black helps the other colors show up in the slip stitch pattern.

9:36 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yikes! Someone had lots of fun with that blue yarn.

Love that toe-up sock yarn but the matchbox is what caught my eye. It's gorgeous! :-}

12:45 AM  
Blogger knitfriendly said...

I love the pattern you are using for your Tiger-German Flag-matchbox socks. :) Is it one of Monika's free patterns? I didn't recognize it on her site. I also wanted to say that I LOVE how your green socks turned out. They are gorgous!!

8:37 AM  
Blogger Margaret said...

I have three cats. That tangled mess is the reason I keep everything, everything!, in ziplocs.

Here's a link to a good toe-up, flap heel calculator. I've used it twice and it worked well. The heel was better fitting for my wide-foot, high instep husband than short-row would have been. I find that if you get the sock started, by the time you get halfway up the foot you can measure for the gauge in stitches and rows and not worry about a swatch.

Also, though this pattern is for knee socks, I usually just figure it for a straight leg crew sock and haven't used any calf shaping.

http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog/lucia/1037

Everyone I knit socks for has such a big foot, I try to do toe-up about half the time so I don't have so many leftovers and so many short legs

9:21 AM  
Blogger Mary said...

This is fascinating!

1:43 PM  

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