Sneak
15 May 2009 · No Comments
One wee quick peek at the sock for Schaefer – just the barest glimpse. I predict these will be seriously nifty.
My Own Personal Horror Movie
17 May 2009 · 1 Comment
If, when you turn on the shower upstairs, water runs down your living room wall downstairs, you can pretty much guess the next few days are not going to go as you had planned. Nor is your budget for the month going look like you had expected. Not really at all. Especially that last part.
As you might perhaps imagine, this will cut into the production of scintillating knitting content over the next week. It will likely also cut into my reserves of patience and sanity. With luck, I will return victorious in a few days.
Goodies!
14 May 2009 · No Comments
All of the unladylike fuming and vigorous swearing at wordpress were apparently worth it. This website has begun to result in the arrival of real live actual yarn in my mailbox. Yarn – for me!
One arrival is a lovely skein of Nichole by Schaefer. It’s a hypnotic mix of blues and purples, variegated enough to be interesting, solid enough to stand up to all sorts of interesting patterns. My only complaint about it is that it’s a one-of-a-kind colorway and so I won’t be able to get more. This will turn into the sock I knit for Schaefer, and you will be seeing lots more of it in the days to come.
The other is equally lovely and just as exciting, but I am, alas, sworn to pictoral secrecy. I can say that it’s an array of test yarns for a yarn club and that I’m very excited about working with it. I don’t think I’ll be giving too much away if I say the color is fantastic. I’ll be saying more about it as soon as I receive official dispensation!
Just How Much do You Like it?
13 May 2009 · 5 Comments
So, the Pedigreed socks are a bit of a challenge. They will be mirror images of each other and feature four different cable patterns and a wrap around rib. They’re fun to knit, but they are not an entirely simple undertaking. I actually rather like my socks to be challenging, but I’ve learned something. The socks that are tricky to knit are also, not surprisingly, tricky to write up.
The pattern for these would be by far my most complicated yet. It would need 8 charts, 6 of them full-page affairs. The written text would take several pages. The whole pattern would likely be about 12 pages long and represent rather a lot of effort on my part. The testing process would also be quite a bit more intense than usual.
Given all that, I’m not sure it’s worth it to sell the pattern for four or five dollars (the going rate for the other patterns I’ve written). I’m also not sure how much demand there would be if I priced it a bit higher, say six or seven dollars. So I’m taking a poll.
If you would, please let me know if you’d be willing to pay an extra dollar or two for a detailed, twelve-page, chart-laden, photo-heavy pattern for advanced intermediate socks. Feel free to tell me that six or seven dollars is just way too much to spend on socks as well. I’m trying to decide if I should write these up, and don’t have my heart set on it one way or the other.
Progress
12 May 2009 · 3 Comments
Pedigreed are coming along nicely. The current push to write patterns up for publication is doing wonders for my knitting fidelity. I’m just about ready to start the toe decreases and should hopefully finish the first one tonight.
I especially like the asymmetrically placed gusset on these socks. On this sock, the right side gusset decreases are in the normal location, while the left side gusset decreases move across the top of the foot forcing the plain rib to wrap around and pull over to the right. It’s still quite comfortable and easy to do, but it really changes the look of the sock. See? It looks like it’s hiding.
Collaboration
11 May 2009 · 1 Comment
After three whole days of biting my tongue and keeping quiet, I now have official permission to shamelessly blab…I will be designing a pair of socks for Schaefer Yarn Company using their new yarn, Nichole! This is the yarn I used in my most recent socks (Nugatory), and I just loved working with it.
I knit a bit loosely and hate working with small needles. I will (grudgingly) consent to use size 1s, but anything smaller is out of the question. This combination means that thicker yarn is my very good friend. Unfortunately, it’s hard to find a nice thick yarn that also has all the characteristics that make a good sock yarn (namely a decent percentage of nylon, a nice tight twist, and lovely colors). Casbah Sock by Handmaiden passes the test, but you get about 50 yards more yarn in Nichole than in Casbah for about the same price. Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight is also lovely and thick, but it doesn’t have the desired nylon and is also quite a bit shorter than Nichole. As a proud bearer of large feet, yardage is important.
The yarn for the new socks should be here soon, and I know I’ll be powerless to resist casting on once it gets here. Many (likely too many) pictures are sure to follow. This will be fun.
Pedigreed
11 May 2009 · No Comments
The next socks are on the needles already. They are based on the idea of a cable work sampler. There are patterned ribs in four widths, each with a different design (three cables, one technically a traveling stitches, but the effect is the same). An unpatterned rib starts on the back and wraps around the ankle and foot. The pattern will be mirrored on the second sock.
The first sock is about 75% done. The second may be a bit of a challenge, as I have to figure out how to mirror one of the patterns and am so far having no luck. These are quite a bit more complicated than the last socks, so it will likely be a while until they are available.
These are surprisingly hard to photograph, but this should give you the idea. More (and one hopes better) photos when the first one is finished.
