Sleeve setting already

Almost a week (two days back from Sac) and still no sleeves? I'm such a slacker. I will now take a break from the two new sweaters I have going (I'm a knitting tramp ("harlot" is taken)) and sew in Venezia's sleeves - stay tuned.

Getting close

Now that the election is over (aw yeah, my fellow Americans!), I shall reveal the progress on Venezia.

I finished the body a while ago (stupid standard time prevents picture taking on week nights which is why you haven't seen it yet). I did decide to go with a scoop neck, which I had to do twice because it was too square the first time.

Front neckline

I did only 8 stripe stitches on the neck instead of the 10 on the sleeve to keep it from being bulky under the neck band. I did secure the steeks with crochet, although they haven't been secured yet in these photos.

I ended up knitting the sleeve three and a half times: half of first sleeve on dps before realizing I had started on the wrong row; first sleeve on dpns; second sleeve using Magic Loop; then first sleeve again, using Magic Loop because it came out much less lumpy than on dpns. Once I had the colorwork pattern memorized, it went pretty quickly. The upper part of the body was also done using Magic Loop rather than dpns or shorter circular needles. I definitely recommend it.

With crochet secured steeks

Snip snip

It looks like a sleeve!

I will admit I was skeptical that the crocheting would hold the steeks, but they did, even through a gentle wash and block.

Can I digress? I don't understand why, if the related article on steeks only talked about steeks with an odd numbers of stitches, the sweater has steeks with 10 stitches. It was a problem when it came to securing. Lame. Anyway...

You can see the folded neckband I picked up around the neckline. The shape of the neck turned out pretty well. I tried it on at the stage you see above and noticed 2 things. First, it made me look fat. I'm hoping that was the dorkiness associated with no sleeves. Second, the neck band gaped at the back. I'm hoping a good blocking fixes that problem. Otherwise, I will be undoing and redoing.

Currently the sleeves are done blocking, but the body is still a bit damp. I will take up the task of setting in the sleeves when I return from a short trip to Sacramento. Hasta la vista (baby)!

I hope y'all voted

I did - you know I wouldn't miss this one. It sure feels good to vote. Sometimes, like today, it feels even better than knitting.

Bzzzzzz... *Hiccup* Bzzzzzz....

I need to clean the mirror

Got totally paranoid that I would finish the body and it would not fit. (I haven't checked my gauge since I started the sleeve.) So I chucked it on a couple of long needles and tried it on. I still have three waist increases to go.

Dude

Venezia colorwork chart memorized. 36sts x 26 rows in my head. OK, it's more like I can guess pretty well where I am and then look a couple of rows down to verify. And it only took me one full sleeve and 20% of the body. Almost done with the waist decreases.

In other knitting news: my wonderful mother-in-law bought me 6 hanks of Manos Silk Blend in Stellar (3110) as an early Christmas present when we were in Wisconsin. I'm lucky lucky lucky to have a MIL who likes to go to yarn stores and buy me yarn. I think the Manos may become a ladies version of the Cobblestone pullover.

And I started a pair of Drunken Bees. And I bought some yarn from Knit Picks. And Yarn Garden. I am on a knitting bender.

It's a sleeve! (almost)

Slowly plodding along on Venezia. Took a bit of a break to make a BYOB for a friend's birthday present (finished it the same day I gave it away, so no pictures), but picked it up again now that we are in our new house. I'm 2 rows away from the steeks.

Perhaps I'm thinking too far ahead, but what piece should I make next: the second sleeve, or the body?

In other news, I ordered some yarn. Need to start more projects! Seriously.

Spotty posting

Sorry about the irregular posting lately. Things is busy around here, with traveling and buying a house(!), and I expect it will be this way for another month or so. Also, no pics. Boohoo. Matty just brought the camera back from his business trip today. And it was too hot to take photos and is now too dark. And still too hot. (My mantra is "At least we don't live in Sacramento anymore".)

Knitting goes on, although it isn't terribly interesting right now. I have picked up Venezia again after a hiatus following starting over. I would say I am about two repeats in, just about the point I ripped back before - I know because I finally got to stop pulling yarn from around the balls and am now pulling from the inside. I really hate working it on the dpns, but it just isn't big enough for the 16" circ, and probably won't ever be.

I started a BYOB for a friend's birthday present. Not much to say about that, besides that I need more yarn for it. I'm probably two thirds of the way done with the Damask bag, it's an 'every now and then' kind of project.

And I have no travel knitting for my trip tomorrow. What am I going to do for a week? Read a book?? Ugh. But. I did look up the nearest yarn shop to where I'm staying. I'm toying with the idea of taking a shawl pattern and needles and picking some laceweight up when I get there.

OK, laptop is getting too hot to touch, gotta go. I'll try to post something interesting when I get back in a week or so. Enjoy your week!

The most expensive sock yarn I've ever purchased

Say hello to Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in the colorway "Misty Moor". Yumm.


I actually paid $24.75 for it. Most people I know would consider that nuts.

I had a very hard time figuring out what to do with it. I loved the color in the skein, but I began many sock patterns only to decide that the variegation just wasn't working. I did not want to knit a plain stockinette sock. I did not want to knit another pair of Monkeys. (I have never knit a plain pair of socks, and I very rarely knit a pattern twice.)

One pattern was looking pretty good:

That's Eunny Jang's Entrelac Socks from Interweave Knits. It looked great. It did not fit so great. And if it was too tight for my foot, it would definitely be too tight for my leg.

Most recently, I started the Child's French Sock by Nancy Bush, but I wasn't pleased with that either. So I kept the ribbing and made up a little 12 stitch panel to fit between some stretches of stockinette. Here's the first one; second one is in progress.

No Name Socks

Sorry this took so long. I'm not fond of taking photos.

No Name Socks

The stitch pattern in these socks is based on one from Gisela Klöpper’s Beautiful Knitting Patterns. The stitch patterns in the book aren’t named and this one doesn’t really bring any particular object to mind, so I was at a loss for what to call them (other than “seat of your pants socks”). The book really does have some beautiful knitting stitches, I highly recommend it.

These instructions will help you knit the socks as I did. They aren’t perfect, so a list of possible modifications follows the pattern. I’m using standard abbreviations that can be found at Knitty.

NOTE: This pattern is an outline of how to knit the socks, rather than complete, row-by-row directions. If you have never knit socks before, don’t try to make this your first pair. Or second.

As always, please don’t reproduce this pattern for distribution or sale, or make socks for sale using this pattern.

Yarn and Needles
The yarn I used was Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Stretch. I used a single 100g ball for the pair along with US size 0 needles for the foot and cuff and size 1 needles for the leg. The pattern is really stretchy, so I’m not giving you a gauge to work toward. Have you ever done a gauge swatch for socks anyway? Me neither. Use “sock gauge.”

Directions:

Toe:
Using your preferred method for toe-up cast-on (eastern, figure-8, magic loop), CO 16 sts.

Increase 4 sts every other round on the toe until there are 68 sts.

Foot:

Set up round: K34, [p1, ktbl 1, p1, ktbl 1, p1, ktbl 1, p1, k2, m1, k2] three times, p1. (71 sts).

Next round: K34, work row 2 of cable and rib pattern 3 times, p1.

Continue in pattern until you have worked through the chart 3 times, or to desired foot length. It’s probably best to end on row 11, 12, 23, or 24 of the chart if possible.

Heel:
Work the heel of your choice – I worked a short-row heel on the 34 stitch from the bottom of the foot.

Leg:
NOTE: You may want to switch to one size larger needle for the leg, especially if your ankles/calves aren’t really thin, since the charted pattern doesn’t stretch as much as the stockinette on the foot. If you have lovely slender ankles, I’d like you to know how much I envy you.

Begin working back of leg in pattern, increasing 1 st on the back of the leg on the first round. (72 sts). You should now be working 6 repeats of each row of the chart to make a round.

Continue in pattern until you have worked through the chart 3 times on the leg, ending on row 23, or to desired length, ending on row 11 or 23 of the chart.

Cuff:
If you switched to bigger needles for the leg, switch back to the small ones.

If ending on row 23:

Next round: [P1, ssk, p1, k2tog, p1, ktbl, p1, ktbl, p1, ktbl] 5 times. (60 sts)

Next round: P to end.

Note: On the next round, the knit and purl pattern differs from what you would intuitively expect given the charted pattern, just to change it up. If you aren’t comfortable with it, just do whatever combo of knits and purls makes you happy.

Next round: Establish rib as follows: *[P1, k1] twice, [p1, k2] twice*, repeat from * to * 5 more times.

Repeat last round 16 times. Bind off all sts using either a conventional cast off done loosely, or a sewn cast off.

If ending on row 11:

Next round: [P1, ktbl, p1, ktbl, p1, ktbl, p1, ssk, p1, k2tog, p1] 5 times. (60 sts)

Next round: P to end.

Note: On the next round, the knit and purl pattern differs from what you would intuitively expect given the charted pattern, just to change it up. If you aren’t comfortable with it, just do whatever combo of knits and purls makes you happy.

Next round: Establish rib as follows: *[P1, k2] twice, [p1, k1] twice*, repeat from * to * 5 more times.

Repeat last round 16 times. Bind off all sts using either a conventional cast off done loosely, or a sewn cast off.

Modifications:

Despite increasing needle size, the socks still came out a little tighter in the leg than in the foot, due to the stockinette on the bottom of the foot stretching more than the charted pattern. If you wanted, you could adjust for this a couple of ways:

1. Add another purl stitch between stitches 6 and 7 and/or 12 and 1 on every repeat of the chart – that should add 6 or 12 stitches for a total of 78 or 84 stitches.

2. Add a full repeat of the chart to the back of the leg – that will add 12 stitches for a total of 84.

3. Make the foot tighter to match the leg tension by working fewer stitches for the bottom of the foot – an easy way to do this is to increase the toe to less than 68 stitches and then do more increases when establishing the stitch pattern on the top of the foot. Remember also to adjust the number of stitches increased at the beginning of the leg to get 72 stitches.

The Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Stretch I used had plenty left over, so making the leg bigger would have been possible without an extra ball.

Other stuff:

• It should be very easy to modify this pattern for a sock worked from the cuff down. The chart looks virtually the same upside down.

• I have no idea how to do a heel flap from the toe up (and I was too lazy to learn for this sock), but if you do, I bet it would look cool.

Have fun!

© 2008 Sarah L. Castor