Picot Sock

Having always knit socks toe-up after my 1st and 2nd pairs ran out of yarn on the second sock toe, I find myself knitting cuff down for the first time in years.  The class "Grok the Sock" taught by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is the reason for this switch.  It was the heel technique she used in class that swayed me as it would fit my instep a lot better then the short row heel socks I've been knitting as of late.  The class also has me back into using DPNs in lieu of 2 circulars mainly due to this technique Stephanie taught for getting rid of ladders.  Seriously simple.  It really is a first, or near first, time for many things with this barely begun pair of socks:  I'm knitting in the picking style (continental some call it),  using a formula and not a pattern, using a picot trim instead of ribbing, DPNs, knitting cuff down, ladder ridding technique, I will be knitting a new to me heel flap and lastly I plan to decrease like you would for a hat for the toes.  All this means I'm progressing at a mighty slow pace.  Well, that and I'm knitting these at 10 stitches/inch (crazy I know, but that's what this yarn looked best at and a denser knit sock will last longer.)

As for books, my son and I are now reading Loki's Wolves by Kelley Armstrong.  It's about the modern day descendants of the Norse gods who happen to be young kids (middle school aged) and how they must band together to prevent Ragnarok - the end of the world.  My son really loves Norse Mythology having read D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths last year as well as some graphic novels on Thor.  The book is very action oriented with a fair amount of fight scenes, but still brings up the Norse myths, their characters and meanings. 

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

Here and Gone

I was happily knitting along on the colorwork section of my mom's Blathin sweater when it happened.  I made it through two rows of flowers and two decrease rows when I decided to turn it right side out (I was knitting it inside out to stretch out the floats so they wouldn't get too tight) to measure it and try it on.  Well, it was flippin' huge!  HUGE!  The colorwork was lovely - not too tight or too loose, just plain old too big.  In all honesty I was devastated.  The thought of taking a picture of all the work I had completed that I would then be ripping out was too much so I have nothing to show you.  I frogged it all, wound the yarn back into balls and put it all away in my knitting basket to sit.  I know it seems a bit dramatic of me, it can be knit again and there is no real harm except loss of time, but it felt like a huge setback that shouldn't have happened.  Having taking all these precautions so that the colorwork would come out right gave me a false sense of security, but I guess I've changed enough in the two years since the first time I knit this sweater that they were unnecessary to begin with.  That and my gauge lied to me. 

The sweater will stay in time out until we get back from our little trip to WI.  When we return I am going to start over using the same US size 8 needles I used to knit the body.  Then after the first decrease row I am going to go down a needle size to US 7's.  If the neck still seems too wide after the 2nd decrease I am going to fit in another decrease row after the last section of flowers like I've read from other Raveler's project notes.  Hopefully, all this will work out in creating a fabulous fitting sweater.  Time will tell.

In the meantime, I thought I could use some more stranded colorwork practice and am now back knitting on my Oluffa Doorstop.  The pattern is part of a great collection in the book Northern Knits Gifts by Lucinda Guy.  I'm using yarn leftover from my toy making business - a white angora, indigo dyed Lamb's Pride and madder/weld dyed Lamb's Pride for the orange accents.  It will be a pillow instead of a doorstop as we have no need for a doorstop, or a pillow for that matter, but I simply love the pattern so it must be knit.  Since my yarn is worsted weight I went up to US size 6 needles which I thought would give me a nice dense fabric.  So far so good.  They don't mention blocking it, but I think I will do so before I stuff it to help the colorwork relax and the yarn bloom.  This will be my car knitting for our trip.  It's small enough to stay neatly in my lap, interesting but not too hard and there's a good chance I'll finish knitting it by the time we return.  Honestly, I've spent more time trying to figure out what knitting to take with me on this trip then planning or packing for it.

I hope all your knitting projects are coming along swimmingly as they say and I'll see you all next week!

Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On and Ginny for Yarn Along.