We have a Winner!

Greetings and Dear Cynthia,

Just a quick post today... I apologize for the delay in announcing the winner to my little contest about guessing what this mug represents:

Congratulations to Sus (a temporary citizen of Milwaukee when she was going to school there, but now no longer in God's Country), whose winning entry of a "lumbar vertebra" won her some, er, spectacular prizes...

First, a sample of Malibrigo Silky Merino which I picked up today at the Stitches Midwest Market:

Second, a pamphlet for making five different sock styles, each in three different yarn weights:

(Picture is blurry because I had to turn off the flash to avoid big white blobs on the shiny booklet cover while taking the photo...but you get the idea...)

And finally, a book of scarf patterns:

Thank you to all of you who either commented or sent an e-mail with your entries for the contest!!

I apologize for the delay in announcing the winner... I once again feel a little bit behind in everything, as I am now on a full time clinical assignment, and I am finding it challenging in several ways.

First, adjusting to a full time schedule and keeping things at home running smoothly has presented some challenges for me and my family, though this should ease up after the boys are back in school very soon.

Second, I am reminded of the discomfort of being less than competent. When I first started my engineering job fresh out of college back in the 1980s's, there was quite a learning curve, but I eventually became competent at what I was doing and comfortable in my decision making at work. Now, at this stage in my life, I feel like I should *still* be competent, though in this new field of PT, I once again find myself on the steep part of the learning curve, and I really, really miss the feeling of competence. I have been daily reminding myself of a quote from Kristin Armstrong's blog, in which she says, "If we want to get better, we have to deal with being uncomfortable." Very true. Not easy for me right now, but time for me to step it up....

Coming soon - a report from our experiences at Stitches Midwest!

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

Ene's Scarf...and a contest

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

I mentioned that I thought the gauge on my Ene's Scarf was running a bit on the tight side, and the "holes" weren't "popping" the way I hoped they would using the size 7 needles specified in the pattern...

Yuck...so, I ripped the whole things out and used the "S" word --> SWATCH...with size 8 needles, and this is what it looked like:
Also yuck. Actually, worse...so I decided to stay with the size 7 needles and work to consciously reduce my tension. (I've noticed over the past several months that I've been holding my working yarn much tighter, and I think it is because of all of the 2x2 ribbing I've been knitting on socks -- keeping the yarn especially tight, to avoid the "loose" column of stitches common at the transitions from the knit stitches to the purl stitches in the ribbing...) Now I'm finally getting somewhere:
Charts 1 and 2 completed - 32 rows done out of 179 total, started with 375 stitches on the needle and already down to only 313! Each successive row takes less time to work than the previous row -- LOVE THAT! And, only 147 rows to go...

So (abrupt transition), in the category of "what's not getting done at my house since I started 'working' full time on my first clinical assignment...I used to sort of have an inventory in my head of the food in our house. I had a sense of when we were close to being out of milk, and had a rough idea of how many eggs were in our fridge. Yesterday, I started making lunch for the boys and realized that we had one slice of bread in the whole house... (I remember having three loaves of bread in the freezer about a week ago -- what happened to all of those?) I rummaged through the freezer and found an assortment of bun packages, each having a couple of buns remaining from when it was initially opened a month or two ago:
Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? So, I made grilled cheese sandwiches out of buns, using the "inside" of the buns for the "outside" of the sandwiches:

Unconventional, definitely not gourmet, but my seven year old told me, "Hey, these are really good," as though he was surprised that I could make something he liked...

And in the category of really fun, my mom and dad gave me this mug:
Correctly identify what it is (as specifically as you are able to), and I'll randomly select one winner from the correct answers and send out a (modest) prize related to knitting...

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

Diary of a knitter on vacation...

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

We spent the past week in DC (Door County) on Wisconsin's peninsula...which is north and east of the city of Green Bay on this map:

Sunday, July 25, 12:00pm: Decide to start a new shawl as a "vacation project" and see how far I can get on it during the relaxing week away from home; envision that it will *almost be completed* by the time I return home on Friday.

12:30pm: Begin knitting Ene's Scarf, because I've always wanted to knit a triangular shawl which begins at the outside edges (longest rows) and works its way toward the middle (shortest rows), and this will be perfect vacation knitting.

2:30pm, during stop in Ripon WI: Decide that we will get our Christmas card photo at some point during this vacation. Manage to take "self portrait" on park swing (I hold camera at arms length "backwards" and the four of us huddle together to try to all fit into the picture) which appears to have all four of us captured in it and might be cute for our Christmas cards. Upon closer examination, realize that ten year old was sticking his tongue out in the photo. Consider that the week is just beginning, and there will be many other photo opportunities.

6:00pm, still en route to DC: Start to question whether or not the lace on my Ene's Scarf is "popping" the way it should; realize that I did not bring any needles which are larger diameter to fix the problem and so continue knitting with the existing needles hoping that the holes will "pop" more after I've knit a few more rows.

Realize this is a futile proposition and set Ene's Scarf aside to re-start after I get home in a week. Fortunately I brought along enough sock yarn to keep me going...

Monday, July 26, 4:30am: Awaken via my kids, who decided that I would enjoy driving to the other side of the peninsula to watch the sun rise over Lake Michigan on this day, my birthday. Get up and quickly dress without showering; realize that I will have bad hair all day as a result of no morning grooming, and determine that Christmas card photo-op probably will not occur today. Enjoy the sunrise with my family -- really lovely.

Receive scarf from ten year old which he knit using a loom and which is my birthday present -- also really lovely:

6:30am: Since we're already up anyway, drive to Peninsula State Park and bike 9.6 miles. Note that I am the only one in our party of four having a crate on my bike rack, so my *bike* is very popular when it is snack time, or when a map is required, or when clothing is doffed and cannot be carried by youngster while riding on his bike:

9:00am: Enjoy watching my two boys skip stones into the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. Wonder how a ten year old can skip a stone six or seven times and a 46 year old can only manage to throw it into the water so that it disappears on the first "plop."

Spend the afternoon swimming in a pool, and then playing at the beach. Have a nice dinner at Shipwrecked - a brewery/restaurant a few blocks from where we are staying. Best birthday ever!

Tuesday, July 27: Get up and run four miles, because that is what my new 10K training program says I must do on Tuesdays. Take shower, blow dry hair. Don baseball cap and spend the morning at a farm. Spend afternoon on another beach; hike and get caught in the rain. No Christmas card photo-ops today because hair is a mess. Plan to make s'mores and have "family movie night" in hotel room in the evening. Start setting out s'mores ingredients and wonder what can be used for marshmallow skewers. Note that weather is again beginning to look ominous. Place marshmallows on forks and roast over electric stove:

Wednesday, July 28: Get up and run three miles. Shower, and realize that styling my hair in the morning is no match for my bike helmet, baseball cap, and wind, so decide to stop blow-drying hair. Throw head-band on wet hair and apply sunscreen for another day of biking at a "wilderness" state park. Get attacked by mosquitoes; make futile attempt to deter them by spraying on two layers of bug repellant. Thoroughly enjoy early evening showing of "Life on the Mississippi" (with live music) at American Folklore Theater in the woods.

Thursday, July 29: Get up and run four miles. Figure out that there is no shampoo in the middle of taking a shower, so use bar soap to clean hair instead. Reflect that it doesn't really matter, anyway, because hair is low on priority scale when playing in nature. Return to Peninsula State Park and hike trail having rating of "difficult"; be amazed that I was able to contain my fear of heights, and be equally amazed that my kids having legs much shorter than mine were able to navigate the rocky cliff-side paths carefully and safely:

8:00pm: Attend amazing Big Band program at Birch Creek Music Performance Center featuring music instructors from all over the country playing awesome big band tunes together -- So awesome, and great fun!

Friday, July 30: Drive home from Door County, knitting most of the way. Analyze knitting progress for the week and figure out that I managed to knit roughly half of one sock in the past five days. I know -- WOW...

Feel fortunate for having had a nice vacation with lots of fun diversions which aren't so accessible at home. Unpack, get laundry started, and get ready to relax with one of my souvenirs -- A Cherry Wheat Ale from Shipwrecked. They put cherries in everything in Door County...

I hope everybody had a great week!

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

"Winner" Sock Pattern

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

After years of knitting socks using various techniques / patterns / types of needles, I think I've finally assembled a combination of elements into a basic pattern that I will refer to as my "Winner." These techniques are probably familiar to most sock knitters who are experienced knitting socks from the toe up; I am just publishing this combination of techniques in this post so that I can refer to it in the future (row counts, number of stitches to cast on to fit my foot, etc), and in case it might be helpful to any of you. This is rough, and does not include every single detail, but hopefully you get the idea of my standard cobbled together sock pattern from it. Please feel free to e-mail me if you have questions regarding any additional details.

These socks are knit using the "magic loop" technique. Note that I actually prefer using double pointed needles (dpn's) to knit socks, though practically speaking, socks are the easiest thing for me to "take-along" to my kids' activities and warrant preventive strategies such as using one really long circular needle instead of five tiny little pointy sticks... (We're *all* familiar with bleachers at a baseball diamond, right? -- No good can come from dropping a dpn while sitting in the bleachers!)

Using a size one 47" circular needle, begin with a Turkish cast-on as given in this excellent tutorial - cast on 36 stitches (there will be 18 stitches on each needle). (Note that the tutorial shows one bamboo needle and one metal needle; for these socks, just hold both ends of the long circular needle together as the yarn is wrapped around the needles to cast on the stitches...)

Row 1: Knit one round.

Row 2: *K1, M1B (by performing M1 by picking up stitch from back to front), knit to one stitch before end of first needle, M1F (by performing M1 by picking up stitch by inserting needle from front to back), K1*; repeat once.

Repeat Rows 1 and 2 until there are 72 stitches total (36 stitches on each needle).

Foot section pattern: Knit 36 stitches (all of the stitches on the first needle); on second needle K3, P2, *K2 P2* seven times, K3. This completes one round.

Repeat "Foot section pattern" until 75 rounds have been completed, or until foot of sock is desired length minus 2.25 inches.

Work short row heel using yarn-over method, as given in Interweave Knits Summer 2007 magazine. If you don't have access to this magazine, there are some online tutorials which don't spell things out quite as nicely, but which utilize the YO technique for doing short rows and may suffice. I like this tutorial in particular, though there are several out there (search on "yarn over short row heel"). Work the first half of the heel (increasing section) until there are 14 unpaired stitches on the middle of the needle. If everything has worked out properly, there will be 14 unpaired stitches after working a right side row; after working this row, do *not* turn work. Begin working second half of heel (decreasing section) as given in directions for YO short row technique...

After the heel is worked, return to working "Foot section pattern" for 14 rows. On next row, switch to standard 2x2 ribbing for the rest of the sock. Work 75 rows total of 2x2 ribbing, or until desired length has been achieved. Bind off using Russian Bind-off.

Make second sock to match.

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

Doorbells and exhaust fans...

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

When I was walking down the street one day with my kids, they picked up the irony of this car being parked next to the sign and they thought I should take a photo of it, so I did the best I could with my cell phone:

(Sign says "NO PARKING ANY TIME." Hopefully this bodes well for them when they start parking their own cars (starting in six years). Thankfully it's not *my* car...because I totally didn't catch this... (Perhaps riding my bike or the bus to school for the past two years has ruined my ability to read/comprehend signs regarding parking...)

So, our doorbell was ringing only sometimes when the button was pushed. This would have been great if it *didn't work* when the person ringing the bell was a politician with viewpoints in opposition to mine, and if it *did* work when it was the Publishers Clearinghouse coming to tell me that I was the big winner. However, one of our babysitters ended up standing outside for five minutes one day before we figured out she was even there, so time to get the problem taken care of. Here is the old doorbell:

It is laying on the kitchen floor. Note that the brown cover typically fell to the floor every time one of my kids got mad and slammed the bathroom door upstairs.

Here is the new doorbell, installed in the same place as the old one, by a nice electrician. Notice how it is smaller, and there is a bolt sticking out from the wall an inch above it (remains of the mounting hardware from the old doorbell). Not too bad, though someday I'll remove the bolt, patch the hole, and re-paint...but not today:
I *do* appreciate that it does not have the fake chimes on it.

In other riveting news, the master bathroom fan had a serious bearing problem, and here is the new fan installed by the same electrician:
It works really well, much better than the old one, and I only notice that it is a different size and shape than the old one when I look up....(which, oddly, happens more than you might think...) Not too big of a deal. Again, some day I'll re-paint...

Not as exciting as knitting...

...but that's what's going on at our house :-)

I did start a new knitting project today, but I am so mad at it right now and still have a few missed yarn-overs to fix.... but in the next day or two I might be able to bring myself to take a photo of it and share it with you. Until then, I hope that you have a great week!

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

All the news that isn't...

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

First, this is what it looks like when a person has just finished the last of her grad school classroom work and goes to the Union Terrace next to Lake Mendota for a few beers IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AFTERNOON:

(My kids were with their grandma, at Grandparents University, so it was a rare occasion for me to actually go drinking with my classmates.) The gal next to me in the photo is the only other mom in my class, and I think she is the second oldest, maybe four years younger than I am?) I don't actually style my hair to look like that; there was a little bit of wind that day. I might have had a slight sunburn accident after losing track of time. I blame the Leinie's Honey Weiss. I'm going to really miss my classmates... Clinicals start on August 2nd.

So, I'm in need of a new goal and decided to begin training for a 5 mile race (Al's Run 8K) which I'll run with my siblings in October. I currently regularly run 3 miles several times a week, but I've been wanting to step up the intensity, so I'm going to be starting a new training regimen next Monday. Okay, so on to knitting content...

Here is the current status of the Hanami Stole:You might notice that it looks very much like the previous photo I posted of it, except for it is now without the errant part and slightly longer:

I had to tink back 12 rows and then re-knit. It turns out that I had skipped two rows the first time around, so I'm keeping better track of things this time... I think I have to work this pattern repeat six or seven times, and then things get more interesting... Slow going, because this is my project for home, and I haven't had a lot of time to just sit around knitting at home...

Also, remember the ugly sock? ...which I ripped out? (I know - you thought it was gone for good! Sorry...)

I'm using the same yarn and just a plain 2x2 ribbing pattern this time, and I think it looks so much better. I don't know why -- same colors -- but for some reason it is much easier for me to look at:

Here is the current status of the "pair," and I'm going to post my basic sock pattern soon, just so that I can remember what it is, and in case anybody else is interested in it.

I've tried a lot of various methods for making a basic sock, and have finally cobbled together a combination of techniques which have become my own "best practice" for making a standard, good fitting sock for myself. I really like the 2x2 ribbing, because it is snug without being too tight, and I think it just looks nice, though it is a little tedious...but for something I continue to cart around to various kids' activities, it is perfect.

Speaking of kids' activities, for baseball, a parent is required to work in the concession stand during one game... I'm telling you, when it rains on a day you are signed up to volunteer, it is like winning the lottery. I had worked only half hour (normally would be 2.5 hours) when the skies opened up and the rain came pouring down. Volunteer time *done*.

Volunteer time is also required for the swim team. I signed up to work in the "Clerk of Course" area. The idea of the thing is that the Clerk of Course lines up the kids and then delivers them to their proper position just prior to the start of each event. Picture an 8x8 matrix of chairs, and then picture trying to get 64 eight year olds to each sit in his/her own specific chair as he/she is awaiting his/her turn to approach the starting blocks of the pool...and picture me trying to remain calm and nice about the whole thing for 4.5 hours on a very hot Saturday morning. One father started raising his voice at me when I wasn't exactly understanding what he was trying to tell me, so I kindly looked him in the eye and just said in a pathetic way, "You know, this is a really hard job for me," and that was enough to bring him back to civility, though he probably thinks I'm mentally impaired (which I haven't ruled out myself...) I actually enjoyed the work, though, because it's constant and the time goes fast, and I'm a stickler for details, so getting kids into their proper chairs is a skill I didn't really know I had, but I'd do it again...but not until next season :-)

Well, I suppose I'd better get started on making supper. One of my classmates is coming over for dinner. More soon! I went yarn shopping last week, just sayin'...

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

When is a pair of socks *NOT* a pair of socks?

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

I finished knitting two socks. You may remember that I ripped back sock #2 because the striping on the heel was very different from sock #1...

Well....then I decided that I didn't like the fit of sock #1, nor the gusset heel...so when I re-knit the heel of sock #2, I switched to a short row heel. It's not obvious in this first photo, though you can tell that the sock on my right foot (#1) looks a little baggy compared to the left (#2):

Here's a view of both socks in which you can compare the heels. Short row heel on the left (#2), gusset heel on the right (#1):
The astute among you also noticed that the right sock is a bit longer than the left... I prefer the shorter length. I generally fold the sock at the back of the heel and knit until the leg portion is as long as the foot portion -- that is the perfect length for me.

Side by side, the difference between the heel styles is perhaps more obvious, with short row on left (#2) and gusset heel on right (#1):
Also notice how the sock on the left maintains the stripe sequence all the way up the front of the sock. So, I have a "pair" of socks, but the one on the right (aka sock #1) is going to be ripped back to the point just before knitting the heel, and I will re-knit it to be just like sock #2... That is the plan, anyway, until something quirkly happens with the striping sequence and that gets messed up again... I think I've spent more time on this pair of socks than any other pair I've ever knit, because after I rip out the one on the right, I'll be knitting my fourth heel on this pair... On the upside, it turns out that socks are much easier to knit during baseball games than lace...AND easier to rip back...but ripping back the lace is a story for a different day...

I am halfway through with summer school already; my kids and I are having a busy summer, and it seems like it is blowing by us pretty fast. The boys have had two weeks of summer vacation: Week 1 = honeymoon period; Week 2 = constant bickering; Week 3 = hopefully we will be more accustomed to spending so much time together so that we all get along better and know how to handle the days having less structure than what they were used to at school. Thankfully, swim team, baseball, music lessons, and the summer reading program at the library break up our days...

....so, I suppose I should rip out that sock now so that I can be all set up to re-knit the heel and leg part of it during baseball games this week... I hope you're having a nice weekend!

Warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

"tink" is "knit" spelled backwards...just sayin'

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

First, do I have to remind you right now to plug in your lift station pump? Just checking... A wise man once said, "You home is your hassle, I mean castle..." Yup...but it certainly does beat a lot of other options that come to mind...

Okay, so here is the current state of the Hanami:

It is difficult to see them in the photo, but I am inserting a lifeline after every pattern repeat. I know it is a rookie thing to do, but this project comes with me to swim team practices, baseball games, and piano lessons, and I've generally been feeling lucky if I am able to get across a row without messing something up... So, I'm three pattern repeats into the thing, and I'm thinking I should take a photo and post to the blog or something, and there is always that moment of trepidation when you spread out your lace and really look at it, because you are hoping that some error doesn't pick that exact moment to reveal itself....but alas:

....I have no idea what I did, but something got messed up either six or eight rows ago, so I have to tink back... I guess *that* is why I think I need lifelines... Hopefully I can tink back the six to eight rows without having to drop back to one of the lifelines, but it's hard to say at this point.

In other ripping news, remember the ugly sock:

Even though my mom told me that she liked them and would wear them if I gave them to her, I just couldn't bring myself to continue, I dislike them that much, so I'm giving the yarn a fresh start (merely a *coincidence* that the freshly wound ball of yarn is sitting next to a beer in the photo...really):

And finally, the shower curtain in the main bathroom has been hanging like this for months:

Recall that the cabinets and a chunk of the wall were all painted to match this particular shower curtain, so it MUST BE SAVED! To that end, I purchased the "Extra-Large Eyelet Kit" months ago, and let it sit on the kitchen counter for a long time:

Finally this past week, I reinforced the area around the original hole with some clear duct tape, then used a scissors to cut a hole in the newly applied duct tape to enable eyelet insertion:

...and voila':

I thought about putting eyelets on *all* of the holes in the shower curtain, but that seemed like overkill, though we'll see how long I can stand to have the one hole be different from all the rest...

Finally, these are my new running shoes, which I love, applied to a nice green background which has become the official color of the business I'm working on with one of my classmates:

I've been having "fun" with some photo editing programs, because for my summer classes, I'm having to design a brochure, do several presentations, etc... The assignments are a royal pain in the places where no sun is shining, though they become a bit more fun if I try to be a little creative with the graphics... And, we'll be able to use the brochure in our business. By the way, my business partner and I came in third in the nation wide business idea contest we entered... Trips to attend the private practice meeting in DC next November went to the top two winners, and if one of those winners can't make it for some reason, then we get to go... It was thrilling and disappointing at the same time to learn how close we came to being selected...

Okay, so I had some other knitting ripping to show you, but there is probably enough bad knitting already contained in this one post. A gal can only deal with a certain amount of ripping at one time.

Have a great week, and warm regards,

Laura (YarnThrower)

A Rip-Roarin' Time

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Well! You've certainly been making the most of your time without classes!  I've really enjoyed reading about the adventures of getting your oven repaired, and all of the projects you've been working on.  The seafoam scarf went really quickly, and it's lovely!  Your sweet harmony bag is amazing. I can't wait to see it in person! And I'm not going to look TOO closely at your Hanami scarf - I do not need any temptation to cast on another project right now, and I've longed to try that pattern.  However, I'll have to enjoy it vicariously through you for now! 

My oven is working fine right now, but I had to chuckle when I read about what you would go through to use your cook top or oven.  I have several things here that are on "manual operation" status.  A little clip broke on the water softener, so while the dial moves, it never trips it to run, so it runs whenever my feeble brain remembers to cycle it (ha!) or when I notice the water is getting a little orange.  Even more fun is the lift station that pumps my drained water up to the waste pipe that carries it to the septic system.  Occasionally (and I haven't found a cause/effect pattern) it doesn't turn off after it's done.  I'm pretty tuned in to the sounds of the various machines in the furnace room, so it eventually sinks in that it has continued to run long after the last time I ran water.  I can unplug it nearby, but then I have to wait at least 15 minutes before I plug it in again. Remembering to do so is the tricky part!  It has happened that I have flushed and then heard the tell-tale "glug-glug" sound that tells me I have mere SECONDS to get that plugged back in before I've got a real mess!  Hmm, wonder what it would take to convince my landlord (!) to get one of those....what did you call it??....."repairman?"  ;)

 Anyway, I've been knitting too!  I finished that pair of sport-weight socks last weekend, and I really like them.  It's nice to think of wearing them next fall!

  

I immediately turned around and cast on another pair of plain socks.  I was headed to a Tin-Caps baseball game (local minor league team - used to be the Wizards, remember?)   and I needed something that didn't take much concentration.  I knew I had a pair of plain socks started, but the invitation to the game was last-minute and I couldn't find them, so I grabbed a ball of sock yarn from the stash, some beloved Signature DPN's and the toe-up sock directions from the Summer 2007 Interweave Knits that you pointed out to me, and so here is my current 'portable summer knitting project."  I got the toe done during the game, a
Zauberball Sock and I did not get knocked out by a foul ball either!  It was a great time! 

February Lady gets some knit time as well, although not enough.  It's getting a little warm for me to enjoy having that much wool on my lap.  I take it to "Sweater Night" at Knitting Today, and occasionally to work on at lunch.  I'm on the lace now, and I noticed immediately that it's not a complicated pattern, so I was happy about that.  Although it occurred to me several times that for a simple 7-stitch repeat, I was finding plenty of mistakes the first few times through, but I was able to do a little fudging.  Then yesterday I realized that I had done a complete row incorrectly two rows back.  Consistently - but wrong.  I toyed with ripping out the 8-10 rows that I had done, but I decided to try to just rip back the two rows,and if I could get the lace back on the needles, I'd move on.  That worked, so I did a full 4-row repeat to cement the pattern in my brain and in the sweater, and now we're good to go. 

February Lady progress

Now, to the Norwegian Rose socks.  I've had a bit of a struggle there! (Imagine!)  I cast them on using a set of my beloved Signature DPN's. It's the first set that I got, and while I cannot express enough how much I love these needles and how addicted I am to my stilettos, when I got my first set, I chose the 5", thinking that would be nice since my hands are not that large.  I thought wrong.  The other sets that I have are 6" and that 1" difference is the world.  It really came to a head with this colorwork.   I was using 1 needle for all of the front pattern stitches, and 2 for the sole, and with the shorter needles, I was always losing stitches on the end and having to pick back up (or not! I notice my count is 2 stitches short on the back.) 

I talked to Lea-Ann at Knitting Today, and we decided that it probably wouldn't be noticable if I switched to Magic Loop.  I've also been fiddling with whether to hold the yarn two-handed, or both in the left.  When I was on DPN's, I mostly held both yarns in my left hand, but when I switched to Magic Loop it seemed easier to do two-handed.  While the front look great, the sole is a mess!  And the side stripes are a jumble.  I called Lea-Ann and told her that the change was really obvious, and she said, "That's ok - it can be a teaching sock!"  I appreciated that, but it still bothered me. 

The directions said to knit the foot until it was 3" less that the total length of the foot.  I noticed in the picture that it was a short row heel, and I thought 3" was a pretty generous heel, but I didn't worry so much about it.  The sock on the model showed the heel place at the end of a second pattern repeat, and since this is a one-sock model, fit isn't a big deal.  I got to the end of the second repeat, and was ready to start the heel.

At this point I was encouraged by you to go ahead and do both socks to eventually wear them.  I looked at the mess on my needles and thought - "Hey, the front looks fine and the foot will be in my shoe.  I'll just make this the sock that I keep, and knit another, more consistent sock for Lea-Ann to display."  I didn't mind it being a teaching sock because my gauge changed, but all of the messy bits along the side do bother me.  This is going to be displayed, and I can do a better job! 

So I measured my foot (9") and the sock (7") and noticed it was not a 3" difference. Since I'm going to wear these now, I didn't want a 10" sock, so I started reading the pattern to find out why the heel was so big....it's not.  Since this is color work and not as stretchy, they have allowed for a 1" of gusset increases before the heel, and then a small 1" flap to decrease back after the heel.   Oh.  More ripping!  I'm just going back 1" to do the gusset correctly, so it's not so bad. (I did have to be talked down from just ripping the whole thing out.  Being a struggling perfectionist is such fun!) 

Anyway, I'll cast on another sock for display, and end up with two socks!  Yay!   I have more to post, but I should sign off now so I can get ready to go Knit In Public today!  More later! 

Keep knitting! 

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

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