Danube Socks - Finished!

The second sock went quickly.  I typically do not have second sock syndrome.  Once I get one finished I typically knit the second one up right away, buoyed by my success with the first one.  I’m not really sure why I abandoned them the first go around ten years ago, but I’m glad that I finished them.  I am also glad that I recharted everything, even though I had the file electronically and had created the project in knitCompanion, I like my charts better.  I could have done some things in knitCompanion with the original charts to create cuff charts for the front and the back, but with my adding some ribbing to make them fit better I really needed to recreate the charts.  Each of these club patterns came with both a sock and a shawl or scarf pattern, and in the past I have used the club yarn for the sock and stash dived for the other pattern.  I do have the scarf that came with these socks in progress, and may get back to it at some point, but that yarn cake looks like it took some bug damage as well, and I haven’t check it out yet.

This photo was taken right after joining the toes and weaving in the ends.  You can see just a little bit of Jezebel in the upper right corner, curled up on the Comfort Blanket, which she has claimed as her own.

Pattern:  Danube by Janel Laidman

Needle:  US 1.5 (2.5 mm)

Yarn:  Dirty Water DyeWorks Lillian in Sea

 

Iris Hues Lampy - Six Wedges Done!

I am still making steady progress on my Lampy.  The knitting is fun and easy, and I love the colors.  I’m almost done with the seventh wedge.  I love the sheen of the Luster Sport, and it has a nice drape, even though I am keeping my knitting fairly tight.  I am toying with working a crochet edging on the bottom, but using contrasting colors, just for fun, but we will see how much yarn I have left over after working the shawl.

Pattern:  Lampy by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Superwash Merino Sport

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Danube Socks - One Sock Done!

I finished up the first sock this past Monday.  After all of my previous attempts, this time went well and very quickly.  An interesting fact that I discovered when I got to the foot is that, according to the pattern, the foot has 66 stitches, whereas the cuff has 60.  I suppose that because the foot, per the pattern, is ribbed everywhere outside of the pattern panel on the top of the foot, the extra stitches don’t matter from a fit perspective.  My sock foot has 68 stitches, 33 stitches on the top and 35 stitches on the bottom, which is the same stitch count as what I have in the cuff.  You can see the extra stitches that I added into the pattern in the top photo - the column of twisted stitches that goes from the cuff down to the column of twisted stitches that delineate the decrease line on the top of the foot.  Those extra stitches are mirrored on the back of the leg.

My heel flap has 35 stitches, and when I turned the heel I worked 23 stitches in row 1, and then followed the pattern directions for the wrap and turn rows.  I picked up 19 stitches on the gussets and decreased 1 stitch on each gusset on the first round to make sure I did not have a little hole where the gusset joins the top of the foot.  I kept the heel turn stitches in stockinette, so the sole of the foot is in stockinette as I didn’t think I wanted to walk on ribbing (this was a tip I picked up from one of the finished projects on Ravelry).  As I worked the gusset decreases on the top of the foot, per the pattern, I shifted stitches from the bottom foot needle to the top needle to keep the 33 stitch count on the top of the foot.  After all of the decreases I had 33 stitches on the top of the foot and 35 stitches on the bottom of the foot.  I continued with this stitch count until I reached the decreases for the toe, at which point I did a set of decreases on the sole, where the stockinette meets the ribbing, to get to 33 stitches on both needles.  I kept all stitches in the established pattern as I decreased to the toe.

I have already started the second sock and am almost done with the cuff.

My go to method for knitting socks is to use two 16 inch circular needles.  These are Knit Picks needles, which have a nice flexible cord and sharp tips.  I have a bunch of these in the small sizes used for socks.  After I finish this pair of socks I will continue working through the Art & Sole patterns, which were for the knitterati sock club 2012.  Three of the five skeins of the club yarn that was sitting out for a decade are a total loss, but I have plenty of sock yarn in my stash, plus the extra skeins of this sock yarn that I bought to get the free shipping, so I have plenty to pick from.  The next pattern I am going to work is the Dragonfly socks, and I think that club yarn is going to be okay.  Curiously, I only have a paper pattern for that one, I do not have an electronic copy in my Ravelry library, although I have the others.  For the cuffs of those socks I am going to try out my ChiaoGoo mini needles with the short cables so that I can work the cuff on a single needle in the round, given the patterning, which is quite extraordinary.

Pattern:  Danube by Janel Laidman

Needle:  US 1.5 (2.5 mm)

Yarn:  Dirty Water DyeWorks Lillian in Sea

Iris Hues Lampy - Five Wedges Done!

So this is a super fun easy pattern and I really love the colors.  I wasn’t too sure about that darkest color, but I think it all works.  Those folks at Expression Fiber Arts are pretty color savvy!  The wedges work up quickly and are TV and book knitting, which is great, as this is the project that I take to work for meetings, training, and reading documents.  I think the size will be good, not too big (some of the shawls these days are ginormous!), not too small.

Pattern:  Lampy by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Superwash Merino Sport

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Danube Socks - One Cuff Done!

What an ordeal this sock has been!  The first in progress one damaged beyond repair by carpet beetles (that’s what I get for letting it sit around for a decade!), and then started over five more times.  The first time was when I added extra stitches to get a better fit but kept the same needle size and ended up way too big.  The second and third times I went down a needle size and added the extra stitches (cast on 78 and 80, respectively), and then ran into trouble when I got to the pattern and was trying to figure out how to work the extra stitches in, partly because you don’t have the same number of stitches for the front and the back, there is one more for the back.  The fourth time I decided to go back to the original needle size and cast on the number of stitches called for in the pattern, but I also decided to try the two at a time magic loop method.  Ugh, that was fiddly, even after I had worked a few rows and I felt like I was spending too much time adjusting the cord and shifting things, so back to the frog pond I went.

I then decided to add some extra stitches back in, but use the needle size called for in the pattern, so I sat down with my graph paper to figure out the best way to do that.  In the end I added extra ribbing between the motifs on each side, but did not add any extra stitches on the edges (between the front stitches and the back stitches).  I added four stitches to the front and four stitches to the back, a purl and a ktbl between the first and second motif and the second and third motif.  I also redid the charts in my Stitchmastery program, and when I did that I discovered a few things.  The printed chart for the top of the foot did not have the decrease stitches, it had ktbl instead, and the cuff chart row numbering indicated that not as many rows of the ribbing should be worked.  The chart for the top of the foot was correct in the PDF.  The instructions had you repeat row 3 20 times, but the row number of the row following row 3 (both printed and in the PDF) was 10, and I had decided that 22 rows of this ribbing was excessive (after working it 4 times!), and decided to only work 12 rows of ribbing before starting the pattern, which had the happy side effect of avoiding the fit problem on my muscular calves.  I did up the full chart for both the front and the back (33 stitches for the front, and 35 stitches for the back) and combined the top foot chart in with the front chart so it is all together.  That was another thing that was bugging me about the pattern, the cuff chart was only over 20 stitches, so keeping track of the pattern as you went around the cuff was a little bit of a headache, especially as you don’t have the same number of stitches on the front and the back.

Now, on to working the heel and figuring out the construction of the rest of the sock.  Hopefully I won’t have to frog again.

Pattern:  Danube by Janel Laidman

Yarn:  Dirty Water DyeWorks Lillian in Sea

Needle:  US 1.5 (2.5 mm)

Iris Hues Lampy - Three Wedges Done!

I had finished up the second wedge and was working the transition to the third color when I decided to check my yarn usage and make some decisions about how I was going to proceed with the shawl.  I quickly realized that if I worked all of the rows called for in the Speckles section that I would have enough yarn to work three wedges of each color, but not four, and three wedges does not really lend itself to symmetry.  So, I ripped right back to the first Speckles section and decided to work only one repeat of the eight rows, instead of the called for three repeats.  By reducing the number of rows in the Speckles section I brought the yarn usage down to about 24 grams for each wedge plus color transition, so now I can easily work four sets of wedges.  I will continue working in this color order for the first two sets of wedges, then I will work a Speckles section with the yellow, just for a nice pop of color, and reverse the colors for the second half.  I will also reverse the short row shaping so everything will be symmetric.  Once I get done with all of the wedges I will decide how I want to go about finishing the shawl.  I may still work the I-cord tie, but if I do I will pick up stitches along the entire neck edge, instead of just attaching it at the start and finish.  And maybe I’ll do a little crochet border on the bottom.  We’ll see.

Pattern:  Lampy by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Superwash Merino Sport

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Iris Hues Lampy - Two Wedges Done!

I have now started this shawl three times.  The first time I did not read the instructions carefully and actually ended up swapping the right and wrong sides, as seen in the picture below.

The second time I ended up changing my tension partway through the first wedge, which was noticeable (as can be seen in the photo below), and the more I worked, the more I noticed, and the more I preferred the tighter gauge.

So, I ripped it all out again and started over one more time, and I’m much happier with the result.  I also decided to do the wrap and turn short rows instead of the German Short Rows as I noticed an interesting artifact of the double stitch where it actually interrupted the garter stitch pattern.  The wrap and turns are barely noticeable and I thought they gave a nicer edge.  I also decided to slip the first stitch of every row purl wise with the yarn in front, and then take the yarn to the back between the first and second stitches.  This is a trick I learned on my Winter Wonderland shawl, and I love the edge it gives.  I was perplexed by the pattern switching the slipped stitch from the first stitch on the right side rows in the Wedge section to the first stitch of the wrong side rows in the Speckles section.  I do not know if it is an error, but it is certainly an inconsistency.  As I am slipping the first stitch at the beginning of all my rows it doesn’t matter to me.  When I’m working the Speckles, I take both strands to the back when I slip the first stitch, and then drop the one that I’m not working with (the Winter Wonderland trick).

Pattern:  Lampy by Janica York Carter

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Superwash Merino Sport

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)