pepperknit

She’s just as sweet and delightful, though. I don’t know why, but I had it in my head that Jennie was going to tower over me. Turns out she’s just a little taller than me (or about the same height; we were not on completely level ground for the photo).

I’ve compared these blogger meetups with first dates (not that I know what a first date is really like), but this one was more like falling in step with an old friend, I thought. I was a bit late for our lunch date on Friday, so when I dashed outside and turned and saw her–I don’t know–it was like, “Right! There’s Jennie, waiting for me.” Not “Woah! I just met Jennie!”

Jennie is a fan of all foods that come with rice, so I took her to Won Dee Siam, where I took Rachel many months ago. It’s so tasty and so inexpensive, it’s hard to resist. We were there chatting for a long while–until there were no other patrons in the place–and then we went to Central Park for some knitting and more great conversation.

I started on a baby hat for one of the twins (Jennie suggested cables so I went with 2×2 cables all around, separated by 2 purls, and I knit about 2 inches). Her approach to an afternoon of knitting was different. She did something I’ve seen other bloggers do, and which mystifies me–she knit for some time on the baby bootees, then set them aside and got out her Icarus shawl. I’m a monogamous knitter, so this is completely foreign to me.

She did have a surprise in store–one completed Leyburn sock! Hers is so beautiful. She had a bit of trouble with the heel (making it roomy enough). I am not entirely sure how to guide folks if you have a need for a larger/taller heel, since the short-row heel (the lazy knitter’s heel, in my lazy opinion) doesn’t allow for much height. Maybe do a Widdershins heel flap, so you can get a taller heel? It’s a little tricky to maintain stretchiness with the floats, which is why the pattern has some increasing built in before the heel. I guess increase more, and then decrease it away?

Anyway, the afternoon was over all too soon–next time I’m in Philly, I hope Jennie’s in town!

And here they are, in my dark-apartment glory. I finished them on Friday and blocked them to get the kinks out (the design process took a few tries with these), and was determined to post them today even though it’s overcast and gray (thus not much light in the apartment) and too cold to do an outdoor shoot.

I wish the photos were better, since the yarn is so dark, but you’ve seen the trellis at work and hopefully can make it out well enough.

I even finished writing up the pattern and everything, though I will admit that I just threw it together and didn’t ask anyone to read it over, so please let me know if there’s something wrong and I’ll make whatever tweaks I need to. Like I said for the Bainbridges, when I remember how and/or have time to make an individual pattern page I’ll do that.

Pattern: Leyburn Socks UPDATE: Free download on Ravelry!
Yarn: Koigu KPPPM
Needles: 2.5 mm - KnitPicks or Addi Turbo “US 2″s which are between 1s and 2s according to my needle gauge
Started: Before Christmas. Required much jiggering of numbers in order to make a pair of socks that could fit over one’s heel. Started “for reals” Monday, February 19
Finished: Friday, March 2
Notes: I’m not sure what else I want to say about these. I had many fittings with the recipient, for whom I designed them specifically (and for whom they are named), which led to an increase of stitches right before the heel, to make getting the sock on and off easier, and a decrease of stitches directly before the cuff, to tighten the cuff up a bit. She’s expressed much love every time I’ve shown them to her, and I hope she loves them!

Ok, they’re not fully finished yet, but the first sock is essentially complete, so now’s as good a time as any to share with you guys.

These are for a really great friend of mine, someone who’s really been there for me in the last few months. I’m incredibly lucky that she works around the corner and can meet on the street corner for “nonsmoking breaks” at nearly any time, and that we can call each other during the day and say “wanna come over for dinner?”

So of course the socks are named for her, and I picked the stitch pattern with her in mind. See, it’s kind of delicate and maybe a little girlie, but totally sturdy and hard-working–and my friend has these qualities, too. I started these socks at Christmas (they’re a Christmas present, technically), and in fact I knit them for the many-hour knitting session Lolly and I had over the break. Of course, when I got back home that night and was knitting with my mom, I discovered that I couldn’t pull the socks on over my heel (I started them top-down). So they got shoved in the knitting basket.

Last Monday I pulled them out again, and I thought about how best to tackle the pattern. See, because it’s got this lattice effect, and the yarn is just slipped past lots of stitches, there’s a limited amount of lateral stretch you can get. So I had to think of it as a flat fabric and work around that–this means I had a lot more stitches for the leg than I needed for the foot, and planning for the decreases/increases was making my head hurt. But when I started the socks toe-up, it all kind of clicked.

It fits her nicely (I had her try it on a few days ago). But as I did the shoot I realized the cuff should have fewer stitches than the leg, to make it tighter. So I’ll have to take out the cuff. Luckily, I didn’t cast off, anticipating skeins of slightly different lengths.

As always, when I have the pair finished you’ll get a free pattern!