pepperknit

Over the years, I’ve made many a single sock. For some reason, I can’t get myself to make a second–ever. Just recently I came sort of close. I did 3/4 of the toe-up sock that Jaax and I were doing together. But I got really bored. So I used the other ball of that yarn and started the cable and rib sock from Interweave Knits. But about 3/4 of the way down I grew tired of that, too.

Here’s a horrible picture of the progress I reached on both of those:

On the left is the toe-up one. Ugly! On the right is the rib and cable. Lost interest.

So I finally realized. What’s a challenge for me? What would be appropriate for an Olympic endeavor? A PAIR of socks. Ding! This is it! I will make a pair of socks. I thought of it only today, though I’ve been ruminating on my sock issues for some time now, and Rachel’s late, sheeplike joining definitely inspired me. I can be a sheep like the rest of ‘em :)

After work today I zipped on over to Sophie’s Yarns, in its new location. It is now only about 3 blocks from me. I found a pretty yarn that I like (I have a feeling some of my issues with socks stems from the fact that I’ve never really liked the yarn). I couldn’t find some nifty self-striping yarn (she rarely has stuff like that, from what I’ve seen), but this will suffice.

The yarn is by Schaefer Yarn, called Anne. It’s 60% Merino Wool Superwash, 25% Mohair, and 15% Nylon. I have no idea if these fibers are good for socks, but I mentioned socks to Jennifer and she didn’t say, “No! Don’t do it!” I think I’ll do Jaywalkers, since the pattern is readily available and they look cute. Maybe I’ll do one top down and one toe up. We’ll see. If others have different suggestions for pattern, I’m totally open.

Like I say, I am a complete and utter sock novice. I don’t think they’re hard, but for some reason they don’t compel me. I’m intrigued by folks like Lolly, who adore making socks, and I feel as though completing a pair, for real, will help me understand better. After all, I’ve never worn a pair of homemade socks! I’m ready for Friday’s opening ceremonies–bring it on!

The speediness with which I finished the baby sweater was helped enormously by the fact that I did little to nothing all weekend. The boy and I lazed around the house, quite deliberately, both days of the weekend. So while I do crank out stitches pretty quickly, this surprised even me.

And as for my “kitchener stitch” at the armhole. It wasn’t a true kitchener stitch, of course, because there weren’t live stitches along the armhole. But by weaving in and out of the live stitches and going into the side of the armholes, I created what looks like a line of knits and leaves the seams perfectly aligned. I don’t know how else one does armholes, actually, and you can definitely do it without live stitches; I just find it easier.

Next time I do this I’ll have to take some step-by-step shots to further illustrate it.

I literally drew the yarn through from sewing the second sleeve just as the Seahawks ran out the clock on their last play of the game. I still had two stitches to go when the Steelers started celebrating, and because I wasn’t paying close attention, I thought I’d missed my own personal deadline, but it turned out I hadn’t! Thrilling, down-to-the-wire play.

There’s a bit of moire going on here.

Of course, it still needs to be blocked and buttons still need to be added. (Heck, bought.) But as you all are learning, it doesn’t take a completely finished object for me to start gloating over an FO. I call this sweater done. The baby isn’t due until April, after all, and I can’t give the sweater to the mom until after the little one is born (mom is Jewish), so I have plenty of time for these piddling details.

Pattern: Striped Top from Debbie Bliss’s Quick Baby Knits
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Glace in “Bud”
Skeins: 4 and then some of a 5th–5 skeins definitely necessary
Needles: 40″ circ Addi Turbos US 2 and 3 (per the pattern)
Started*: Thursday, February 2
Finished: Sunday, February 5
Modifications:
1) Obviously, I didn’t make mine striped.
2) I knit the piece in the round as much as possible in order to avoid much seaming.
3) Rather than cast off the arms, I left the stitches live and used a kitchener on them and the edge of the work in order to create a perfectly neat seam.

*I initially started it on Wednesday, Feb. 1, but I made the bottom part continuous, when it’s not supposed to join along the sides for about an inch, so I started over completely on Thursday.

Here’s the sleeve progress on my boss’s baby’s sweater right around kickoff:

I finished the body yesterday. I predict finishing the sweater in its entirety (save the buttons) by the end of the game. I started it on Thursday!

I’m knitting the sleeves in the round at one time on the same 40″ circ using magic loop–a new technique for me. It’s great because the sleeves are so small, so they’re going really quickly.

Chili’s on the stove—yum!

If magic loop looks like this (the piece wouldn’t sit still, so it looks a little weird):

Then lazy loop looks like this:

With this arrangement, you don’t risk getting a ladder in two spots and you can very easily shift the stitches around. It’s easy to scrunch all the stitches up to make the circle of knitting really small, providing plenty of empty cord to knit onto. I found that if I tried to shift the stitches while using “proper” magic loop, I was accidentally eliminating the second loop anyway.

This is also nice because it makes the beginning of the round immediately obvious. While I know that stitch markers are easy and cheap, sometimes my notions supply is not within reach. (Like, it’s on the floor next to the couch and I’m sitting on the couch. Obviously way too far away.)

As I said this morning, this simplified magic loop won’t work as well for a small piece, like a sock—you need the stitches to be numerous enough to create a continuous loop with one “needle” in the circle. Hope this helps you visualize it, and I hope it comes in handy (if you haven’t happened upon it yourself already).

Finally! 2 weeks and 1 day after the order was shipped, royal mail came through with a small package replete with 5 balls of Rowan Cotton Glace in “Bud.” It is such a supremely vegetative shade of green, and I’m thrilled. Not too “baby,” not too raucous.

Eager to get this on the needles–I’d toyed with the thought of joining the Knitting Olympics and making this my project, but let’s be serious: Wait to cast on? Call this a challenge? Neither was going to happen.

Funny enough though, the whole process of casting on was more onerous than I thought it would be. Probably exacerbated by the fact that we watched The Constant Gardener last night, which was so intense it at times demanded rapt attention and at others made me very happy to have something in my hands to focus on. (It was also way better than I’d thought it would be, despite positive reviews and such.) As a result, I cast on about 5 times. Finally got started.

I decided to knit it in the round, at least til the armholes, because if there’s anything that keeps me from finishing a sweater, it’s finishing the sweater. I realized only after I’d started knitting that the pattern calls for the piece to not be connected at the very bottom. So . . . do I take it out and cast on again, making two parts that I can then join in the round when appropriate? We’ll see how I’m feeling about it tonight.

Oh, and recently while doing some secret knitting, I discovered what I call the lazy knitter’s magic loop. That is, I don’t pull a loop out through the middle of the work. I just let all the loopage be at the start of a row. For me, this is far less unwieldy, and when you’ve got a lot of stitches on the needles, as I do, it’s a LOT easier. Is there any particular reason we all create two loops? I suppose for a small item, one in which the piece is as short as or shorter than the length of the solid part of needle, you’d have to have the two loop thing. But for sweaters on 40″ circs, this method is clean and easy.