pepperknit

I kind of can’t believe June is over. No more noticing blue things around town for ProjectSpectrum!

What’s next month? Purple? Oh, crap.

Color variance from Sunday is due to the time of day, not the yarn.

Redoing the socks was an excellent decision. I reduced the number of stitches, which makes the pattern open up more, I nixed the pattern into the toe, and I cleaned up the cuff. I tried to use up an entire skein, but I still have a few rows’ worth leftover, so I’m going to take out the cuff and lengthen the socks a bit, but I’ve already started the second sock. I’m thrilled with the way the first sock has turned out. Now to obsess over left-leaning decreases again. I know I did a whole lot of experimenting before, but for this yarn and this pattern it’s worth revisiting. (Plus I need to try the slip 1, knit 1, psso variation.)

A detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In this Detour, teams must decide between two grueling choices: Frog It, or Knit It?

In Frog It, teams will take out the single sock (Minty-titled “Anastasia sock”)* they’ve completed.

From here, teams will start over, using the same essential stitch pattern (Digaonal Faggoting Stripes) but reducing the number of stitches around and finessing the cuff a bit more. Teams will have to decide whether to keep the detail of the pattern extending into the toe area or not. This decision could be anguishing, because it means about 3 days of work gone, but in the end it could lead to a more satisfied recipient, and team.

In Knit It, teams say “screw it” and start on the second sock, mirroring the pattern in the first sock and not worrying at it too much.

Which do YOU think Minty will choose?

“Sigh. The perfectionist in me needs to frog this. I hate the idea of it, but I wouldn’t feel right giving these as a gift. The boy says that my obsessing over this one sock is reaching masochistic levels; I’ve taken it out twice before but had never gotten this far. But it’s just not sitting well. Something ain’t right with this sock, and it’s going to need some work.”

“If it doesn’t feel right, you shouldn’t force it. There really are issues with these socks. 1) The stitch pattern doesn’t really show up unless the socks are stretched more. You did a good job figuring out your gauge and matching it to the recipient’s size (8, not Minty’s shoe size actually), and it fits nicely, but you really do need to make it smaller to show it off in its best light. That’s hard to assess, considering you wear a 7.5, so the sock should feel just a wee bit big anyway. 2) The extension of the pattern into the toe is a sweet little detail, but it may lead to more wear, with toes catching on the holes, etc. It might be more impractical than necessary. 3) And the k1p1 rib, well, to be honest, kind of looks like ass. 4) I won’t even point out the craptastic castoff you did. Bottom line: You can do better.”

“I guess the answer is clear. I’ll start over with the other ball of yarn, though, because that way I can do a side-by-side comparison and decide which really is better. I’m still happy with the stitch I chose, and I think it’s a good one for vareigated yarn, because it has fairly wide expanses of stockinette. I hate when lace gets lost in the vareigations. Plus, it’s not really such a heartbreak to have more time to knit with this Koigu, which really feels so lovely.”

*Definitely inspired by the Mata Hari socks, with their spiral of eyelets, but still a Minty creation, such as they are, going toe-up, using a short-row toe and short-row heel. I like the continuous double line of holes, plus the texture that the k2togs creates.

Starting a few weeks ago, I declared it the Summer of Sparkling Wine, and now whenever we go out for drinks, I order a glass of sparkling wine (preferably not champagne). It’s fun to be handed a delicate flute of a bubbling beverage. I feel so refined. I should point out that the Summer of Sparkling Wine really only applies at the more sophisticated establishments we tend to frequent; not the neighborhood bar.

Separately, it’s also the Summer of Socks, and though the drinking has been going on for a few months now (uh, I should check the calendar more closely), the Summer of Socks only officially begins today.

And it’s about damn time, too, because I finished those socks for dad on Friday and I’ve been itching to start another pair! This pair will be for my boyfriend’s sister, and won’t be given to her until Christmas (but don’t worry, she and I wear the same size shoe so I can easily model them!). I’m calling them Anastasia Socks, in honor of the recipient’s middle name, but also because, well, who doesn’t want to give Anastasia Krupnik a little shout out, even if it’s completely unrelated?

The yarn is this:

My first Koigu! I did a little swatch and it’s heavenly, just heavenly. I like the rainbow of colors quite a lot, too. The actual effect is much more pink/purple, less blue than this picture might indicate.

I’m off to cast on for real; progress shots, hopefully, later this week. I’m making the pattern up, too, and though I’ve done some sketching and some charting, I’m not confident about the exact number of stitches I want to cast on, so this may require some frogging.

Mom and dad were here this weekend, and mom decided to go with a single button (which others in the knitalong have done, to great success) and very little overlap, though she could have. She picked the button placement, and I sewed it on then and there. It’s now in Maryland with her, no longer my responsibility. Unfortunately, temps are pushing 90 so she will have little to no opportunity to swath herself in wool in the near future. Still, it’s done!

She twirled around and swished her ass to show off the back of the jacket, presumably, so I snapped a shot of that, too.

The light was a little glaring but I just couldn’t make her step into the 95+ heat for the sake of the little blog!

Dad posed in his socks first, and without prompting did some fashionable front and back shots, but I turned off the flash and they were sadly dark and out of focus. The first shot, with the flash on, wasn’t nearly so styling.

P.S. Thanks for all the compliments on the socks for dad! You have probably already noticed that I’m a wee bit of a perfectionist, so there was no way I was going to let that single stitch be wrong! Oh, and the socks are a tiny bit too long—maybe 1/4 inch or so—and dad decided they were fine as is. If they bug him, I can still go back and fix ‘em.

My mom’s been getting all the knitting love lately—last year I made her a ribbon x-back, and in the last few months I’ve knit her two Sunrise Circle Jackets. Dad hasn’t said anything (though he did get a lovely hat right after New Year’s), but I can only imagine that he’s feeling a little left out. But knitting a man-sized sweater takes waay too long. So, since I’ve been in a sock place lately, I went with socks.

Here they are, completed, but not yet tried on by the recipient. Conveniently, my parents are coming up to Philly for a brief visit on Sunday, and we will all go out to brunch to celebrate Mother’s and Father’s Day. (Which means I have to treat! So much for the best perk of going out to eat with one’s parents!) I’m going to have mom put on the second iteration of the Sunrise and we will decide where to place the buttons. Then I’ll sew them on. Hopefully, dad will try on the socks and say “Done! They fit,” but I’m a little nervous that they will be too big, in which case I will finish them up and mail them to him this week.

I remember that dad wears size 10 shoes, and a brief query to mom “confirmed” this with a “yeah, I think so” (she was out shopping at the time). The boy wears size 9, so I’ve been having him try them on. They’re about half an inch long on the boy, which may be just right, or still a little big. I considered taking them out and shortening by 1/4 inch, but I figured leaving them at this length is as good as shortening them and finding out they’re too snug.

Pattern: Garter Rib Socks from Sensational Knitted Socks. It’s a two-row pattern: Row 1 k2p2; Row 2 knit. Super-easy. A little mind-numbing by the end of the loooong foot.
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Mineshaft. I tried to compare the skeins very closely at the store, but they are far from identical; one has a lot of blue in it. At least they striped similarly.
Skeins: 2, with a little leftover from each skein. Wishing I’d done toe-up so that I’d have used up all the rest.
Sock details: Cuff-down, 64 stitches, with k2p2 rib, heel flap with 3 garter stitch stitches on either side; simple decreased toe with 16-stitch kitchener.
Needles: US Size 1
Method: Magic Loop
Started: Sunday, June 11. Taken out late that night and restarted (they were too big).
Finished: Saturday, June 17 (just to do the finishing; knitting was finished yesterday.) I took the day off on Thursday and on Friday, which helped get this finished.
Notes: I can’t get over how abnormally long the foot looks on the socks. I’m looking forward to making more socks for women :)

In all, the knitting went smoothly until I noticed this:

In a rib row SIXTY rows back, I’d accidentally knit when I needed to purl. Or maybe I forgot that I was on a rib row for the duration of one stitch and then remembered. Either way, I had a knit where I needed a purl. I dropped that one stitch column all the way down and, using a crochet hook, fixed it. It was merely time consuming, but I must say that fixing garter stitch is annoyingly slow. Fixing stockinette goes by in a flash, but for garter, you have to reorient the crochet hook every other time!

Uh, when did I become a sock knitter??

Minty and her teammate, who arrived at the Pit Stop last Saturday, are now ready to leave. Teams will head into the most extreme of locales, to perform the most extreme feats. Teams are given $2 in quarters. (”Count the money!”)

Minty knows what’s coming as she rounds the corner. “Oh my god. No, it’s not . . . You’re kidding me! They can’t be serious.”

Oh yes. Amazing Lace goes to Xtremes.

On Saturday, Minty and her teammate rounded the corner and approached the mat, where Phil was standing by along with a local (Ben Franklin? Some other colonial person?) waiting to welcome them in.

Welcome to the first Pit Stop.

“Phil! I can’t believe how quickly this leg of the race went. It’s all thanks to Minty’s single-mindedness. She just would not put these socks down!”

“It was so fun to work on them; my teammate really came through. I love the color, and though the yarn didn’t feel all that luscious on my finger as I was knitting, the end result is really quite nice.”

“Minty, do you want to tell us a little about this leg of the Lace?”

“Of course! Here are the details:

Elm Leaf Socks (Zokni Socks)
Pattern: My own down-and-dirty pattern, involving picking a stitch pattern, writing it out as a chart, and doing a short-row heel and simple decreased toe. I will try to write it up for anyone who’s interested in the next few days. Anyone know how to post a pdf to a blogger blog? Is it possible?
Yarn: Knit Picks’s Essential sock yarn in green
Needles: Addi Turbo US 1s
Method: Magic Loop
Size: Women’s 5 1/2
Gift for: My oldest friend, who recently expressed a desire for a pair of knitted socks. They aren’t technically a surprise, though she hasn’t seen the pattern. I did call her in the middle of the first sock to get her to measure her foot. When compared with the measurements given in Sensational Knitted Socks, she was a dead-on 5 1/2. The question is whether I executed that correctly.
Started: Saturday, June 3
Finished: Saturday, June 10
Notes: I had a lot of fun working up this pattern, from figuring out the chart to actually executing it. Funnily enough, despite my familiarity with the pattern, I never got to the point where I could read my knitting—I could never remember if the yo was before or after the k1 toward the “stem” on rows 1 and 7. Once I’d done one repeat, I could do the others, but for every row, I had to glance at the pattern. Here’s the pattern slightly opened up (on my hand; not the best representation):

Randomly, I should add that kitchenering was a breeze. I have always been able to execute a kitchener stitch effectively, but I approached the process with trepidation. This time I just did it, and it went smoothly, so I think I’m no longer intimidated by kitchener. And there was no second sock syndrome!

Now I just have to fret until June 30, when my friend comes to visit, to find out if they fit okay!”

Stay tuned to find out how Minty will “eat, sleep, and mingle with the other teams” while on this Pit Stop–and to see how the next leg of the race goes!

A Roadblock is a task that only one team member may perform. In this Roadblock, that team member must scout the city of Philadelphia to find new sock yarn. Minty took this challenge for her team on Friday, hoping for the best with all the walking even after hurting her back at yoga in the morning. See the route she took here.

The search begins at Sophie’s Yarns, where all yarn searches begin. (Minty lives nearby.) They never end here, however, as the selection is slim and sock yarn in short supply. The owner is incredibly nice and friendly, always interested in what you’re working on (or leaves you perfectly well alone if you want), and she also seems to have a commitment to learning about the business practices of all the yarn companies she carries, opting to keep those with good ethics and not reorder from those whose practices are questionable. All laudable qualities. But the selection simply isn’t there. Two aggressively friendly store cats are pleasant, but for those with allergies (Minty is very allergic to cats), it’s not always welcome. Minty stopped in but was on her way soon thereafter.

From here, it was a trek west, to get to Loop. Minty went a little out of her way by walking down Lombard, mostly because there’s a lot of construction going on on South Street, but also because Lombard is nicer than South.

Minty can’t think of a single negative thing to say about Loop. The space is perfect. Lots of yarn, lots of selection, a crisp, clean, white interior with friendly and hands-off staff who also are engaging to chat with. Minty dropped her credit card on the counter and walked off with five skeins of yarn, all sock yarn (not all destined to be lace socks, however). Her love for this store doesn’t wane with repeated visits, and she would like to start going there to knit but finds that whole thing intimidating and it’s a lot farther away than the couch in the living room. She was making incredible progress on this Roadblock, but still had one more yarn shop to go, Rosie’s Yarn Cellar, just a few blocks north of Loop.

Rosie’s has a very good selection for its incredibly small size, but it always feels a bit dingy to Minty. She noticed that they now have hardwood floors, which was nice to see—Minty rarely goes to Rosie’s, and the last time she was there the floors were carpet. The sock yarn selection didn’t feel as extensive as at Loop, though interestingly the Koigu was $1 cheaper at Rosie’s ($11 rather than $12). Minty regretted spending the extra $2 but ultimately enjoyed the experience at Loop so much more, it was OK. Minty left with only a backissue of Interweave Knits—the winter one with Embossed Leaves in it. She’d searched though the other yarn stores, even Vagabond (a delightful boutique that sells nice yarns and some notions in addition to fabulous clothing—Minty bought the bridesmaid dress she wore two weeks ago there) and not been able to find that one. Old IKs were plentiful around the city, but not that issue. Note that Rosie’s did not discount the backissue, which Sophie’s does. The one woman working at Rosie’s was uninterested in chatting, despite Minty’s mild attempt. The environment didn’t feel particularly welcoming.

Minty raced back home, this time in a cab, because the sky opened up and rain came tumbling out of the sky. Her back was feeling fine, thankfully! She produced her skeins . . .

. . . and was handed the next clue:

Finish knitting your first pair of socks, and proceed to the first Pit Stop!

Yesterday was Worldwide Knit in Public Day, as many of you know. I’m not friends with any knitters in Philly, so I innocently suggested a picnic for me, the boy, and a friend. They humored me, and besides, who would turn down a picnic on a day like yesterday? Despite the wind, it was beautiful.

So at 1pm, after yoga, we picked up the boy and walked over to Whole Foods, where we loaded up on sandwiches, salads, and absolutely perfect berries (straw- and black-). We made our way to the western side of the city, plopped down on the eastern side of Rittenhouse Square, and dug in. I was feeling sheepish and didn’t want to pull out my knitting until I saw someone else working on a project. Then I found one!

So I joined in.

I knit for a while on the second sock of my Amazing Lace socks, while my friends made fun of me. Eventually they were too tired to continue the ridicule, and normal conversation resumed. By then I was tired, too, so we all left to get some coffee.

In all, I didn’t knit for very long, and I kind of wish I’d walked around, looking for knitters, but I’m still happy I did what little I did. I will say that I wish I’d been sitting on a bench—it’s not comfortable to knit while sitting cross-legged on the ground. Maybe there’s a reason I mostly knit while sitting on the couch!