In a flap
Yes! I have actually been knit
ting!
I got out of the habit of posting pics during the Hogwarts swap, because I was working on the secret purse...but I have had a few projects in progress. I did, in fact, start the Aran Sandal Socks (ravelry link) from Socks Socks Socks on my trip to Spokane. They moved slowly for a while--the beach called, the wedding took up one day, and the rest of the time I was wrangling children doing the quasi-single-mom thing, since M had to return home to finish his classes. (Side note: How on earth do single parents manage? I had my mom and dad around plus a menagerie of assorted cousins, aunts, and uncles, and I was still exhausted after four days. Kudos to any single parent who doesn't just stick their kids in front of the TV all day.)
Another factor contributing to the slow start was that the socks are not mindless knitting at all, so I certainly couldn't pick them up during TV shows or even very much in the car once I got past the 2x2 ribbing. I don't get car sick very easily, but even my iron-clad vestibular system, which has handled reading in the car since I was able to hold a picture book in my lap, can't manage twisted rib or teeny cables for very long.
The yarn: Lavender Ackerly, my swap partner, had sent me this Swish DK in Ravenclaw colors. I haven't used superwash wool very often, just Cascade 220 superwash for my Stefanie Japel shrug, and I really like how soft the yarn is. Knitting the DK-weight on size 2s makes for a very firm fabric. I have three balls of the Cinnamon and two of the Dusk, so I'm doing the cuffs and heels in blue and the legs, heels, and feet in bronze.
As for the pattern? I think it is really lovely and the socks will be nice and warm this winter. I was a goofus and didn't check for errata before I started, so the first repeat of the larger cable was incorrect due to errors in the chart; oops. It isn't a super user-friendly pattern; there are two 4-row cable repeats and one 22-row cable; this means that after the first long repeat the cables are not synced up. I charted everything out for myself and used my magnetic chart keeper so kept confusion to a minimum. All three of the cables cross at different intervals, so there's never just a "knit the knits, purl the purls" round like in most cable patterns; there's something going on every row.
Last night I reached the money feature--the patterned heel flap. Here's where I hit my largest snag thus far--having some cables cross on odd rows and others on even rows is fine when one is working in the round, but it doesn't work very well when working back-and-forth. So either I misread the instructions, or there's something I'm missing. I decided to work an extra round in pattern before starting the flap, which means I only have to "back cross" one small 3-stitch cable every 4 rows, instead of a bunch or right and left twists every other row.
I checked Ravelry to see whether anyone had posted thoughts or strategies for the heel flap; I found one person's notes indicating she had solved the problem for herself (and there are 42 or so finished projects, so SOMEONE must have figured it out) and I messaged her. Isn't ravelry great?
ting!I got out of the habit of posting pics during the Hogwarts swap, because I was working on the secret purse...but I have had a few projects in progress. I did, in fact, start the Aran Sandal Socks (ravelry link) from Socks Socks Socks on my trip to Spokane. They moved slowly for a while--the beach called, the wedding took up one day, and the rest of the time I was wrangling children doing the quasi-single-mom thing, since M had to return home to finish his classes. (Side note: How on earth do single parents manage? I had my mom and dad around plus a menagerie of assorted cousins, aunts, and uncles, and I was still exhausted after four days. Kudos to any single parent who doesn't just stick their kids in front of the TV all day.)
Another factor contributing to the slow start was that the socks are not mindless knitting at all, so I certainly couldn't pick them up during TV shows or even very much in the car once I got past the 2x2 ribbing. I don't get car sick very easily, but even my iron-clad vestibular system, which has handled reading in the car since I was able to hold a picture book in my lap, can't manage twisted rib or teeny cables for very long.
The yarn: Lavender Ackerly, my swap partner, had sent me this Swish DK in Ravenclaw colors. I haven't used superwash wool very often, just Cascade 220 superwash for my Stefanie Japel shrug, and I really like how soft the yarn is. Knitting the DK-weight on size 2s makes for a very firm fabric. I have three balls of the Cinnamon and two of the Dusk, so I'm doing the cuffs and heels in blue and the legs, heels, and feet in bronze.
As for the pattern? I think it is really lovely and the socks will be nice and warm this winter. I was a goofus and didn't check for errata before I started, so the first repeat of the larger cable was incorrect due to errors in the chart; oops. It isn't a super user-friendly pattern; there are two 4-row cable repeats and one 22-row cable; this means that after the first long repeat the cables are not synced up. I charted everything out for myself and used my magnetic chart keeper so kept confusion to a minimum. All three of the cables cross at different intervals, so there's never just a "knit the knits, purl the purls" round like in most cable patterns; there's something going on every row.
Last night I reached the money feature--the patterned heel flap. Here's where I hit my largest snag thus far--having some cables cross on odd rows and others on even rows is fine when one is working in the round, but it doesn't work very well when working back-and-forth. So either I misread the instructions, or there's something I'm missing. I decided to work an extra round in pattern before starting the flap, which means I only have to "back cross" one small 3-stitch cable every 4 rows, instead of a bunch or right and left twists every other row.
I checked Ravelry to see whether anyone had posted thoughts or strategies for the heel flap; I found one person's notes indicating she had solved the problem for herself (and there are 42 or so finished projects, so SOMEONE must have figured it out) and I messaged her. Isn't ravelry great?
1 comment:
The socks are SO pretty!! I thought there was enough of the brown to make the socks in the brown color. Did I misread the yardage?
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