ahoy!

The pirate feet are complete!
It's already a blur, I can't recap all the modifications. I used the ridgeline architecture from New Pathways for Sock Knitters, with a little cable twisting up the centre panel. The charts were modified to fit my stitch count. The heel was adjusted to fit my son.

He loves hand-knit socks almost as much as I do, and because of his unique feet coupled with the facts that A) he outgrows socks at an amazing speed and B) unless I make reinforced toes and heels, he wears out the socks before he can even outgrow them, he hasn't had a pair of mama-made socks that fit for a year now. It's about time!

alas!

Would you believe I ran out of yarn? When my #1Son requested pirate socks to match the mittens, I said, "I have just the yarn!" and pulled out my shepherd sock yarn bought on clearance last June. I had 2 balls of black and one of white. My decision on how to make the sock was based on the amount of yarn I had. Clearly I couldn't make the socks completely out of colour work, because I didn't have enough white. I didn't expect to run out of black. Obviously I have a very skewed sense of yarn requirements because I ran out (toe up) just before the colourwork cuff began. This precipitated an emergency run to the yarn store. "Hi, I know you sold this yarn off on clearance six months ago, but do you have anything to substitute?" The substitute looked good, but really, it was thicker. I didn't have much choice so I plugged on with the thicker black. I carried white ahead to compensate for the fact that it was a slightly thinner yarn.

Notes to self: I knit the leg in 3x1 ribbing until the point where his leg started to widen up again. I knit in stockinette stitch once around, and then started with the white stripe. When I got to the first 2-colour row, I switched to a size 6 needle, which persisted through the rest of the sock. When I started the pirate row, I added 2 stitches at the back of the sock to go to 54 stitches, allowing me to add 2 stitches to each repeat of the 16-stitch-repeat pattern. When I got to the row of white fleur-de-lis, I increased again by 2 stitches, getting the total back to a multiple of four. After the final white row, I knit one row in black, purled one row in black, and then cast off with a double strand of black.

Sock 2 needs its colourwork, and then I'll be done.

salt and pepper heel

Quick progress update... with notes that are probably meaningful only to me. I've completed the heels on both pirate socks. I'm not as wowed by the results as I'd planned to be, but I've come to accept them. At the top of the heels, the socks still fit the recipient, another fitting will be needed tonight.

To accommodate his slender foot and broad heel, I cast on and knitted up according to the midfoot measurement, 23 stitches per needle, 46 total. I started the increases early, which allowed me to increase to 74 stitches total, instead of the recommended 68. Before starting the heel, I adjusted the heel needle to 27 stitches, and then worked the heel for a target of 54 stitches around the ankle, 27 per needle. At that point, it still fit. Then I decided that to accommodate the ribbing pattern I want, I would change it to 52 stitches, so I did one more decrease in line with the heel decreases, and have knit about another inch. Tonight's fitting will determine if I can get away with 52. If so, I will continue with the 3x1 ribbing until it seems appropriate to start the colourwork again.

Me and my frogs

My goodness it was a frogolicious weekend. I started out with a pair of Dashing from Cascade Quatro. Let me tell you, I swatched very patiently, and finally concluded that I got gauge with the recommended needles, size 7. This is an odd occurrence, I usually need to knit at least one needle size larger. I selected the smaller pattern size, assuming that as the pattern is designed for a man, the large would be man's size, and the small would be woman's size. I knit quite a ways on the pair, making it past the second cable, but I finally had to admit that they were uncomfortably tight. Ribbit.

The picture shows the next effort, started today on size 8 needles. I so far think these will fit fine, but I will know for sure after some cabling happens.



On Sunday, discouraged from my Dashing failure, I worked on the pirate socks I've been struggling with. These are for my son, who has difficult-to-fit feet. I know this from several sock failures. I measured carefully, and compared to Cat Bordhi's sock size tables in New Pathways. Turns out that his heel size is appropriate for his foot length, but his foot width and ankle width are slim. So socks designed to fit his ankle and foot width come up too small around the heel. I started using the recommended numbers for his midfoot, hoping that if I made nice and stretchy ribbing, it would fit. I knit 10 rows of 1x1 ribbing, and then had him try it on. It went over his heel, but just barely, and obviously no colourwork would fit. Ribbit.

After a great deal of thought, I decided to try a toe-up variation, allowing me to make sure the foot fits, and then play with the leg size. I followed her directions for what she calls the "standard toe". She uses this toe with the 2-colour socks in her book. The formula called for starting with 7 stitches per needle. However, after knitting 3 inches, I tried it on him, and discovered that the toe was way too pointed, and not flexible enough at all. He would have a sticky-outy-flap of toe scrunched up in the end of his shoe. Not good at all. Ribbit.



Next up, I started with 13 stitches per needle. I was so happy with the first toe that I started a second one. When they match, I'll knit both socks together. Although in the picture, the smaller toe is incorrect and it has now been picked back a row.