Looking Better

Just to let you know the sock I was so exasperated with yesterday is starting to look better to me (good thing I didn't rip it out). The color is slightly darker in this photo, since I was experimenting with exposure in order to get a clearer picture of the patterning.

It's a neat little Gansey pattern from a recent book by Lisa Lloyd. I emailed her because I noticed that some of the chevrons had more rows between them than others, and on my sock it looked like an obvious error. She emailed back and was so kind. She said she meant the pattern that way to liven it up, and that she needed to "shake things up in her old age." She was so personable and she is still young in heart and mind--she emailed me from her iPod!

In my usual way, I have not followed the pattern completely. Lisa's pattern is lovely; however, I needed to see mine in a symmetrical way. So my chevrons will all have the same amount of rows between them...that is, unless I make a mistake!

Still knitting...

Wrong Yarn? Wrong Pattern?

Is it the wrong yarn? Wrong pattern? Lack of focus (camera and human)?Is it my myopic vision? Lack of proper pedicure?

Or all of the above? Okay, it looks worse on camera then it does for real. But not by much. I'm seriously thinking of frogging the whole works.

Maybe I'll just put it away for today.

Modified Thuja - 6th Pair Noro Socks Finished!

This is so photo-intensive; sorry if it's slow to load on your computer.


Yarn: Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn, colorway # 233
Pattern: Thuja, by Bobby Ziegler (modified)
Needles: #1 (2.25mm) dpns
Comments: The ribbing has a more subtle effect in the Kureyon yarn than it does in a solid or semi-solid colored yarn. I like this pattern very much; thanks, Bobby!
You know, I cannot resist changing most patterns, even a tiny bit. After all, I'm the boss of my knitting! Ahem! Because of my recent fondness for anklets, one modification I made was to extend the 1x1 ribbing so that the socks can be folded down into anklets and not show the back side of the pattern.
I also manipulated the needles just before the instep so that the pattern would be centered exactly on the instep, with a purl stitch on each side. When I do this, the first needle has one less stitch and the instep has one extra. Then when it's time to do the toe, I slip that instep stitch back onto the first needle and finish the sock.
Again, matching the stripes with Noro is somewhat of a lucky thing. You can get close, but if you have just one knot, as this skein did, it throws everything off. Even without knots, the stripes can be of such variation as to prevent two exactly matching socks.Speaking of Noro sock yarn, have you seen the new Silk Garden sock yarn? I have in my possession three glorious skeins of the stuff:As Charlie Brown would say, "Good Grief!"

Pink Sherbets - Finished!

Yarn: Lorna's Laces, colorway # 801 (Sherbet)
Pattern: Personal
Needles: #1 (2.25mm) dpns
Comments: The photos don't show the coloring in this yarn to its best advantage. It's an unusual, yummy and soft combination of pink and yellow. The only other place I have seen this color blending was in an old 1930's cotton blanket in a southwestern style pattern. The blanket does not belong to me, or you would be seeing it here, too.
Feeling in "anklet" mode these days, I designed the cuff to look good turned up or down.Oh, look what's coming up next. I'm sure you can guess...

Noro Socks (5th Pair) - Finished!

Yarn: Noro Sock, colorway 184
Pattern: Lake Geneva Socks, my own pattern available here as a pdf file. The only variation from the pattern was to knit a Strong heel.
Needles: size 1 (2.25 mm) dpns

Comments: The Lake Geneva socks are designed to be worn with the cuff up or down, since the pattern on the inside is quite similar.

Have I gone a bit overboard on the Noro socks? This is my fifth pair. Even though there was a knot in the middle of the foot (front sock) that left out a whole segment of patterning and also left the wrong colors with which to match up even slightly, I still like the outcome.

Here is a closeup of the Strong heel, which is not included in my pattern. I used this heel because the pink probably would have ended up only on the heel and not on the instep if it had been a flap heel. Although they don't match exactly, I expect they will look just fine in a pair of shoes. On a trotting horse, who will notice?
The best thing about these socks? Next winter they will be smashing with my Noro scarf!

Blue Cabled Socks - Finished!

More summer anklets!Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton (45% Cotton, 42% wool, 13% Polyamid). Color #49
Pattern: Women's Cable Anklets, from the booklet, "Socks for Men & Women" by Chadwick's Red Heart Wools--published 1948.
Needles: #1 (2.25mm) dpns

Comments: Intending to knit the pattern just as written 60 years ago, I changed my mind when I reached the gusset. Like a lot of patterns, the cables were not centered over the instep. This leaves each edge of the instep with a different appearance. Are there others out there who notice this? So I moved the stitches around so that the five cables over the instep showed the middle cable directly on center and two purl stitches were on each edge of the instep. In the photo below you can see both sides have equal stitches.
The heel on the pattern was a reinforced style, which does not always fit comfortably in my shoes. So that was dashed in favor of a plain stockinette heel. All in all I like the socks a lot. The yarn is a lovely, springy cotton/wool/poly that works for at least three seasons.

And I really like the way the cables look before blocking:
All scrunched together and ready to fit perfectly...
like anklets should!