Year of Projects 3: Mince Pie Mayhem 01

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

It's a picture heavy post today - sorry if it takes a while to load. First things first: last week I was just short of the toe on the second of my 2luvcrew socks. Six weeks after casting on, they're finally done. To be fair, they sat unloved for several of those weeks, so you shouldn't conclude the pattern is that labour intensive.

I'll admit that I like these socks better than I thought I would. Lace socks aren't really my thing, and a patterned toe? Well that just seems wrong to me. And then there's all that knitting through the back loops ... grrrrr. All that being said, the finished socks were worth the effort. I haven't actually worn them in shoes or boots yet. It's been cold, wet and icy for the last several days, so lace socks haven't held much appeal.

With the pink socks off the needles it was time to cast on Mince Pie Mayhem socks. I'm knitting the medium size on 2.25 mm needles. With 80 sts I'd have guessed that the size would be largish, but all these criss-crossing stitches have really condensed the fabric. If you're considering this pattern, don't go small!

The construction of this sock is very interesting. Rather than a heel flap and gusset, the heel continues in pattern while stitches are picked up between the heel and the instep to form an expansion area - a technique that originated with Cat Bordhi, I think. As written the pattern allowed for 11 sts added in each expansion area. Some Ravelers noted that the heel was too shallow, and since I generally lengthen heel flaps anyway, I decided to add another chart repeat to the heel to increase 15 sts instead. As a result, my heel is almost 3/4" deeper and the circumference around the heel and instep has been increased almost an inch and a half. It's still snug, so this was a good call.

Working a heel this way keeps you working entirely in the round except for the actual heel turn. And you don't need to pick up any stitches so there are no holes. I'm fascinated by this technique and am considering some vanilla socks using this technique. The expansion area would totally disappear into the fabric, wouldn't it?

It's also been a good pattern for practising cabling without a cable needle. The mind boggles at how long the knitting of this sock would take if you were crossing the stitches using a cable needle. Just as well it's going quickly - I need to get these done by the end of the week.

Looks like I'll have plenty of knitting time today; we're just emerging from an ice storm. Everything has a coating of ice. Gavin spent 45 minutes this morning chipping the ice off the windshield to drive home from work, but reports that the roads are brutal. Lots of trees and tree limbs are down. Much of the city has power outages. More than 250,000 households have been told that power might not be restored for 72 hours or more. I guess that'd put a stop to Christmas baking. My neighbourhood has power, so we're lucky, but I don't plan to venture far from home today.

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

Over at the Socktopus KAL on Ravelry we are knitting Mince Pie Mayhem socks from December 1st to January 31st. I've finally cast on and made a start.

As written there are small, medium and large sizes knit on 2.5 mm needles knit over 72, 80 and 88 sts respectively. After reading the comments in project notes on Ravelry I decided to cast on 80 sts and work the sock on 2.25 mm needles. So far I've found it necessary to shift down a needle size on every pattern in the book to get a nicely fitting sock, but now with this sock, the sock might end up small. It's really quite amazing how much the fabric is condensed by the criss-crossing twisted stitches. Still, it fits over my heel, ankle and leg, so I'm continuing as is.

The yarn is a colourway called "Big Red Barn" from Wandering Cat Yarns. Every year I knit a pair of red socks for a friend whose birthday falls just before New Years, so this yarn was the perfect choice. It's Alley Cat sock which is a light fingering - nice tight twist and not splitty. With this many twisted stitches, that "not-splitty" part is a must. And with this dense a fabric, the lighter the yarn, the better I think.

That's it for me, this work-in-progress Wednesday. I've been finishing up some other projects to show on Friday, all with a view to ending the year without any WIPs on the needles. So far, so good. As you can see in the photo, it has snowed AGAIN and there is more and more snow in the forecast. Can't wait to see what my drive to work is going be today!

Year of Project 2: 2luvcrew 04

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

In last week's post I suggested that I'd be finished these socks by now. Yeah ... overly optimistic once more. Still, they're close; just a few more repeats on the foot and then the toe. Of course it didn't help that I had to rip back and reknit the transition to the heel flap three times ... stupid not-reading-pattern-instructions stupidity.

Although I fell a bit short of my knitting goals last week, I don't feel badly. All in all it was a very productive week. The secret Christmas knitting is done. Almost all the gifts are wrapped. The out-of-town gifts have been mailed. I've even made a good start on grocery shopping for the holidays. Hmmm, I wonder what I've forgotten?

It has also occurred to me that it's within the realm of possibility that I could finish every single WIP before New Year's Eve. The idea has its charm, and with that in mind, I've pulled out the second Brain Hat - this time in sport weight acrylic - and pinned the gyri for the right hemisphere. That's a ton of sewing though - not my favourite thing - so this might also fall into the overly optimistic category. We'll see.

So those are my two priorities for the coming week. Once the socks are done I'll cast on for Mince Pie Mayhem. According to my plan, that's the last bit of knitting for 2013. But you know what usually happens to the best laid plans, right?

Year of Projects 3: 2luvcrew 03

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

You'd think that after a month without blogging that I'd have more to show you. Sadly, not. November was terribly busy - two craft shows and a weekend in New Brunswick for a book launch - so I didn't find much time to knit. I did sneak in a few secret Christmas knits. And honestly, I lost my knitting mojo for a few weeks there. It didn't help that I miscalculated how crazy long the toe section of this sock pattern is. I tried it on just before grafting the toe to find that the foot was much too long. Aargh! RIP!

There's a finished 2luvcrew sock in the photo but that photo is several days old. As of this morning I'm at the heel of the second sock and things seem pretty firmly back on the rails. At least I don't have to guess how far to knit that second foot. More good news? Sock one weighs 46 grams so I've got yarn to spare to finish Sock two.

The jury is still out on the long ribbed toe section. While I was knitting, I was mostly set against it but now that I've had the sock on my foot I'm warming up to it. This is definitely one of those patterns that looks better on your foot than on your needles.

There is one bit of Christmas knitting I can show you - one more (last and final) gnome. I sold out of the half dozen gnomes I'd made previously within just a few minutes at the first craft show. And then took a special order for one more. If I do more craft shows next year I'd best make a bunch more of these. They're a pretty quick and easy knit especially now that I've converted the pattern to knit in the round.

My plan for this week includes one final secret Christmas knit and then to finish these socks. I've already wound the yarn for the next pattern of the Socktopus KAL - Mince Pie Mayhem. They'll be the perfect gift for a friend with a birthday just before the New Year!

Year of Projects 3: 2luvcrew 02

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

Now that the craft show has come and gone I hope to spend more of my time knitting socks. That's one thing that has become really clear to me with so much going on and so many deadlines - I'd rather being knitting socks than doing almost anything else.

So far the trickiest part of this pattern has been the cast on - and that was tricky only because I'm more of a visual learner than one who learns from written instructions. Once I found a couple of YouTube demonstrations, I was away to the races.

The leg of this sock is quite short, so after just a handful of inches I'm nearly ready to start the heel flap. I considered making the leg longer but decided against it. Arguing against is the fact that the pattern isn't that stretchy - I doubt it'd stretch over the calf nicely and still fit snugly at the ankle. Besides, I've heard the pattern eats yarn, so adding more repeats would really just be tempting fate, wouldn't it?

The pattern is quite cute. I had feared it'd be really lacy with all the yarn overs I'm doing, but it's not. Maybe the chilly temperatures these days are influencing my tastes? I just want thick, warm and comfy socks. The weatherman is warning for snow squalls on the drive home today! Ugh.

Year of Projects 3: 2luvcrew 01

SOCKTOPUS: Totally Vanilla • Kandahar • V Junkie • Kwalia • Farmer McGregor • Shur'tugal • 2luvcrew • Vorticity • Rumpled! • Crowley • Om Shanti • Mince Pie Mayhem • Hundred Acre Wood • De Stijl • Fiori di Zucca • Caretta Caretta • Spring Shoots

Thursday morning I finished my Vorticity socks with just inches of yarn to spare and just a few hours left in the Wandering Cat Yarns KAL. If you're curious, they're blogged here.

It's always fun to cast on a new sock pattern, and today it was even more fun, as it involved a new (to me) cast on method. The Channel Island cast on gives a stretchy edge to the cuff and every other stitch has a little bump that makes the edge look almost like picots. For this sock the cast on is made with just a single strand of yarn but some of the YouTube tutorials show the Channel Island cast on with two or three strands for a really pronounced decorative edge. Cool!

The pattern is written in small and large sizes. The yarn I've chosen - Sock Luck from Studio June Yarn - is a light fingering so I'm knitting the larger size on smaller than recommended needles. Hopefully the sock size ends up somewhere in the middle :) This colourway features tonal pinks which will work nicely with all the heart motifs. Besides, it's stash yarn so it's nice to finally knit it up. I did read that some Ravelers ran short of yarn, so the fact that Sock Luck is put up in 460 yard skeins is another point in its favour. No need for another game of yarn chicken quite yet!

Now hopefully I can find some knitting time between now and next Sunday so that I can show you the heart pattern. It's not looking too promising because I really ought to be spending every spare moment preparing for a craft show next Saturday. Somehow, though, I'd rather be knitting socks.

Finished Object Friday: Vorticity Socks

Pattern: Vorticity Socks by Alice Yu

Yarn: Twisted Top Cat by Wandering Cat Yarns in "Tidal"

Needle Size: US 1 (2.25 mm) and US 0 (2mm)

Modifications: Based on project notes from other Ravelers mentioning how large these knit up, I shifted down one needle size for the leg to the bottom of the heel flap and then shifted down another size smaller for the foot. Also, I added some length the heel flaps.

Comments: As I knit the first sock and watched the yarn get eaten up, I knew it was going to be close. And after finishing the first sock, the kitchen scale confirmed - 52 grams for the first sock and 52 grams left for the second sock. By the time I turned the heel of the second sock I was convinced that I was going to be ripping out the toe and the last repeat on the first sock to salvage some yarn. Knitting faster and faster  - because knitting faster uses less yarn, right? - I managed to squeak out that second sock with just a few inches of yarn to spare. It's there on the ground in the picture. Hurray!

This is my first time knitting with Twisted Top Cat. It's an MCN sock yarn but with more twist than their usual MCN base. The extra twist leads to lovely stitch definition and it's also likely to make these socks more hard wearing, but it does take away from the softness of the cashmere. Still gorgeous yarn, though.

The pattern is my favourite so far from all the socks I've knit from Alice Yu's book Socktopus. It looks really complicated, but it's actually pretty easy once you sort out the first repeat with its changing stitch counts from round to round and shifting beginnings of rounds. I finished it yesterday morning - well in time for the Socktopus KAL prize deadline and just in the nick of time for the Wandering Cat Back-to-Socks KAL prize deadline. If I'd had to rip back on sock one, I probably wouldn't have made it in time for the latter.

Happy Friday one and all. It's a wet and windy Friday here, so surf's up on the Lakes! That's where you'll find Gavin today, I'm sure. It's also Finished Object Friday over at Tami's Amis, so make sure to take a few minutes to have a look there!