Sockapalooza matches

I found out who I will be knitting socks for today and figured I should put something up on the ol' blog for whoever is knitting socks for me.I've had some good mail recently. I got the two magazines free from two separate knitters. I wanted knitscene for the Central Park Hoodie. The Vogue was just something up for grabs, so I grabbed it. There's one interesting-looking pattern in it, but I may pass it on to someone else. I had an extra copy of an old Interweave Knits and sent it off to a knitter in Australia. In exchange for the postage ($9.50), I got a $10 gift certificate to WEBS. Woohoo! That's it for the free stuff. I did pay for the Greenwood Fiberworks yarn, but only $12 (including shipping)--much cheaper than buying it new!

Looks can be deceiving

So, what is the difference between the Greenwood Fiberworks (top) and the Zen Yarn Garden (bottom) cotton/lycra sock yarn? Why did the 72-stitches-around pattern that worked perfectly for the former come out huge in the latter? Let me show you something.

Both strands below were about 7 inches with no tension on them, but when pulled tight, the Greenwood about doubles in length, whereas the Zen only gets to 10 inches. So Greenwood's more elastic and contracts more after it's knit. That probably means it wears better than the Zen. I think I'm willing to keep the pink for myself and give my mom the "campfire" color if she wants.

Sockapalooza 4 signups have started. I've been ambivalent on it for a while now. I loved knitting socks for other people (I had one pal and was a sock savior for another), but the socks I received are a little too big for me. I don't have much sock yarn I'm willing to part with, and I'm trying not to buy more for now. I don't know what to do!

Test knitting

I learned a new way to make short-row toes and heels, with double wraps a la Wendy this time (top in photo). This photo shows what I think is the uglier side of the wrapping method. The two sides of the YO method (bottom) look pretty similar to one another.

I started these socks but had to redo them because they were coming out too big (at 72 stitches cast on). So the Zen Yarn Garden cotton/lycra sock yarn is a bit thicker than the Greenwood Fiberworks. I'm trying 64 stitches now and it seems to be good. I took a photo of the new attempt but my camera ate it.

Cappuccino chill

This arrived yesterday. Yarn that I don't have to pay for but still get to play with is pretty cool. I told my mom about this yarn I found online that looked similar to Greenwood Fiberworks' cotton/lycra sock yarn and she bought this for me to make into socks for her.

Cotton/lycra sock yarn from Zen Yarn Garden (which also has an etsy shop)

Short Rows + Picot Cuff = Toe-Up Socks!

GreewoodFiberworks sock yarn showed up at my door recently, and I thought that yarn in particular would be good for toe-up socks. I realized that I probably already knew everything I needed to know to make socks from the toe up: short-row toes/heels and the "provisional" cast-on also used in making the picot cuff. Here's my test toe. Now the trick will be knitting two socks at once, from both ends of the ball of yarn, so I can be sure to use it all without going over. I expect this will make me a bit crazy. I am contemplating using the scales at the lab to make two balls of equal weight so I can avoid a tangled mess.

One of the best cotton sock yarns is still around

Greenwood Fiberworks had me worried there for a while. Her store was empty of sock yarn every time I'd look. But now she's got a few skeins of a new color--Campfire--for sale. I can't buy any now, so I hope she'll have more in the coming months. I need a pair for myself!

Gift Socks

I made socks for my friend Tasha after this yarn caught my eye. I thought it was perfect for her because it's cotton and brown and blue, the colors her wedding party wore one year ago this coming Sunday.

I'm embarrassed to say how long these have been almost finished. I pretty much only had one toe to knit for a couple of months, and I finally did it last night while watching an episode of Midsomer Murders that's overdue at the library. I was planning on grafting the toes instead of doing the visible zig-zag close seen here, but I hate grafting when it's just a few stitches. This would be 144 stitches. I'm wondering if these are too small, but they're stretchy so I think they'll be OK. And I so don't feel like making them longer.

And it's the longest day of the year

Here are cotton/ lycra socks I made for my mother.

Yarn: Greenwood Fiberworks in Genola Sunset
Pattern: Came with the yarn
Needles: Size 1 DPNs

This was my first time doing a short-row heel. I had wanted to learn how for a while and I didn't think I had much choice with this yarn, because of the lycra. I thought it would be too difficult to pick up stitches for the gusset if I did the flap.

I think this heel is more mental work than the flap/ pickup heel, and I am not sure I could ever do it without a cheat sheet. And there's the sometimes-awful purl 3 together through the back maneuver. But it does look nice and now I know two ways to make a heel. (This heel uses YOs and reverse YOs, not wrapping.)

Don't ask

Don't ask about the lawn. The situation is angering me, to say the least.

Here is a swatch of sorts: