Toe-ectomy (or a tale of knitterly denial and remorse)

Well, having finished the green socks and then wearing them around yesterday, I decided they were definitely too big.

At first I contemplated just giving Dad a bonus pair of socks as they would probably fit him but then I wondered if he would actually wear two tone green socks. Plus said socks were knitted for me because I need more nice warm handknitted socks.

So, being a virgo, I went and did some investigating on Rav about other people's experiences knitting these socks. At first I thought the heel was too big (ie I needed to wrap a diff number of wraps next time or something) but then someone had mentioned that they got that problem when the foot was too long on their sock. Sure enough, when I pulled the sock forward so the heel fit nicely on my foot, the foot itself was suddenly revealed to be about an inch or more too long on both feet.

*HEADDESK* Don't ask me how I got a foot that much too long. A combination of swatching row gauge instead of using the toe plus somehow managing to think that round a 10.2 inch foot up to 10.5 made sense (rather than rounding down to 10, if not 9.5 as a sensible person who knows stuff like negative ease is required for socks (WHICH I DO) would do). Le sigh. Maths skills and logic were apparently taking the day off when I was setting up the socks.

Also, because of the construction of these socks, you can't really judge the fit until you've finished the heel and at that point I was in knitterly denial about the fit and just kept blithely on (next pair, there will be a life line before the heel and frogging if the same thing happens). Knitterly denial is a wonderful thing. Granted I wanted them as house socks but I didn't need house canoes.

Anyway, too long socks were the problem. As I knitted them toe up, it wasn't as if they were going to unravel nicely from the toe. But I was trying them on (still vaguely hopeful the problem would disappear like magic...knitterly denial again), I suddenly thought, well, Mel, if you threaded a lifeline through the row that hits your little toe where the toe would usually finish and snipped a stitch and then unravelled the toe, you could just start again from there and knit a top down style toe back on from that point.

And then I had to go have a fit of the vapours at the thought of CUTTING knitting. Scary stuff. But when I consulted with Melissa, the knitting guru, she seemed to think it was a perfectly sensible plan. And suggested just threading the circ back through rather than a lifeline. I will note that she has been knitting many more years than me and knows what she's doing with stuff like picking up stitches rather than winging it with much internet assistance like I do. But with confirmation that my plan wasn't complete lunacy, I had no excuse to back out and try plan B (which may have involved hot water and a tumble dryer).

So, I steeled my knitterly nerve and decided to try a toe-ectomy on one of the socks. With the cunning fallback plan of knowing that Melissa was coming to visit next week and could probably save my butt if I stuffed it up too badly. So I tried the sock on, worked out where my litte toe hit, reloaded the stitches, checked that I had 30 on each needle (my number after finishing the original toe ie I was starting at a point before I'd started the increase rounds for the sock), then snipped a single stitch below the reloaded row and started to unravel.

Which looked like this.



And then turned into this. Eeek! Toe-ectomy. (sorry blurry pic, was overcome with the vapours again)



I invite you to look closely at the bit I removed...see how much there is with straight sides after the curved bit...that's how much too long the sock was. Just to prove my knitterly denial.

At which point I had either just invented socks for pedicures or those weird toeless boots that are around this season or I had to carry on and re-knit the toe...okay, a more patient knitter than I might have skeined and washed the frogged yarn to unkink it at this stage but I figured waiting for it to dry might make me lose my nerve, so I skipped that bit. Given I have only attempted kitchener stitch twice in my life and didn't think I wanted to add that into the experience, I decided to kind of reverse engineer the star toe I'd just knitted for my new pair of socks, so that I could finish by just threading the tail through the last six stitches and pulling the toe tight. And lo and behold, it worked. I had a sock that now fits reasonably, if still a little wide given my assumed drift in stitch and row gauge. But definitely now wearable without vast pouches of excess fabric at my heel which were just going to remind me of my knitting fail every time I wore them.

So then I turned around and did it again on the other sock. Knitterly redemption! And lessons learned (plus now the cutting my knitting bit I have to do in the new pair of socks is far less scary).

A final pic of new improved green socks. Go me. I'm hoping the new socks are less traumatic.

More socks

It must be sock finishing week as, lo, I have managed to finish another pair.



These are the Riverbed master pattern from New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One by Cat Bordhi. Knitted in nice cushy 8ply Merino in various shades of New Greens and Blues by Stranded In Oz. I was worried about running out of the darker one so swapped to the lighter shade for the legs but I think, looking at how much yarn I used of the lighter, I might have almost made it (I'm hopeless at eyeballing how much yarn I have left). But I think they kind of look like the feet are wet, as though you stepped into a river, which is fitting given the name.

I found the pattern really easy to follow and fast to knit (yay for thicker socks), and even though these are a little big (purely due to me stuffing up somewhere in the calculations and nothing else), I'll definitely be making Riverbed socks again. They seem to fit my high instep very nicely and the heel is very easy to do. I could've frogged these back a bit and fixed them but I just wanted a nice warm pair for wearing with slippers round the house and they'll do that nicely. Plus I practiced cabling without a cable needle on the leg (which having just looked at this tutorial again, I realised I did a little bit wrong but hey, it still worked).

But next up, sockwise, I'm moving onto Cat's other book...Personal Footprints for Insouciant Sock Knitters: Book Two in the New Pathways for Sock Knitters Series and trying that method out. Which involves....eeeek......cutting the knitting at one point! It may yet require alcohol.

For those I have this lovely stuff:



Which is the new Mitey Sock by Stranded In Oz. The colourway is KDO serendipity, one of Melissa's random mixes...it makes me think of an underwater garden somehow.

Victory!

The demon socks are finally done! I would have finished them in the US but stupidly did not take the first sock or make notes on where I changed colour for the leg after finishing the heel. But they are done now. And if I ever knit socks for my dad again, they're going to be 8ply. Men have big feet.

But yay, they are done so I can turn back to my other projects without guilt. Including some socks for me, given how cold Melbourne's winter is being.

And here is the proof. The pattern is Diamond Gansey from Socks from the Toe Up by Wendy Johnson. It's a nice easy pattern. I subbed in her gusset heel as I prefer those and I knitted these as 78 stitches, so added a stitch or two to the lace pattern. The leg is a 3x3 rib, so I increased another stitch each side in the middle of the row when I wanted to start ribbing.

Bendigo spoils

Have been up at the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show today and this morning and thus must show off my stash enhancing aquisitions. I was relatively restrained (even though these pics may indicate otherwise)....

Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply Alpaca...destined to be this scarf (and maybe the hat too).



Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury Merino 4ply...for a planned shawl. (more blue-grey than grey as it looks here)



More Bendigo Alpacas because it was on sale and pretty blue (probably another scarf of some sort)



A nostepinne (which one uses to wind skeins of wool into balls when one can't be bothered hauling out the swift and the ballwinder).



Moseley Park 70% Merino 30% Tussah silk fibre (Colourway is Balm)



Tarndwarncoort 4ply Polwarth



Handpainted Finn (4ply again, I think) Love this colourway...it looks like stormclouds. Am going to have to make a shawl out of this.



And now onto the Stranded in Oz pretties. Because, let's face it, I always buy more of Melissa's stuff whenever I come within fifty feet of it (or even just looking at it on the interwebs). She'd outdone herself this year, simply beautiful colours and yarns. I have pics of her stand too but will check with her before posting them.

This is her June 2011 Fibre Club fibre...Merino Lyocell in Melbourne Twilights (slightly pinker than this) and Black Diamond Bamboo





Silk Sock Yarn (Ocean Blues)...will probably be another shawl and once again this yarn falls somewhat foul of the hard to photograph certain blues and greens rule! It's even prettier in reality.



Superwash Merino 8ply (am making some handwarmers and then a matching scarf or socks)...and I will apologise for this shot as the greens just won't photograph true to life. It really is the most beautiful malachite/good green opal green with opaline blues.



And again in "Drama Queen"



Sterling Sock Yarn in Heaven (it sparkles...I must have sparkly socks!)



And more sock yarn that has lost its tag. I think it's the Dye My Pretties sock in Fairies in the Garden...



Btw, if anyone has SIOz yarn lust now, she's also doing the Craft and Quilt fair in Melbourne in 2 weeks time or there's the online store or she has a stall at the Port Adelaide Market in Adelaide every Sunday.