Short Row Heels

I started knitting Nutkin socks on Saturday. I turned the heel on Sunday night right before bed. I'm happy with it, and I'm not. You see, I'm a heel flap kind of girl. But I like the way this sock looked so much, that I thought I'd try, just once, to do what I was told.

I'm happy with the left side of the heel (strangely, this is the side that I had to P3tog)


However, the right side, leaves a little to be desired. I'm going to have to go over it again after the sock is finished to reinforce it.



My main question for you folks: do you know any good short row heels that are awesome and don't create holes? I'm looking for the short row heel that will tear me away from my happy heel flap loving existence, and turn me into a short row heel kind of girl.

Apparently, I'm doing a short row toe as well, so that kind of advice might come in handy sooner rather than later...

Mommy, where do socks go when they die?

I knit these socks out of STR Lightweight. I really like the yarn a lot, and actually, I'm wearing a pair of socks that I knit out of the heavyweight version.

I have learned quite the lesson, however. I'm pretty sure I'll be investing in some nylon thread the next time I knit a pair of socks out of yarn without any nylon. It's interesting to me to see which socks last the longest. And I'm suddenly in a sock mood. I want to knit every sock right now. Of course that's not possible.

Especially because the Ravelympics are coming! In 2006 I joined in the Yarn Harlot's kntiting olympics. I didn't medal. I came pretty close to finishing the sweater I was working on, but in fairness to me, it was my first sweater and it was knit in pieces and I had troubles with it to boot. I figured that to give myself half a chance this time, I should knit a pattern I've already knit before.

A couple of years ago I knit a Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I really liked knitting it. I liked the faux seams on the side, I liked the shaping of it and the button band as well as the cables in the yoke. I actually found it fun to knit. Tragically, this sweater which I loved for a short time, had an unfortunate incident with some warm water and felted. It's still wearable, just not by me. So to give myself a fighting chance of actually medaling this year, and to replace a fabulous sweater which I dearly miss, I'll be knitting another Tangled Yoke Cardigan as my Ravelympics project for 2010. And, because I liked it so much the first time, I'll be knitting it out of Rowan Felted Tweed again, this time in green instead of red:


I haven't quite picked up the buttons yet, but I'm pretty sure that M&J still has the buttons I used on the first one, and that they come in different colors, so that's a good bet I think.

How about you folks? Are you joining in on the Ravelympics? I haven't quite figured out which team I'm joining yet, though, I guess I should do that soon. I'm tossing up the Brooklyn Team or Team USA. Are there any friends on either? Which should I join?

I'm a Lab Rat!

It's been a really long week, despite the fact that it has been a "short" week. Because I don't have enough going on in life (aheh), I thought I'd sign up for a knitting/creativity study at NYU. It seems like fun anyway. If you're interested in doing it, here are the details:

As part of her research on creativity, Prof. Anne Laure Sellier (NYU) is running a Creativity Project with advanced knitters at the Purl yarn store in Soho. If you can knit, purl, do stockinette, seed stitch, increases / decreases, and create cables, and you are NOT color-blind, you can take part in this study.
The study will be run until March 9. It involves you coming to Purl for 15 minutes to get yarn and needles that we provide you with. With our selection of yarn and needles, we'll ask you to create a scarf in a week's time. At the end of the week, you will be asked to come to our lab at NYU (West 4th street), to present your work, and fill out a questionnaire.

Participants receive a $20 gift certificate to get yarn from Purl once they have complete the study!!!

If you are willing to take part in the study, please directly contact Chiara Longoni who supervises the study. Her e-mail is cl1388@nyu.edu.

We hope to see you soon!
The Creativity Study


My question to you is, if I get a $20 gift certificate to Purl, can I use it on sock yarn, or does that go against the stash busting mode I'm in?

Socks

So I tore my apartment up tonight looking for a ball of Malabrigo in Bijou Blue that I knit my swatch out of. I was going to use it as waste yarn because I'm getting really close to the arms and I need some waste yarn. Well, I couldn't find it. I've no idea where it went.

You're asking yourself right now, how does this tie into the subject line "socks?"

Here's how:

I went through almost every box/bag of yarn I have looking for this damn ball of Malabrigo. And dudes, I have a literal S**T TON of sock yarn. There's a huge bag stuffed to the brim of sock yarn under a chair. There's ends in a box in the middle of the living room. There's "nice" sock yarn on TOP of the ends in the box in the middle of the living room. I know that it doesn't sound like a lot, you're just going to have to trust me.

I've been good though. I haven't bought any new sock yarn since I last posted about buying sock yarn. I've knit with sock yarn that wasn't mine. I knit a sock for Annie's. I don't remember what the yarn was, but I loved it and would totally buy a ball (except for that moratorium on sock yarn).

I totally need to get a photo of all my sock yarn so that you can get an idea as to how much we're working with here. I could probably sock a full platoon at this point.

Confessional

Thank you Blogland. It has been 3 years since my last confession.

The first thing I'd like to confess is the 5 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted I took off of Illanna's hands.


I have no idea yet what I want to do with it. Only that it's pretty and soft and green and happy. I took her and Danny out to dinner at Do Hwa in Manhattan (mmm...Korean!) as payment. It was totally worth it. I think.

The second sin I confess to are 2 skeins of Lorna's Laces sock yarn in some happy green color.


You see, I have these embossed leaves socks that have holes in the heels now. So I need to re-knit them. Re-knitting them with a sock yarn that has nylon in it seems like a good idea. So now I have sock yarn to knit another pair. Still, I didn't really need to buy the yarn for them.

And then tonight happened.


I couldn't control it somehow. It just leapt into my hands. It was so pretty and what happens if they don't make any more of it? I'd be stuck without it right?

I'm wondering what it will take for me to hit rock bottom. To realize that I have an addiction and to seek some sort of help. I stuffed the Franklin's Panopticon Lorna's Laces into the bag under the extra chairs that holds all my sock yarn. I realized then that...well...that I have a shit ton of sock yarn. Please excuse the language, I don't swear a lot on this blog (even if I curse like a sailor in real life), but you have to understand that the best way to convey the sheer amount of sock yarn in there is by swearing.

I didn't spend a ton of time looking at all the different sock yarn, I must say, but I did see a few skeins in there that I thought to myself Geez, there's some nice yarn in there. I should knit some of it. So my new resolution (yeah, it's a little late for that eh?) is to knit socks ONLY from my sock yarn stash. I thus proclaim 2009:

THE YEAR OF THE SOCK

Sock Meme

I was reading Blue Garter this morning and found a nifty sock meme. Since I haven't had much sock specific on the blog in a bit, I thought a sock meme was just the thing!

When did you first learn to knit socks? A couple of years ago. I think I was looking for things that would be relatively cheap to make (compared to sweaters and afghans).

What’s the first sock you ever knit? It was a custom dealy from Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks Warm Feet (ravelry link) I knit them out of mercerized cotton at 9 sts to the inch. They make my feet sweat, and I don't wear them ever. Cool colors though. They were stockinette with a short row heel.

Favorite Sock Pattern? I'm not sure I have one. I like a lot of the patterns I've done. Maybe the Monkies by Cookie A or the Jaywalkers by Grumperina.

Favorite needle method? I really only knit my socks in magic loop. I feel like other methods are fiddely and take too long.

Favorite sock needles? Addi Turbos, size 1 32"

Who do you knit socks for? Me. I have knit socks for my roommate and my mother though. Stan's mom wants a pair next, and my brother told me that his girlfriend folds her socks so that she only wears them up to the heel. He asked me to knit a pair of those, whatever you call them.

How many pairs have you knitted to date? My sock drawer says: 9, hurt bag says: 3 and I'm reminded of two pairs i've knit for others. Grand total: 14.

What is on your sock knitting to-do list? In no particular order: Spiral Boot socks, Coriollis by Cat Bordhi, argyle knee socks, nutkin, Narragansett Bay socks (for my home state!), scroll lace socks

What kind of socks do you like to knit-
striped? Meh. Not unless it's self striping. I don't really dig weaving in ends.
colorwork? I'm not big into colorwork either. I have done one pair of color work ones, and they were a bit tight.
plain stockinette? I do like a good stockinette sock every now and again. especially with some good colors.
cabled? as long as the cable isn't too intense. I'm not a fan of using cable needles on such small yarn, so i'd have to be able to rearrange the stitches sans needle.
lace? I think these are my favorite socks to knit. They just can't look too girly, cause that's not really how I roll.
anklets? I knit a lot of anklets because they're nice to wear in the spring. I soon found out, however, that I should be knitting nice long legs to my socks to keep my legs warm!
knee socks? I have a few knee socks on my queue. I knit a pair of over the knee socks and I didn't mind them so much. So I think that regular knee socks won't feel as bad.
solid colors? I think I've only knit one pair of socks in a solid color. It worked for that pair. It just seems like I gravitate towards variegated yarns.
bright and crazy? I do tend to lean towards bright and crazy color combinations that don't match anything I wear.
Faux Faire Isle (where the yarn is doing all the work) I haven't ever used those kinds of yarns. I feel like my gauge would be off and they wouldn't be faux faire isle at all.

Tag a few sock knitters: Claudine, Illanna, Beth, and anyone else really that wants to. How about that!?