twistedloops

Last night, I finally finished the Bayerische socks.  It feels as if a major weight has been lifted from my shoulders.  I haven’t been knitting much over the last month.  I’m not sure if it has been because this sock was the only thing I had on the needles, or if life has just been that busy.  I’m thinking that it might be a combination of both.

Pattern: Bayerische Socks, Eunny Jang
Yarn: Froehlich Wolle Special Blauband (225 yards/50g)
Quantity: 2 skeins (450 yards / 100g)
Color: Olive Green
Needles: Addi Turbo 40″ 2.0mm (US 0)

Started: June 18, 2007
Completed: August 19, 2007

Pattern modifications:

• I used 3 repeats of Chart D on the legs.  I would have liked to have an additional repeat, but I did not have enough yardage.
• I decreased down to 32 stitches on the sole of the foot.  The pattern called for 36 stitches, which was too loose.
• Due to concern about yarn yardage, I reduced the ribbing to 7 rows instead of 14.

Based upon collective experience of members of KTog knitting this sock, I can offer the following observations.

• This pattern tends to make any yarn seem very splitty.  I would not recommend using any sock yarn that seems to split easily in stockinette.
• Knit the last row of twisted rib in the cuff very loosely.  This is essential for success in the increase row of the sock.
• The finished socks are beautiful, but be prepared for very slow knitting.  Even once I knew the pattern, each row took a significant length of time.
• The pattern is very methodical.  Knit stitches always cross in front of purl stitches.  Outside of Chart D, everything is either K2, P2 or K, P.  If the stitches don’t line up that way, the knitter has made a mistake.
• The cabling is much easier without a cable needle.

I was glad to have received some knitting gifts for my birthday.  I received three books.  Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller.  I also received two of the Barbara Walker Treasury books, numbers two and three.

Now that I have these treasury books, I have an urge to participate in the Walker Treasury Project.  If you haven’t heard of it, it is an effort to knit swatches of all the patterns in the Walker Treasury books.  All of the swatches in the project are posted to a blog and categorized by book, stitch type, etc.  It’s a really interesting effort.

In addition to books, I was also the lucky recipient of yarn.  Pictured below is Knit Picks Risata in Cocoa and Memories in Redwood Forest.

Finally, there are two skeins of the Knit Picks Memories in Rocky Mountain Dusk.  Notice the amount of blue in the photo below.  If you check out the color selection on the Knit Picks site, the blue is barely noticeable.  Both the gifter and I were surprised by the color of this yarn.

I also got a new size 0 needle.  My Addi is taking a beating while knitting Bayerische.  It is in a weird arc/bent shape.  Speaking of Bayerische, I’m in the second repeat of chart D on sock number two.  I forgot how long each round of this sock takes.  I hope to finish the second repeat of chart D by the end of the weekend.

I finally finished reknitting the Bayerische sock tonight.  I decided to add an additional 8 rows of the texture pattern, and then knit the toe.  I did some informal measuring, and decided that there would be enough yarn for this.  I knit, and knit, and knit.  Each row became more and more troubling.  Would I run out of yarn?  Finally, I decreased down to the 8 stitches on each needle called for by the pattern before grafting.  How much yarn was left?  You can see it there in the picture, all 29 inches of it.  That’s right, less than one yard of yarn remains.

Now, I’ll admit that I’m worried about the second sock.  If my gauge is off just a tiny bit, it could spell disaster for sock two.  But, I went ahead and wove in the ends on the first sock.  It’s interesting, my sock is actually a bit big on me.  As I knit with the others from KTog on this project, I kept noticing that mine was a bit wider than the other socks being knit.  But, as I stated in a previous post, I refuse to knit socks on anything smaller than my US0s.

As for the next steps, I’m not sure if I’ll cast on for the next sock right away, or continue with my other current knitting obsession, dishcloths.  I’ve finally knit some ballband dishcloths.  The pattern is easy to memorize, and makes for good movie knitting.  I’ve still got a ton of cotton to go, so I image there will continue to be more of this pattern. 

So, Ravelry posted a way to check your place on the waiting list.  I’ve got less than 1,000 people in front of me.  Based upon the Ravelry blog’s previously stated statisitics about the number of invites they are sending per week, I’m thinking that I should get in this week.  While I heard about the site early on, I wasn’t really interested in joining.  It wasn’t until Ravelry posted screenshots of the features that I really became interested.  I have the advantage that I already keep a fairly extensive spreadsheet of my yarn inventory and some projects I want to make. 

As I was surfing around the net today, I stumbled upon a site of knitting and felted bag patterns that I’d never been to before, Noni Designs.  I’ve never seen their patterns, but I love this bag, the Large Patterned Prism Bag.  I even love it in the chocolate and aqua colors shown.  I haven’t done any felting in more than a year, but this bag might just be a reason to jump in.  The site also has a nice tutorial on how to line square bags and triangle shaped bags.

There has been no knitting progress on Bayerische.  I did manage to rip the toe back to the last patterned row, but I did nothing from there.  The knitting time I had this weekend was spent making some Ballband Dishcloths in the cotton that I have. 

Last night I knit the last row of Bayerische sock number one.  However, the toe is a bit too small and tight, so I will be ripping it out later today and adding some additional plain rounds.  I admit, you, you and the blogless others at KTog on Tuesday night were correct; I had enough yarn to finish the sock.  However, this is my remaining yarn.  I can admit that I was extra nervous at the end – it’s a super tiny ball of yarn!

I’m thinking that I should be able to rip back and add a few plain rounds before I start the decreases.  I had to start the toe before the pattern called for, I knew I would not have enough yarn to continue in pattern until 1.5 inches remained.  Because I knew the toe had to be longer, I added additional plain knit rows between decreases.  Obviously, I did not add enough rows.