Knitting Notes

Yes, the house is still in pieces, there is still a homeless man about (yesterday he took a shower at my house and USED MY TOWEL without asking, and he may have also used my toothbrush -- so I bought a new one just in case), and my research is still imitating particle in a box (you can sort out that metaphor if you want). But my expansive TV-watching has been combined with lots of knitting. (Do I love the cable access channel? Yes, I do. Except when I found myself watching my city council unanimously approve an ordinance making it extremely difficult to operate an adult-oriented business in my city.)

1. Progress has been fairly slow on the socks that I'm making from Lorna's Laces Shephered Sock in bee stripe. I started trying Wendy's toe up pattern, but I had trouble dealing with the double-wraps. So I tried another pattern, one that calls for a much thicker yarn and 56 sts around the sock. I've scaled up to 68 sts, but I probably should have gone up to 72 sts. The pattern I'm using says to start the gusset when the socks are 5.5" long, which they are now. Except when I try them on. When they stretch around the foot, they get shorter, so I think I should make them longer. I've already calculated the changes to the pattern for doing the heel on 68 sts instead of 56, so once I decide WHEN to start the heel, I should be OK.
   


2. I've been making the drop stitch shrug (pdf) from the current Interweave. Now I have a real-world example for when my students ask why they would ever use the tests for divisibility instead of just dividing with a calculator: the pattern repeats every 6 rows. Most rows you knit the knits and purl the purls, but when the row number is divisible by 6, there are dropped stitches and yarn overs. Instead of the yarn it calls for, I'm using Silky Wool. Since it's a finer yarn than the designer used, I've had to make a few changes (like continuing the increases until row 136 instead of to row 104). Also, I think I'll be able to get away with only 150g of yarn instead of the 300g of the original that was called for. I totally adore this yarn. Aside from the color it reminds me of a sweater that I loved when I was in grad school. The same marled quality of the color, the same texture. Even the same type of plant junk. I used to sit in class and pull bits of stuff out of the sweater. Once I got my hair cut short, I no longer had split ends to pull off during class.
   


3. I've also been experimenting with decreases. I have a new favorite decrease to use when making things like hats or mittens or anything else where I'm not pairing a left-leaning decrease with a right-leaning decrease. Take the first st on the left needle and reverse the stitch mount (that is: sl kwise, return sl st to left needle) then k2tog.