DH and Vanilla Socks

Ahhhhh, vanilla socks.  Arg, socks for Bigfoot.  Bigfoot is otherwise known as DH.  He wears a size 13 shoe and he married a knitter that loves him dearly, except when she has to knit socks for him.  While she knits, she grumbles and thinks about when she can stop knitting on the foot of the socks just at the right spot to make them for her feet.  Love triumphs often enough that he has almost as many hand knit socks as her. Even in size 1 needles.

Toe up Vanilla in Herrschners Super Value Sock Pack (Aztec)

Just kidding, I really do love my darling dearest.  He has a redeeming quality of narrow feet.  I am not sure what I would do/say/grumble if DH had wide feet.  Thankfully, a 64-stitch sock fits his foot nicely.  However, I will include a few reference points for scale.  I am roughly 5 foot 5 inches in heights and am normally proportioned.  Without knitting the heel (afterthought heel) and keeping a shorter cuff length, the sock is the length of my thigh.  That’s right; it is thigh length on an average sized woman.  DH’s preference is for shorter legs and cuffs so by the time I add in the heel, the sock cuff will only extend over the foot length by 1.5”.

While I have knit the hat for my co-worker, the socks sidetracked me again.  You would think that at some point boredom would set in.  There is at least one more pair in my immediate future.  My baby sister sent me a few skeins of sock yarn for Christmas.  They are next up in my queue and I wonder if I think this all the way through if, I can extend the socks as far as the yarn will take me.  The yarn from Baby Sis is the Deborah NorvilleCollection, Serenity Sock Weight yarn in the Amethyst color way.  I am excited to see how it plays out but I won’t cast on these socks until I pass the foot of DH’s second sock.  Going to take forever!

Lastly, I have won something again!  Uncommonly good luck has been heading my way lately.  As I’ve mentioned before, I watch the Geeky Girls podcast and I participated in C.C. and Damaris’s giftable KAL. The random number generator picked my post on Ravelry for a hat destined for Halos of Hope. The bag is a wonderful olive green and clearly states to keep hands off stash.  J

Dr. Watson Adjustments

Finally! Dr. Watson's Cabled Crew-Neck is just a block away as the Knitmore Girls would say. The tails need tucked and blocked but the knitting and seaming is finally done. Roughly half the tails are tucked but I need to get off my duff and finish it up. However, this podcast should be about all of my modifications like I promised.


The first change was due to gauge. I needed to remove several stitches for a comfortable fit without it being almost DH size. So instead of casting on 232 stitches, I cast on 200. Then I removed a p2, k6 in two locations (instead of having a 3 cable section, I have a 2 cable section). When I had to divide for the front and back, I placed the first 103 stitches on an extra cable. The back was 105 stitches instead of 121 stitches.

The shoulders are where I got really creative. I worked 28 stitches instead of 36 stitches. Looking back, I wonder if I shouldn't have adjusted the shoulders and worked them as written for a tighter neckline than what I currently have. With the neckline shaping, did not write down any adjustments but I know I adjusted the shoulders and worked the neckline from what I didn't need for the shoulders.

Sleeves. Without thinking, I cast on the sleeves as written and needed to rip them out. Next, I cast on 44 stitches and then I needed to remove the first k4, p2 and the last p2, k4. From there I knit the pattern as written until I had the correct length sleeves (correct for my arm length). As it worked out for me, I had to increase until I had 101 stitches in the sleeves. That said, I like having loose sleeves because I always wear a long sleeve t-shirt under my sweaters.


As I said the things I maybe would have done differently:

1. Adjust the neckline to a smaller width based on my gauge
   
2. Knit the shoulders as written
   
3. Maybe use DK instead of Worsted
   
4. If I wanted to use Worsted, perhaps I should have used the seamed version instead of the in the round version.
   
5. Learn to hem knitting before I attempt a hem on a handknit sweater.

Additional information:
Needles: Hiya Hiya Interchangeables in size 4 (3.5mm) and 6 (4mm)

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes Gypsy Tonal

Busy days ahead

This time of year, people seem to lose all reason. Myself included! Somehow, there are fewer hours in the day and people pack more into those precious few! Prime examples. Logically, there are only 7 days until Christmas but the schedule of events is filled with 12 days worth of things. For example, there is Zoolight Safari, visiting Santa, cleaning the house before my in-laws arrive, several days of work/daycare, a little additional last minute holiday knitting, survival knitting, cooking, cleaning, experimentation, and organization. I think that's the big stuff. While I realize cleaning is on there twice, there are 2 boys under the age of 4 in this house and one much older boy. Cleaning is going need to happen until the in-laws arrive.

That may be the best seam I've ever done.

So, the important stuff; the knitting has been happening very slowly. Finally the sleeves are getting set into the Dr. Watson Sweater. (As soon as I remember to bring the pattern home, I will put all of my mods on this blog.) Nothing wrong with the pattern, just everything wrong with the knitter. Procrastination should be the knitter's middle name. With as bright as the yarn is, seaming  in the dark isn't easy. Half a sleeve was seamed Monday night and the remaining half was seamed Tuesday over the lunch break. Now, if only the sweater was for Uncle GeGe who lost an arm in his 20's. Horrible farming accident so always be careful working around moving equipment and especially if you've grown up operating the equipment. Granted, Uncle GeGe is no longer walking this earth but this sweater could have been for him with the 1 sleeve and if it was his size.

1 sleeve done

Also worked on and finished finished Monday evening was another pair of vanilla socks. The yarn is some kettle dyed yarn from Dixie Fiber Works in the plum colorway. Cast on 64 stitches on a size 0 circular needle, k2 p2 for roughly 2" the move to stockinette stitch for another 3 inches. The first sock is easy because I use things like the finger bone as an approximate inch marker. So when I was ribbing in ISO training, I went until I had 2 finger bone lengths. The leg length was knit until lunch or a break and when it was longer than the ribbing by about yay much. Grab a little waste yarn, then pick up and gogogogogo until the foot is long enough.

Perfect Sock Heel

By that time, I'm back to my tape measure and it's after dinner. Then toe decreases in your perfered method and graft the toe closed. I made it a point to pick up an extra 4 stitches when I removed the waste yarn and knit 1 addtional round before starting my decreases. For some reason, that set up gave me the perfect afterthought heel I think I've ever done.

Socks log wonderful in steel toe boots

After all this finishing work I've identifed a lack in my life. At the Zoolight Safari, Holiday lights at our nearby zoo, I noticed the Knitter in the family is lacking a warm winter hat. DH has a hat. DS1 has a hat. DS2 has a hat. Me, I have none. DH is wearing a Turn a Square hat by Jared Flood with a yarn I cannot remember. His yarn was bought at Labadie Looms in Bird-in-Hand PA. The leftovers were used to make Rib-a-Roni by Jane Tanner for DS1. DS2 is proudly wearing Speedy Cabled Beret by Paulina Chin in a bulky yarn dyed by me. The Speedy Cabled Beret was knit on the wrong needle size and I wasn't paying enough attention at the time to realize it was going to be way too small for me.

1, 2, 3, wait! Where's my hat?

The next project for me is going to be hat for a co-worker then a hat for me. I will be keeping the hat I make for me, I promise. (hope)

Random Thoughts

Today is a day for random thoughts; fair warning.

With wine, trashy romance novel hit the mood.

Knitting Related:

Why do wine, knitting, and a book make everything look better?

Why do I always promise to be a monogamous knitter until the current WIP is finished but then stop knitting for at least 24 hours?

Do budgets exist just to drive people crazy (especially yarn budgets)?

How does a toddler pull the waste yarn (several inches) in my afterthought heel out when I am lucky to cinch up 5 stitches at most?

Seriously child, HOW?

Child Related:

Why is it that when there’s a long ride home and a promised delay on the route home, toddlers refuse to go potty when asked. Literally as soon as they are buckled into the car, they need to go?

Why do I ask DH to pick something up for the kiddo and he gets grouchy the following morning because I made him get up with the Kiddo dealing with the problem?  It could have been taken care of the evening before!

Why is hugging/holding Mommy’s Legs fun, even if she’s not going anywhere?

Why? WHY is this fun?

Everything Else:

Why do I keep looking at shopping websites when I have all of holiday shopping done?

Must I think a day at work is going to be an easy day and instead I consider it lucky if I am able to visit the ladies room when I want to instead of when I can’t hold it any longer?

If I'm missing at work, I may be hiding here with the bag as my pillow.

Uh-Oh MOMMA- Toddler style

Holy Smoke! What a past couple of weeks-week and a half.  Happy belated Turkey Day to everyone in the US. We had a small gathering of just the 4 of us (DH, both Things, and me). As with every good holiday, there was way too much food for the people involved. DH did cook a turkey and then after Thanksgiving I had the BEST idea for using up a portion of the leftovers. We had Turkey Pot Pie! DH had kindly made a turkey stock for freezing and I made him use up a great bit of it for a homemade cream of turkey soup; delicious.

Source of problems for DS1. 

DH went back to work on black Friday while I stayed home with the boys. We continued our food coma while I did a little knitting. DS1’s socks were finished up. Silly boy, he is such a weirdo (Said with sincere affection). I finished the one sock on Friday while he was napping. By the time he awoke, the second sock was cast on and had roughly an inch of cuff. He came out to the couch were I had the needles sitting, picked it up and freaked out! “Momma Momma Uh-oh Uh-Oh MOMMA Loook Uh-Oh!” I had to dig the finished sock out of my bag and hand it over to him to reassure him Mommy had not screwed up. The rest of Friday I did not touch that sock unless I was after him (tickle wars and Nannabooboos). He wore the one sock, took the sock off, wore the sock, took the sock off, ect. I worked like a speed demon to finish the second sock by Saturday at the end of nap. With a finished pair, he had ZERO interest in the socks.  Toddlers, who can figure them out?

Both sleeves with an old college sweatshirt

The Dr. Watson sweater saw some love but not as much as it should have seen. As of late Sunday night (Dec. 8^th) the second sleeve is completed and the only thing left to do is the finishing work (like putting sleeves into the sweater body). I had a trip to Atlanta scheduled for ISO training so the first thing packed was knitting. I brought along the second sleeve, yarn for a pair of vanilla socks, lace yarn, and yarn for a hat to Halos of Hope. The only items to see any knitting was the sleeve and the vanilla socks.  More knitting would have been done but I was convinced to hang out in the bar with a few glasses of wine. Most of my knitting was done during the lectures/sessions on the sock. Someday I’ll be smart enough to take pictures of the sock in progress between each break. Someday but not yet.

I use Nike+ gear and that's my fastest mile in years.

By the way, when you wake up at 4 AM in a hotel room and are unable to go back to sleep, I recommend getting up after an hour of attempting to sleep going for a run. It’s fabulous! See?