Eleven Stitches

Overshadowed

Lots of knitting and other very good, exciting things have been going on at Casa Eleven Stitches recently, but they've been overshadowed by some bad news. 

My dad has been in the hospital for the past week, due to some complications following an emergency surgery he had a few weeks ago.  I know that knitblogland is a very warm and caring place, and any good thoughts, prayers, warm vibes, or happy karma you could send his way would be very much appreciated.

In the meantime, I'm very thankful that I have knitting and warm kitties.  They help.

Ocean Toes Sock

I finished the first Ocean Toes Sock last week.  This was a pattern from Cat Bohrdi's newest book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters.  I had a lot of fun knitting up the sock and learning a new architecture in the process!

This sock doesn't have a "normal" heel.  You knit the leg as normal, and then you start regularly increasing at evenly-spaced points.  This creates a sort of funnel.

From here, one works a heel turn that is similar to what is done after making a heel flap.  Then the sole stitches are worked back and forth, picking up a stitch from the instep stitches (bottom of the funnel) at the end of each row.  By the time all of these stitches are picked up, there's only about 30 rows left to go before the toe begins.

Here's a detail shot of the heel.  There weren't any in the book, and I was curious about how it would look.  A slip-stitch pattern on the heel is worked for the last few rows of the arch expansion, but the pattern pretty much continues all the way to the bottom.

In addition to an innovative architecture, I think Cat wrote a beautiful pattern.  I really like all of the decorative details.

Oh, did you notice that this isn't knit up in the Yarn Pirate yarn I mentioned last time?  I really needed to use size US2 needles for the sock to fit my foot.  The Yarn Pirate was too thin, but I found some Koigu that was a great substitute.  I'm going to have to do something with that Yarn Pirate yarn soon!

Handspun

I've never felt the itch to spin.  I'm not exactly sure why, because I know there are so many who love it.  It was the same way with quilting.  There are so many quilters who hand-dye their fabric, and I never really felt the need to do that either.  I'm happy to focus on the knitting and the quilting.

One thing I do wish for, however, is the barber pole yarn that you can only really find in handspun.  The Sock Hop yarn is perpetually sold out (unless you're lucky enough to land on the site just after they put up new stuff), so I did some looking around Etsy.  I found this.

It's from the self-descriptive shop, Yummy Yarn.

It turns out that my orange cat, Sasha, also really likes it. I had to wait for her to scamper off before I could get some real pictures taken.

I'm looking forward to knitting with my first handspun.  Next time, if I can't convince my friends to make me some barber pole yarn (hint?), I'm sure I'll again be able to find something lovely online.

Quick Progress

My knits seem to be progressing faster than I can blog about them.  Not a bad place to be, really...

Here's half of a sleeve and the body almost up to the armholes of my current sweater.  I say almost to the armholes because after I put sweater on waste yarn I decided I want another inch.  I'll knit those rows up once the sleeves are done, before I put everything on the needles together.

I decided to go with the graduated stripes.  It's a really simple pattern: each stripe is one row wider than the stripe before. 

When I started, I had in mind Elizabeth Zimmerman's seamless sweater with inset sleeves.  I'm also now considering the Hybrid.  I don't really have to decide until both sleeves are done!

Even though the sweater body is knit bottom up, I cast on with waste yarn and I'm knitting the sleeves top down.  I wanted the stripes to line up correctly when everything is joined, and it's difficult to tell which direction stockinette is facing anyway. It also has the added advantage of every stripe knitting up a little faster than the previous one!

How to Flip

In my last post, I mentioned that I had flipped the lace patterning for my second sock.  This is an explanation of the way that I did it.  It seemed pretty intuitive to me, and I hope that some of you find it helpful.

First of all, start off with a chart.  The lace pattern for the Child's First Sock was written out, but I charted it because I find it easier to read and understand.  The chart below is NOT the Child's First Sock lace pattern, but it's an easier lace pattern that is fairly similar.

You just take this chart, and reverse it.  There are a few ways to do this.  The easiest is to use a image program (such as Microsoft Paint) to flip it horizontally.  Or can flip your paper chart over and trace it on the back of the paper.  When the chart is reversed, most of the stitches remain the same. The exception on this chart is that the SSK, "\", is flipped over to become a K2tog, "/".

This new chart will be a reverse of the original lace pattern.  Here is an example of the above lace pattern I made.  It's two repeats wide and two repeats long.

That's all there is to it! 

Because It's Been 4 Days Without a Sock Post

And finally, my third FO for the week.  The first sock of this pair was the one that got my whole single sock kick started.  After having so many difficulties in getting it to fit me, I couldn't face having to do a second one right away.  Fortunately, the second sock was completed without any major problems.

Pattern: Child's First Sock in Shell Pattern by Nancy Bush, from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Collinette Jitterbug in Velvet Bilberry, 1 skein
Needles: Susan Bates DPNs size US1
Time to Knit:  March 14 - April 18 and August 4 - 11
Modifcations: I only did 14 rounds of ribbing and only 5 repeats on the leg, I increased the heel flap by about 1", and I reversed the lace pattern for the second sock.

I got the idea to reverse the lace pattern for the second sock while I was knitting the first one.  The original only uses SSKs, and I was missing the (faster for me) K2togs. I was excited about flipping the pattern around for the second sock UNTIL I realized that now every single YO was in front of a purl stitch. I don't like having the stitches in this order, but I felt like I was committed at that point, so the flipped pattern stayed.

For the first repeat, I executed the YO P my regular way, but making a purl stitch with the yarn held to the back.  This makes a small YO that is sometimes difficult to find on the next round.  It's not very comfortable for me, but it does make the YO a similar size to my YO-before-a-knit-stitch. This got old rather quickly, and I then switched to wrapping the yarn entirely around the needle once, and then executing a purl stitch as normal.  The YOs are much bigger this way, but they are easy to execute, find, and pick up on the next round. As you can see, it made a difference in the lace patterning.

I only did 5 repeats on the leg because I was worried about running out of yarn. The Jitterbug skein only has 267 yards/100g.  This also means it's a thicker yarn, and my arms were getting a little sore after knitting it on size US1 needles.  I think next time I use this yarn I'll stick to patterns that require a size US2.

These socks feel wonderful on my feet.  They fit perfectly, and I know they'll be nice and warm come this winter.  This newest pair would have brought my single sock count down to 7, but as I have a new sock on the needles, my single sock count is soon going to be 8.  At least it's an improvement from 11!

My First Shawl

I've discovered recently that a shawl is very difficult to photograph.  All of you with the incredibly gorgeous shawl photos: I admire you even more than I did before.

Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn Clark in Wrap Style
Yarn: Artfibers Kyoto color 20, 4 balls
Needles: Knit Picks Options Size 9
Time to Knit: July 10 - July 26
Modifications: I added a extra repeat and left off the last 2 rows of the edge chart.

This was a really enjoyable knit, and a great first shawl!  I think Artfibers yarn worked really well in this shawl, too!

I calculated that I had enough yarn for an extra repeat, and I'm glad that I did.  It's a relatively small shawl even with the extra repeat.  I also feel satisfied that I was able to really maximize the amount of yarn that I had for it. Oh, and my calculations were spot on!  Yay for math!

Another thing I just learned: it's very difficult to hold your arms out straight for a long time.  David offered to do it instead.  He did a much better job, even if we didn't choose the greatest background for the picture.

This is a very pretty FO, and I'm really happy with it.  It will be great for a cool evening, or for some time when I'm feeling a little fancy.  Now I have to decide which shawl I want to knit next!

My New Bag

I've been wanting to make myself a new handbag for a while now.  I had all sorts of ideas for fabrics and shapes.  This is my end result.

I've found it easier to locate items in bags which are wider at the top than at the bottom, which is why I settled on this shape.  I like the combination of floral and polka dot fabrics, and I love my outside phone pocket and satin ribbon handle.

My new handbag also has an inside pocket, which I find useful.  It's a great excuse to use more polka dot fabric!

The one major problem with this bag, unfortunately, is its shape.  It really distorts when I pick it up by its cute satin strap.  I've come to realize that most bags which are wider at the top than at the bottom also are U or V shaped at the top so that they can distort gracefully.  Lesson learned!

Turning the Tide

I got the new Cat Bohrdi book, New Pathways for Sock Knitters, in the mail yesterday.  I love it!  I haven't been this happy with a new book in a while.  Cat has expanded the basic sock architecture of either heel flap or short-row/afterthought into eight new ones.  It's so stimulating to consider all of these new possibilities.  Her explanations are simple and nicely illustrated, and she has helpful pictures for both DPNs and circular needles. 

I'd recently been thinking about starting a new single sock, and this book did me in.  Once pattern in particular, Ocean Toes, I found to be stunning, and I thought that my new Yarn Pirate Booty Club yarn would be a perfect fit.

Since the Yarn Pirate yarn is thinner than the called-for yarn, I went down a needle size, but it still seems to be fitting my foot.  So far I've learned a new cast on and a new cuff style, and this is before getting to the new architecture!  Oh, and the yarn?  Yum!  I'm so glad I'm in this club!

Yesterday was my 6-month blogiversary, and this is my 100th post.  I can't think of a nicer way to celebrate than with a lot of sweater knitting and an exciting new project.  I've also got 3 FOs to report in the next few posts!  See you soon.

Dodecahedron

Now I can finally reveal some gift knitting!  When David was little, he had a stuffed dodecahedron as a toy.  In fact, his first big word was "dodecahedron".  Is it any wonder he grew up to be a mathematician? Soon after David told me about this, we discovered that his old toy had been thrown away. It was a sad day.

A few years ago I quilted David an icosahedron for Christmas.  The equilateral triangles that make up the sides were a lot easier to cut out than pentagons.  For this year, I decided to tackle the dodecahedron.  I found it quite easy to make knitted pentagons, and the rest was simple after that!

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Vermillion, Rhodesian, Sauterne, Olive, Stone Blue, Velvet Grapes and unknown (partial balls of all)
Needles: US Size 6 and size G crochet hook
Time to Knit: July 11 - August 3

I happened to have a lot of Malabrigo yarn in my stash, so it was a great choice for this project!  Once the pentagons were knitted, I loosely lined them with a matching fabric pentagon.  I only tacked it on at the edges and center because I wanted the pentagon to be able to stretch to the correct size, but I did want to prevent the stuffing from showing through the holes in the knitting. 

Because of the nature of the fabric and stuffing, it looks more like a ball than a regular polygon.  I think the only way to get around this is to have the stuffing be a foam core that could hold a rigid shape.  But this works well enough for me!

I spent a lot of time working on this while at my local SNB.  It was kind of funny to see people's reactions when I told them what I was making. 

David was really happy and surprised when he opened up the gift.  He immediately started giving me a math lesson about it, too.  I think that means he likes it :)

PS.  David wants to thank all of you for the birthday wishes.  He really enjoyed reading through all of the comments!