Grafting on a heel

Last night I decided to put in the heel of the plain stockinette socks I've been working on.

So far I'd just knit a tube of stockinette. I planned to do an afterthought heel, I remember seeing the technique sometime in the last couple years either in a knitting book or a blog or something. Anyway, it didn't seem like it would be too hard to figure out so I threw caution to the wind and hunkered down to do it last night. (Throwing caution to the wind, because with no internet at home I couldn't get any hints once I started.)

So, I knit the heel to be added in, exactly the same way as I knit the toe.

With the length of the heel staring me in the face I had a better time guessing how long to make the foot (these won't be for me, so I made them a little longer than I would for myself). I took two spare circs and picked up the stitches on either side of my chosen row,

held my breath and snipped the row in between.

At this point I am using 6 circular needles - finally justifying the ridiculous number of 2 mm needles I have!

After that, I grafted the heel on and voila!

The grafting took a lot longer than I expected, and dealing with the corners of the heel was a PITA, as usual for me. Regardless of the method of construction, I always get a hole on one side of the heel. Anyway, the hole in this case is no better or worse than usual for me, so I suppose it could be hole-free in the hands of a more careful knitter.

Anyway I am pretty pleased with the result, the socks are going to be the right length and I can use every last drop of this yarn. I'm so sick of seeing it in my stash I don't want any leftovers hehehe.

In preparation of this post, I checked around and it seems that "afterthought heel" technique is done slightly differently by different folks, though the others that I saw in my quick search picked up the stitches from the tube and knit the heel off of it rather than grafting it on. Oh well, since I kinda like grafting I don't mind the extra work I made for myself. Perhaps I'll try it the more usual way for the second sock.

Slow Progress

I’ve got a bunch of projects on the needles, so progress on any one project isn’t really noteworthy.  But, in the interest of not letting the blog go quiet for too long, here’s a look at what I’m working on.

Least excitingly is this plain sock.

 This is yarn I bought of ebay a couple years ago.  It was at one point most of a pair of socks, but it wasn’t working out and they ended up frogged.  This time, I just cast on a toe using Judy’s Magic Cast On, made increases until it fit and just knit.  I’m planning on doing some kind of afterthought heel, but I haven’t figured out the details yet (it’s a new technique for me).  I like the colors of this yarn though I would never wear something like this, if the experiment with the heel is successful these’ll be somebody’s Christmas present.  How’s THAT for planning ahead on holiday knitting?

 I’ve also been working on the Cleopatra wrap that I started ages and ages ago.   At this point it’s more of a test of resolve to finish the thing, because I don’t particularly like or dislike it.  I’m considerably less enamored of the colorway than I was a couple years ago, the blue is much more prominent than it seemed in the skein.  It’s hard to get a good representation of the color using the light in my apartment, but this is ok.

 The yarn actually feels great but for this pattern I should have chosen something more solid.  Anyway, I’ll be happy if the day finally comes when I finish this thing.  I’m still deciding if the finished product will be glam enough for my grandma or if I should knit her something else and keep this for the office.  Those blue streaks really bug me and I don’t know if my grandma would wear something in that colorway.

 The East Meets West bag that I started is going only slowly.  Actually I was in a bit of a colorwork frenzy after I cast on because I have a lot of fun knitting with yarn in each hand.  But I am a little worried about the tension in my floats, and I’m considering ripping out and starting over.  On the one hand, since this is a lined bag the floats don’t have to be perfect, but on the other hand, since I’m cramming so many stitches on the needle I think some of the floats are too short and will cause some puckering .  And now that I am thinking of this issue every time I pick up those needles, it’s hard not to obsess about those stinkin’ floats and the fun of the project is completely gone.  Still undecided on this one.

 Finally, I am again working on the Lily sweater.  I went with a hem and so far I’m happy with the change.  Here’s the inside, honestly that dark blue yarn was the closest thing I had in the stash.

I think it’s going to make the the sweater have a more “proper” look to it overall, which may or may not suit the recipient but at least the bottom will lie flat.

Another problem I’ve encountered with this project is that one of my skeins is a different dyelot.  It’s pretty obvious in person actually, as in this photo:

(the big cake is 2 skeins’ worth of the main dyelot, the result of the frogging.)

So I’ve been switching between the two colors.  I don’t think one will be able to tell on the completed garment; if anything it will serve to make the bottom of the sweater slightly darker than the top which ought to be flattering on the recipient.

Anyway, that’s what’s happening around here, aside from it being “the anniversary of my 15^th birthday” as Mariah recently said.  I got a very pretty gift from a special someone, along with some extra delicious salty caramel cheesecake (REAL cheesecake, not the weird edible-foam-on-top-of-a-twinkie shit that I often find labeled cheesecake here).

Oh yeah, and I realized that the big lizards around here can get really BIG.

Be good or the monitor lizard will get you!

Life is good.

I've got a swatch drying,

most of a hem,

a turned heel,

 
and I'm about to leave for a short beach holiday to Phuket, Thailand.


:)

Woops, went a long time without posting again. Well, I had a friend in town for a couple weeks, and we went to Bangkok and Langawi, Malaysia. The rest of the time I was just being lazy as usual and not taking pics.

Actually my guest is the recipient of the Lily sweater I am knitting. I am soooo glad she came before I finished it, because she tried on the WIP and the waist shaping was totally off for her body shape. I was going to have to rip back at least half of what I'd knit. On top of that, I started to worry about yarn usage (I suspect I will need that odd-dyelot skein after all) and was hating that the bottom was flipping constantly. I don't think the unruly bottom edge is a design flaw, it's more about my casting on crappily.

Anyway, long story short I decided to rip back the whole thing. The current state of the sweater is this:

I don't feel bad about ripping at all actually, because I'd rather get it done right. I think I will try doing a hem instead of purling for the bottom and see how that works out. I'm looking into details about it; making a hem is dangerously close to a sewing technique which is very scary to this girl.

Until I get the urge to plunge into that again, I've started a couple other things.

The socks I started for Ravelympics are way way behind schedule, but honestly the Ravelympics gave me a knitting mojo boost so I'm happy that I participated anyway. These will be for the bf, so I let him pick a pattern from Wendy's book. Of course, he picked my least favorite one, isn't that the way of things? Anyway, all those twisted stitches cause my hands to cramp so I never knit on it for particularly long. I must admit though, that the pattern looks very nice in this yarn, from Dream in Color.

After starting this sock I read some comments on Ravelry about this yarn being a little unruly. The color is unbelievable, absolutely the most gorgeous blue yarn I've come across. The yarn itself is probably not durable enough for socks though. I'm OK with it since we live in the tropics now, so these socks will get used only on trips, but I'm sure they wouldn't last long under regular use.

Today I cast on for the East Meets West bag. I am planning on taking, oh about a million years to complete this thing but I'm excited to do some challenging colorwork.

I had to go buy a needle for the bag project, which caused me to go find LYS Golden Dragon and check them out. I also picked up these:

Because my bf asked me to show him how to knit. I don't know whether to be excited or to go buy a lock for my stash hehehe.

Gearing up for Ravelympics

So, again the wrap I've been working on is pushed to the back burner, because it's almost Ravelympics time! I'm on Team Merlion and my goal is to finish a pair of socks. I'm going to use this yarn, Dream in Color Smooshy in Romeo Blue:

And I'm going to use a pattern from Wendy's book.

I haven't even wound the yarn yet though, and I've got a big sweater project to work on, so finishing this one pair of socks will really be a challenge. Even the mass cast-on is going to be tough for me to make since I've got some non-knitting plans this weekend.

Anyway, I realized how much I missed a certain tool that I gave away when I moved, and I finally replaced it. Behold, my new scale:
Since I don't have a kitchen it's only half as useful as my old one was, but it's still really handy for things like halving a quantity of yarn etc.

I went back to the Orchid Gardens this weekend, and also went to a seaside park on the east end of Singapore. I have to go a little out of the way to see nature here (it is a city of 5 million people after all) but it never disappoints:

Slow, slow progress

Well, my knitting is in chaos right now. I've got WIPs out the wazoo and in disarray. By disarray I mean



And of course, there are a few things I am itching to cast on.

The project that I've been working on the last few days is the Hourglass socks that I've been plinking at for ages. I am on the toe decreases on the first sock, though, and that ups the excitement.



I might actually finish something soon! So what if it's just a single sock. Usually I'd rather knit my socks two-at-a-time, but knitting one-at-a-time at least there is a celebratable halfway point.

Once I finish this sock I will allow myself to cast on for a sweater, Mary Jane from Twist Collective (Rav). I've got a vest on the needles right now (I'll show that another day), but I have never knit a sweater before. I'm going to use Colourmart Merino DK, and I've already swatched:



I usually don't wear a lot of grey, but I think it will work well with the pattern. I'm not sure if the yarn is oiled or not (other Colourmart yarn is), but I washed the swatch in hot soapy water and it softened up considerably. Also, it didn't felt so I'm guessing it's oiled.

The light in my apartment is a little weird right now so I couldn't get good pics of my other WIPs, but let me introduce you to some of my cohabitants. This is Big Boy, a swiss cheese plant/ split leaf philodendron/ monstera that I have been keeping alive for about 6 or 7 years:



Maybe it's weird to name one's plants but Big Boy and I have been through a lot together. My other plants don't get names.
Like this little mini rose, a new addition to the household:



One of my plants died while I was gone so I got this cheery bush to replace it. I never have luck with rose bushes of any kind, so we'll see how long it lasts. If we make it to Valentine's day I'll be happy.

The sophomore effort is always the lamest.

Between moving, some minor personal catastrophes, and the crazy Ike leftovers that blew through here, it's been a while since my first post. Not a great way to start a blog. And like so many musicians, I feel that my second attempt is going to be less-than-stellar.

Anyway, the holiday gift knitting is well underway. I have 3 projects recently cast-on but they are all in their infancy. This year, I am under extra pressure to finish gifts up early since I'll be out of town for most of December. I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew. (Whatever, of course I did! Just like almost every other knitter in the 'verse.)

But, I finally finished these simple socks for the bf. The yarn is Regia Spirit Color, I used 2 skeins.



I'm not too sure I like the color combo, or the way the colors fell on the sock. But the bf really likes them and they fit his giganto feet so I guess they are a success. Of course he is out of town for the next week so I don't have a proper-sized foot to model them right now.



I used Wendy's basic toe-up pattern and Judy's magic cast-on. I tried out Elizabeth Zimmerman's stretchy bind-off, which I found here, and was pleased by the result. I love knitting socks toe-up. Something about watching the toe grow really tickles me. Plus I find it more fun to try on a little toe-let as I go than a little cuff-let.

So, off to prepare for the start of classes at my university. As a grad student I get to experience the "joys" of taking classes and also teaching freshmen. All this gift knitting will come in handy to deal with the stress!

My kind of cupcake

I don't have much knitting to show today, because I've been on a bit of a frog-fest lately.

Example: I cast on for a pair of Jaywalker socks (Ravelry link) in a beautiful mystery yarn. It's a sport weight wool sock yarn that I got at Knitter's Connection and by the time I got home I had lost the tag. It's gorgeous and probably the softest yarn I've purchased. BUT it pills like crazy. If you breathe on this stuff it generates chunks of fuzz.

Anyway, about 3 inches into the first sock, it was a hopeless mess and the tangles in the yarn were causing me to curse just about everything in sight. I had wound the cake myself on a nostepinne, but my skills with the nosty have vastly improved since then so I frogged and rewound. Though I am better, I'm still not perfect so the cake ended bigger on the top than the bottom - a perfect little cupcake!



I left the ribbing of the sock un-frogged because it was kinda cute as a cupcake wrapper.

I actually love winding my own cakes. Since I'm on a student budget (and I do mean budget), I like getting a couple more hours of enjoyment out of expensive yarn. The rhythmic repetitive motion is soothing much like knitting a stockinette tube is. I got the nosty here. The rest of my winding setup was part of my house already:



kitchen chair, digital scale, comfy couch. I find that the knob on the top of the chair works rather well for keeping the yarn organized. Quite honestly I have less trouble with the chair than the employee at one of my LYSs had with the swift last time I was there.


Unfortunately, I am moving into an efficiency apartment at the end of the month and both kitchen set and comfy couch will be gone. So I think I'll be winding like a madwoman for the next week!