Snake in the Frog Pond

Ok, first of all... I promised a shoe story, if no one told me not to... all I got for comments was one that said to tell it. I will - but I have had one of "those" weeks, so I didn't get around to writing it all up this week. So, for now, you'll get an update. Especially of the stole, since the final clue is out today. And I've been ready for it since last Sunday!!! Yes, that is right, I got all caught up. Even though I stopped knitting long enough to read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. And then took my time knitting on the clues for a bit.... But I caught up.

Now, for the sock knitting: I didn't do enough to make a difference to any pictures of the gansey sock. I did two rounds.... I'm having "issues" with the needle size and the cable needle size - I think I'll use a friend's idea, and use a darning needle instead of a cable needle. It only involves one stitch, but on such tiny needles, I don't want to try that dropping thing... I forget the blog link, whether it was the Euny Jang or another of those expert knitter people's blogs... anyway, someone out there has a tutorial on knitting one or two stitch cables without a cable needle, which involves dropping the stitch, knitting around it, then picking it back up onto the needle... I know that it can work, but for my eyesight and natural tension...

Anyway - the basket weave sock is done the heel flap...

And the Bella socks are a little longer:

Now - remember my "rant" a few posts back, about the sock yarns that are self striping, and you buy them in the same dyelot, and you start them both from the center, and if you want them to match, you have to line up the repeats, and how I gave up on such things, and how I knitted DH a pair of brown selfstripey socks from the "new" yarn, Fabel? And how the stripes were reversed? Take a close look at the Bella socks.....

I still love the hand of the yarn. I mean, it has camel fibre in it, for cryin' out loud....

Anyway - that brings me to Nagini. The snake socks. I worked on turning the heel last weekend.

Then, I spent some time this week working on the leg- adjusting the stitch count by decreasing four stitches so the pattern would line up. I had hoped to do that during the heel decreasing - but it didn't work out that way. So, I found myself disguising the decreases by doing them in the twist of the cable - hidden very nicely, if I do say so.

The pattern repeat is over 8 rows, and the pattern calls for 64 rows, or 8 repeats for the leg. I did four, then tried on the sock last night. Or, should I say, I tried to try on the sock. The leg portion wouldn't go over my heel. I pulled, I pushed, I stretched, I twisted, I turned......

So, now there is going to be a snake heading to the frog pond.

This is not as traumatic an experience as it once would have been. I would have been upset, considered the whole thing a waste, been angry about the time spent....

Admittedly, to a point, I'm getting to an age where I'm looking at the SABLE (Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy) and the PABLE - (Pattern ....... ) and I'm trying to cut back and behave more realistically.... BUT - in this case, I considered the knitting enjoyable - I like the Nagini pattern. I like the HP stories.... I like the cable pattern, and how it is working up. I like the Trekking yarn. I learned that I DISLIKE, STRONGLY DISLIKE, Addi Turbo needles. In general - I mentioned that I did like the cable in a review post before - but I don't like the needle part. And I'm particularly annoyed at their packaging - OK, so when I bought them from the store, there was a slight "issue" with the size request - I asked for size 2. Since I'd be trying them on socks at some point. I was given a package, that at the last second, I realized were 2 mm size. Which is not what I wanted... but at the time, my mind went blank on the conversion of size 2. Which is 2.75 mm. So... I managed, at least, to indicate that I meant US size 2, not 2 mm needles. I was given a different package, which I didn't really look super close at, until later. Much later.... They felt "big" in my hands. A few times.... Well, what with discovering my error in stitch count, well... I happen to be reading the package again, though for some other reason, and the little size tag part caught my eye - it said it was US size 2 or 3.0 mm.

It is amazing how a fraction of a mm can have such a huge effect on a finished product. I know that EZ, or Elizabeth Zimmerman once used four different dpns to make a sock, to prove that overall it didn't matter - and that might be true if at least one of the dpns is the "right" size, or one is smaller and another larger, so that in the end they cancel each other out and balance out... which was the point.... BUT - if the whole sock is made on larger needles, then the whole sock will be large.

One of my "little tricks" is to make a sock in size 2 US needles for me, and the same pattern/same yarn in size 3 US needles for DH. Works for us.... (2 US = 2.75 mm, 3 US = 3.25 mm)

For what it is worth, I have the same sort of size discrepancy problem with thread crochet hooks/patterns - but since I mostly make doilies and such, I don't worry about it. Much.

Anyway - the end result is - I now will be frogging the Nagini sock, and restarting it, on smaller needles and with the correct number of stitches. And I won't be making a mistake on the foot, so she won't have a scar on her neck anymore .

And I won't be purchasing any more Addi Turbo needles, at over $20 per....