The Duck Pond

So we have this cat... Pixel has never really been anyone's cat, just kind of hanging out with his brother Grendel, and going where Grendel went. From the beginning, the two were inseperable; we wanted to adopt Grendel, but when we saw how attatched to one another they were, we had to get both. In July, we lost Grendel to kidney and liver failure, which was painful and awful for everyone concerned, especially Pixel, who went around meowing pitfully for Grendel and looking in all their favorite hidey holes for him for a very long time. Pixel clearly needed an outlet for his affection, and he chose the one we all thought most unlikely: Darth Toddler. He and Darth became boon companions, where one is, the other can usually be found close behind. When Darth goes to school, Pixel finds a shirt or sweater belonging to Darth and curls up to sleep on it, until Darth comes home again. Darth and Pixel have an uncanny rapport; they'll sit and talk to each other for hours at a go, and Darth really seems to understand what Pixel is telling him.

 

But Pixel has a problem-- congenetally weak kidneys. So we've been pouring money into vet bills to keep Pixel alive and healthy for a while now. This past week has been particularly bad. Pixel has entered kidney failure. So we've spent almost $800 this week to help Pixel make it through this episode. The problem is that we're tapped financially, and I think Pixel is just plain tired of all this. We're giving him subq fluids every day and will for the rest of his life. We're giving him prescription food, medicines, and lots of attention and affection. Darth knows Pixel is sick, and doesn't feel well, but I don't think he quite gets how fragile Pixel really is. This is the end of the line for Pixel-- if he gets sick again within a couple of months, we'll have to face the final decsion and have him put down. Death was the only thing that seperated Pixel and Grendel, and it's looking like it's the only thing that's going to seperate Pixel and Darth as well.

We were calling these Clown Barf Socks, but Basimah made the comment to me that it looked more like something ate a clown and then barfed it up. Opinions willingly accepted.

Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Bilberry, Velvet Plum, and Velvet Damson. For some reason, the colors in the photo look washed out. In real life, they are much more saturated and deep than this.

 

I recieved a lovely semi-surprise in the mail yesterday! Surprise, as in, I knew it was coming but wasn't sure when... A Knit Tin! Three of us on the Knitty chatboard went in together to save on shipping and got these from the company in England (thanks April for ordering them and sending them on!). They're cute little kits; the company made sock tins, shawl tins, scarf tins, etc (past tense-- the company is closing up shop, sadly). We three got sock tins; each tin box contains a ball of your choice of Opal sock yarn, size 1.5 Inox needles, stitch markers, and a simple sock pattern. Zanne got some really gorgeous blue stripe Opal, April got Bumblebee from the Rainforest 2 Collection, and I got Toucan from the same collection. I also wanted the shawl kit, but the yarn in it was Kidsilk Haze, and I'm allergic to mohair, which sucks for me.

 

I'm really enchanted by the *idea* of these tins as well as the execution of them. In one handy little box, you get everything you need for a complete project! What a cool gift for a knitter! Especially from a non-knitter; the Senior Sith Lord knows I love to knit socks, but wouldn't have the first idea what to get me to knit a pair. With something like this, the gift-giver doesn't have to guess-- it's all right there. It's really too bad that someone in the US hasn't picked up on this idea yet, because I think that they could go over well, especially at fiber fests. I know that Louet makes some felting kits, but nothing like these.

OK, after the heel flap comes the heel turn, which is worked in the usual way: slip the first stitch, purl halfway, purl two together, and purl one. Turn the work, slip the first stitch, knit to one stitch before the gap, knit two together, knit one. Repeat rows one and two, until all the heel stitches are turned. The first picture is of my heel turn (which came out in a bizarre rainbow stripe!).

 

After the heel turn, pick up the gusset stitches. I use Grumperina's method, which I happened upon independently, but she can have the credit. I pick up both legs of the selvedge stitch with the third needle (I think Grumperina may only pick up the first one...but either way is fine) and literally *knit* it onto the needle with the heel stitches, through the back loop. This twists the stitch and closes up those annoying little gaps that can sometimes occur at the pick up points. It also has the benefit of really looking kind of pretty, which I like, even though it's probably going to be hidden by a shoe most of the time. If there are any little holes (and I've only ever had it happen with really thin yarns-- read Tofutsies), I promise that a good washing will even out the stitches and close them up.

 

Then you're back to knitting in the round again. Decrease for the gusset in the usual way; knit across the first needle, knit two together, knit one, knit across the instep stitches in pattern, knit the first stitch on needle three, ssk, and knit to the end, and alternate decrease rounds and plain rounds. End decreasing when you return to the beginning number of stitches, and you're off to the races!

 

In these pictures, the stitch markers (provided by the AWESOMELY cool Entrelac, who makes my fave stitch markers ever! Check out her store on Etsy; these are the Omega stitch markers, and for lace knitting there's nothing better.) are marking where the ends of the heel stitches are, before the stitches for the gusset were picked up. Because I want to reinforce the part of the sock that covers the Achilles tendon, I'll knit a thicker fabric *between* those two markers. When I get to the point where I've reduced down to the starting number of stitches, I'll stop the reinforcing, and start the ribbing for the leg.

 

I really like this method of sock knitting for two reasons. Number one, I'm basically lazy and I hate to swatch. Going toe up means that I can fit the sock as I go, trying it on my victim periodically to check the fit, thus I don't need to swatch. Number two, it prevents what I call the "Oh, hell, am I gonna run out of yarn before I finish this time?" syndrome; you can just knit to the end of the ball of yarn and stop when it stops (or slightly before, you know what I mean...). It does, of course, have the drawback of having to find a sufficiently stretchy cast off for the cuff of the sock, but that's another post...

 

ETA: I've just realized that my pictures are crap. Bleh. I've had this camera for a year and a half, and I'm still trying to come to a truce with it. Really, you'd think that I'd be a better photographer, what with my dad and mom both being so damn good. I will try to take some better pictures tomorrow morning in the daylight and post them then so you can actually see what the hell I'm nattering on about here...

Ok, this is done at the request of the lovely Monkey Momma, a sock knitter of much skill and speed (not to mention a massive addiction to Koigu, judging from her blog ;) ) deriving from a conversation on Knitty. I know full well that she knows a lot of what I'm saying here, but for the less experienced sock knitters in the audience, I'm going into some details that will be unnecesary to experienced sock knitters. This technique is one that I learned at a sock knitting class that was worth every penny I paid and more, taught by the lovely Maura Stone, another Sock Goddess, from Village Wools in Albuquerque, but it's the same technique that Charlene Schurch uses in the amazing More Sensational Knitted Socks.

 

Knit from the toe up to within about 2 inches of the intended length of the foot of the sock. This particular sock foot is 7.5 inches, because I want the finished sock foot to be about 9.5-10 inches long (the Senior Sith Lord wears about an 11-11.5 size shoe).

 

The first picture just shows the sock before I split the stitches up, on the needles. I prefer to knit with three needles, and use the fourth to knit with. If you prefer to knit with five needles, just hold the instep stitches on two needles. (sorry for the bandaid in the photo; I sliced off part of my thumb while taping up a package. A certain someone in Scotland is getting my DNA along with her yarn.)

 

The second picture is just the heel stitches on one needle, the instep stitches on the other. From this point, start knitting the heel flap, just as you would with a cuff down sock. The difference is that the heel flap in this case will be on the *bottom* of the foot, under the heel of the foot, *not* at the back of the heel as in a traditional cuff down sock.

 

The third picture is of the completed heel flap, just before the heel turn. It may look a bit odd here, but I prefer to reinforce the bottom of the heel as well as the back, because that's where dh and I both tend to wear our socks out first. In a cuff down, I'd reinforce it with either a slip stitch or reinforcing thread here. This is just done with a slip stitch, which I'll continue up on to the back of the heel. I'm lousy at keeping track of how many rows I've knitted for the flap, so I just knit until the flap is square, and hang the exact number of rows. In my experience, knitting until the heel flap is square, is pretty damn close to the same number of rows that you're supposed to have anyway. (*shrug* It's sock knitting, not brain surgery.)

 

This is where I think most of us sock knitters who start off cuff down have a conceptual problem with the reverse heel flap thingy; traditionally, to us, the heel flap covers the back of the heel, along the Achilles tendon, where the shoe rubs. With the reverse heel flap, the heel flap ends up on the bottom of the foot, on the bottom of the heel. Heaven knows, I didn't get it until Maura showed it to me! What really got me is that it really looks just like a normal cuff down sock, except that the end is closed!

 

Tonight I'll turn the heel and start picking up stitches for the gussets, and I'll post pics tomorrow morning of the progress. Someday, I'll have to demonstrate Maura's toe technique, which is *really* brilliant!