The vest is
finished, except for a few loose ends and the blocking. It’s looking good.
Here are some pics,
colour useless. Taken yesterday, before I had quite finished. In real life, it’s a rich dark grey shot with green, really
rather magnificent. The pictures show more than the naked eye perceives,
of the difference between the initial light skein and the subsequent dark ones.
On the back view, you can clearly see the striped effect on the back from
armhole to shoulder, where I was alternating the skeins.
I’ll try
for better photography when it’s stretched out being blocked. Those are ridiculous.
Now on to
the sock project. Sarah (comment Tuesday), you’re right about The Knitter’s
Book of Socks. It’s seriously good. She says, among much else, that short-row
heels, being all in st st, are more vulnerable to abrasion than the standard
heel-flap-and-gusset model. We shall see. I wonder if all the heels in the
little list I have made, come into that category?
The first
to be attempted, on the current Van Gogh socks for Ketki, is to be Cat Bordhi’s
Sweet Tomato heel. I will warn Ketki.
It sounds
as if the incorporation of a certain amount of ribbing is my best bet for a
longish leg that doesn’t sag too much. Alas, as it will interrupt the sheer
peacefulness of sock-knitting. I admire a lot of sock patterns, including many
of the ones in this book, but so far have no ambition to knit them. The whole
point, for me, is the bliss of knitting round and round with wonderful yarn and
no effort.
Thank you
very much indeed, Roobeedoo and
Skeindalous, for your remarks about the Millwater snood (as we must learn to
call it). I haven’t looked at the pattern at all yet except to note that it
begins with a provisional cast-on. I have never mastered that business of
picking up back loops from a crocheted chain. Maybe this is the moment? Or
maybe I’ll fall back on one of the easier methods.
But I’ll
remember that it can be made smaller.
My current
vague plan is to knit the VK drape-front sweater (no 12, Winter 2011-2) with
the madelinetosh yarn previously earmarked for Effortless. I can always knit
Effortless some other time. I think I would get more use out of it, as
something to fling on over a shirt on a cool summer’s day of which Scotland
Instead of picking up the back loops of the crochet chain try crocheting around the knitting needle. There must be a youtube of the technique.
ReplyDeleteLucy Neatby has a video of the technique here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3J-sUx_whE
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that the sweet tomato heel can incorporate eye of the partridge stitch or whatever reinforcing stitch you use for your heels to make them stronger and less prone to wear.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of ribbing (I don't know anyone who is), but I use for my ribbing a 6-stitch repeat of 4k,2p. It makes for a nice rib and holds up well. There's also garter rib where you're knitting the rib pattern every other row.
ReplyDeleteI second Therese I's suggestion of the Lucy Neatby provisional cast on with one caveat. It works a trick IF your first row is all knit or all purl. If you are doing ribbing or such-like, then at each change (from knit-to-purl or purl-to-knit) the provisional cast on has to be tediously picked out of that stitch. Then it unzips once more, quite beautifully, until the next change. At least, that's what happened with my project.
ReplyDeleteYou might also use Judy's Magic Cast On and then run dental floss (or waste yarn) thru the loops to be held for later (rather than holding them on a 2nd circular needle). That reminds me ... I must order "Beyond Toes" by Judy.
Cheers!
The vest looks great! Hopefully your husband shares my opinion. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am with you on wanting to knit only plain socks because it is so peaceful just knitting around and around. But I see some of the lovely patterns that are out there and feel a pull towards them, in spite of the fact I know knitting them wouldn't be the same experience as the plain socks. I have resolved this by always having one plain pair of socks on the go, and if I want to do a fancier pair that knitting falls into the same category as knitting a sweater or some other "non-peaceful" pattern. It would be in addition to my regular sock knitting, not instead of it.