Another Knitted Pair of Socks is Done!

Tout Fini!



Ta Da! I finished Trekking 126 last night. I wish I could find my sock blockers and take a nice picture. Maybe if I spend more time cleaning and less time knitting, I'd be able to do exactly that. For now, here's a crappy picture of them.




These were knit on size 1, 2.25mm, two at once magic loop over 68 stitches and took two weeks. (I worked on some other stuff during this time plus I spun a bit). I like them very much but should've gone with 60 sts as I originally intended.

They match up pretty well, one of them was kitchenered at the color change so there are some 'sprinkles' on the tip of my toe.


Apparently, I wasn't paying as close attention when I divided this up as I have ball of yarn left and one scrap of yarn left instead of two balls! Luckily, I had enough on the smaller ball to finish the pair so I didn't have to hunt through the 13 color changes to find the right spot to knit the toe.


They're simply, delicious!

Trekking Through the Heel

Yesterday, I couldn't decide what to do with my Trekking 126 socks. I thought that the best bet would be to do a forethought heel; however, with so many different changes in the yarn (13 different patterns) I didn't want to trash that much yarn. You see, in order to do a forethought heel, you first find the color that you are working on (the last color of the leg) from the opposite end of the ball. You then do a provisional cast on for half the stitches (which will become your instep) and you use the back of the ankle for the back of the heel. It's really quite simple and I don't know why more people don't do it. You then knit...a toe. Yep, a toe. Right there in the heel is a toe. The stripes form a bulls eye and are in the same order as your stripes. I used it for my Mudslide Socks. ravel them here I didn't believe that I'd have enough stitches in the ankle so I added some, thus messing up the stripes a TEENY bit. Next time I do it, it'll be perfect.

Ok, so, forethought heel was out because I'd trash yards and yards of yarn.

Next up, I considered short row. That's tons of wrapping, twisting, picking up the wrap. I did that in my Chevvy Sock. ravel them here. Mustang Sally, a gorgeous colorway indeed, is much more forgiving when it comes to striping. She's not a WILD MULTI!

Then, while googling on the computer when I should've been cleaning the house, I came across this heel. Priscilla Wild's No Muss No Fuss Short Row Heel. Ingenious! This was a spectacular heel. No counting, no markers, no heel flap counting the rows, no wrapping stitches. You know what else? It can be used toe up or top down. I tried it. I knew I might not get the results I'd get with a forethought heel but I wouldn't mess up the stripes as badly as I would with a heel flap heel. Check it out.


See that. Nice, hah? And, it fits great, not bulky, doesn't bulge. It's like custom made!


There is a small hole where I rejoined to work in the round. I clipped out a small piece of the brown to realign my socks with each other so that I would end the same at the toe. I'll have to stitch that closed.


Here's the front view. See, you get stripes around the bottom of the heel. Lovely. Easy. It is only a short time knitting and boom, you're onto the foot of your sock. You'll sail right through the heel while watching TV. Hardly even have to think.

Because I have been making socks for the kids, I can get two pairs out of a skein. I am going to start knitting them toe up and it was advantageous for me to learn this heel. Now, just gotta try a toe up pattern and I'll be on my way. That's on my list of new techniques and will be at the top very soon.

Ok, I think you're sold. Now, what's the catch, you ask? Of course, there isn't any gusset, so you're knitting the foot for a long, long time! That's not really a disadvantage, I like knitting the foot, some people might get bored with miles of feet to do as some hubbies have size 13 feet! There isn't a heel flap and it isn't reinforced. I like heel stitch and I like eye of partridge. ravel them here for a close-up of the eye of partridge heel. The thickness is comfortable and it's also a place where I wear out my socks. I wear out my shoes there, too. Yes, I put holes right through the backs of my shoes because of the bone in my ankle. So, I prefer heel flap socks if they're for me. Make that, heel flap socks, reinforced with woolly nylon. I think that the heel flap looks prettier but that's a matter of personal preference. A nice solid ribbed sock with a decorative Eye of Partridge heel is truly a sight to behold as far as socks go. My teal Shibui is destined for that heel.

It's late morning, a day off, 22 degrees out (I guess we're having a heat wave?) and for once, it's NOT snowing. I don't think that I'll have enough time to finish these today as there is housework to be done, I must clear out my office, get on the treadmill, do the wii fit, go food shopping. I also plan on spinning for awhile today or tonight. I have to empty some bobbins so I can start spinning something on or before Wednesday's guild meeting. I get so excited over spinning and I haven't had a chance to spin in a few weeks. My baby girl DD has been hogging my wheel. She's the best spinner in the house...she's five.....




She did that entire bobbin by herself. I just assist when it breaks or she needs help drafting. She has made two bobbins of this and today we may ply it together. It's really even, too!

I've shown her how to do the knit stitch and how to crochet a chain. She prefers spinning over knitting and doesn't really want to learn to crochet just yet. She is fascinated by the orifice hook, for some reason.

Yes, she's a fiber head! She smells yarn, she cuddles yarn and she is in her glory in a yarn shop. That picture on the right was taken when we were visiting the Saratoga Needle Arts yarn shop this past August. You can see her expressions of glee, as well as her mosquito bites...LOL.


She walked into that store and said, "Mom, is it OK if I sniff the yarn?"

Trekking 126 - Update

I love to think of ice cream. These ice cream socks are simply delicious; however, I just put them down for a rest and haven't picked them up. Here's how they looked on January 15, 2008.

That's how they look today.

Two reasons why they're resting, how to do the forethought heel. I know HOW to do it, I'm just not sure of the colors I want to use. I am not 100% certain that I want to trash yards and yards of yarn to make the heels match. I have my spreadsheet and need to sit and figure how many color changes I have to backtrack to make them the proper way. With 13 different colors in the striping, it'd be lots and lots of yards set aside to make them match. Alternative would be to get some Trekking undyed and make the heel and the toe out of that. Perhaps, even saving some chocolate for the very center of the heel and the very center of the tip of the toe. Or, maybe the tree colors that are in the cuff to give it a nice balanced effect. In any event, they will sit until Elizzabetty goes to Webs and is in the Trekking aisle and brings me home some Trekking undyed. That could be awhile so I have plenty of time to think about it. I will photograph this as there aren't very many tutorials on the web for forethought heel and it's really not difficult at all. I like the heel flap better for looks and for wear but the forethought heel works great for stripes!

My son has been asking me to knit him another pair of socks. He absolutely adores the Seeded Ribbing socks that I made him and he wants Ridged Squares and he wants them to be green...dark green. I have no problem knitting with dark green yarn and lo and behold, I have a nice selection of it. This morning, I took some green Fortissima Sock yarn out of my basket and started them for him. I want to finish them in a few days so he could wear them next week. He could surely use them, we're having a very harsh winter thus far and I expect it to get worse before it gets better. Ridged Squares is a nice easy pattern and they should zip along. Each sock has 50 sts in the cuff and I'm doing them two at a time, magic looping. 100 sts in each round. Cake! Pictures will be posted soon.

I am not feeling all that great today and my head is exploding. Hmmn...I also want to get to my spinning, clear out a few bobbins so that I can be working on something at the next guild meeting. I think that I'm going to get some more bobbins or maybe even the plying head with a gift card that I got for Christmas.....

Stay tuned for an update!

Trekking through Trekking 126

It's been a few days since the infamous and carefully plotted ball winding experience with my Trekking 126 and I am journeying onward through this piece of cake stockinette stitch sock.

Monday, I was all set to walk out the door of the house when I noticed there was a flood in the downstairs bathroom. After yelling at DS for leaving the water running, I quickly realized that it wasn't coming from the faucet. I shut off the water, took the kids to school and e-mailed work with the news of the broken pipe. I then changed out of my work clothes and into my sweatshirt and sweatpants plumber clothes and mopped up the floor in the bathroom and the basement. It miraculously dripped right into my laundry basket of freshly washed...and folded clothes. It saturated them and proceeded to run out of the bottom of the basket wetting everything else in sight....and out of sight.

Without further ado, I went under the sink and discovered the blowout.

I had to go to the plumbing supply store, buy a new hose, found out they don't take credit cards and I had 73 cents in cash in my wallet, go to 7-11's ATM, go back to the store, buy the hose, replace it and then eat 'brunch' and sign onto my computer to work the remainder of the day. It was interesting. I had to set aside my clean princess act and do a home repair....

As for the sock, here's what it looks like as of the that day....

I will photograph it today as I have more than doubled that and I'm preparing to do Charlene's Forethought Heel, which is truly ingenious.

Stay tuned for another picture as well as some; hopefully, snow pictures as the Arctic air mass and moderate low pressure move into our area.

Baby, it's cold outside! Maybe the first time for single digits here in years!

The Trials and Tribulations of Trekking 126

I couldn't decide what to make next. Now that I'm out of my Knitting Rut that started in November, I wanted to cast on for a new pair of socks today. I really considered making a pair for Ricky; however, the dead of winter made me long for happy colors. Ice Cream makes me happy so why not knit with Ice Cream Colors?



Without further ado, I whipped Trekking 126 out of my stash. I think wound it forwards and backwards, counting and documenting the strange repeats of the colors in an attempt to figure out where to start so that I could match my socks.....First off, my ball was shy 2 grams.
Don't they think that we check this from time to time? Cheapskates.



Then, I realized that maybe I didn't cut it in the right spot. One ball is considerably larger than the other. I was counting the tan caramel color as the point of my repeat but they seem so far apart after I put them side by side.

Hmmn...

There are 109 color changes in my ball. I set up a spreadsheet, counted the times that the caramel tan repeated and divided my ball in half............I think.............


Let's see what happens....


News at 11.