Not Knitting

My 81-year-old mother broke her hip a couple of weeks ago (when in bed, no less) and the surgery and recovery have been a roller-coaster ride of emotions. In the past, I’ve turned to my knitting in times of stress, so I am surprised that I’ve had little desire to knit. Because I feared she might not survive the surgery, my fingers wouldn’t hold the needles while I kept my father company in the waiting room. As she drifted in and out of awareness in the days that followed, I was too distracted and on edge. In retrospect, I think that I was afraid that I might not keep on top of her early recovery if I let myself drift into a knitting calm. It may also be that knitting is too closely related to work for me and I needed a complete break.

Thankfully, my mother is now settled in a nursing home and I’ve at least partially settled back into knitting—there are still times when my mind wanders and my fingers forget to form the stitches. But I did finish a simple triangular shawl out my spindle-spun yarn (the fleece was a gift from Anne in Reading, PA). I didn’t have enough yarn to include a lace pattern across the top edge, but I was lucky to end with a complete pattern repeat and 6” of yarn to spare.

I’ve also swatched another lace pattern (shown below) with Quince & Co Tern for either a scarf or shawl. I’ll ponder the possibilities when I visit my dear sweet mum today.

Words I Thought I'd Never Say

I am finally tired of knitting socks. In the past two weeks I’ve knitted five pairs of adult medium socks and sample feet for four other sizes. I’m sure my saturation with sock knitting won’t last, but if I find time to knit today after I clean my desk, I’ll bypass my double-points in favor of circulars and cast on stitches for a triangular shawl (if I can find a suitably mindless pattern).

The first photo below shows socks with an 8" foot circumference in Quince yarns at gauges of (from left to right) 4.5 (Puffin), 5.5 (Osprey), 6.5 (Lark), 7.5 (Chickadee), and 8.5 (Tern) stitches to the inch. The second photo shows the feet only in Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted at 5.5 stitches/inch in size (from left to right) 9.5", 9", 7.5", and 6.5" foot circumferences.

Why have I been knitting socks like a fanatic? I’ve been under a self-imposed deadline to generate a toe-up sock pattern for multiple sizes (five) and multiple gauges (ten) for Quince & Co. Unlike the toe-up sock pattern (Working Socks from the Toe Up) I wrote for the Spring 2007 issue of Interweave Knits that features a short-row heel, this pattern looks like a “normal” top-down sock with a padded flap along the back of the heel and gussets along the sides of the instep. This pattern also includes stitch gauges in one-half-stitch-per-inch increments from 4.5 stitches/inch to 10 stitches/inch that gives enormous freedom for working with a variety of yarn weights and needle sizes. I plan to send the socks and pattern to the tech editor today so she can correct all my errors before the pattern is posted on the Quince & Co website. Stay tuned.

Red-Letter Day

Today my Abbey Road Socks got posted on the Quince and Company website, along with their new sock yarn Tern (a delightful mixture of 80% wool and 20% silk) and I turned in the manuscript for my next book: Sock Knitting Master Class: Innovative Techniques + Patterns from Top Designers. You can get the sock pattern right now from Quince and Co, but the book still needs to go through all the editing, design, and layout stages and won’t be available until next summer (in time for Sock Summit 2011). I’ll let you know exactly when.

Care to help me celebrate?

Thoughts on the G-word

I like to cast on stitches and get started on a project as much as the next knitter, but it’s an inconvenient fact of life that if I don’t knit a gauge swatch first, the project will likely end up the wrong size. Besides ensuring that you’ve chosen the right needle size for the project, a swatch can tell you a lot about how a yarn knits up. You’ll learn if the yarn is sticky or slippery on a particular type of needle or if the pattern stitch is too boring or too fussy for your peace of mind. This allows you to make adjustments in needle type or stitch pattern before you embark on a full-scale project.

But one of my favorite things about knitting a swatch is the opportunity it gives to experiment with different needle sizes. This is particularly useful when I’m designing a pattern from scratch. The ball band on most yarns specifies a particular gauge with a particular size needle. Rather than a rule, I consider this a guideline for what the manufacturer thinks will be a suitable fabric. Depending on the project I have in mind, it’s not unusual for me to disagree with the manufacturer. For example, I habitually knit socks at a tighter gauge than recommended, even when using dedicated sock yarns. Recently, I knitted a long swatch of each of the four yarns available from Quince & Company. Because I expect to knit socks with this yarn, I knitted the swatches in the round, beginning with at least two sizes smaller needles than recommended and ending at a couple of sizes larger. This gave me a nice range of fabrics from very tight (appropriate for socks, mittens, hats, and gloves) to quite loose (more appropriate for airy scarves or shawls). I now have a record of a variety of gauges to choose from when designing socks with these yarns, which gives me more freedom in choosing stitch patterns that repeat over a variety number of stitches.

Sock Heels

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve become obsessed with knitting toe-up socks with round heels—the kind that heel that is most commonly used for socks knitted from the top down. I’ve taught a class in toe-up socks with short-row heels for a few years, but some students have requested a more “normal” heel for these socks. To determine the method I like best, I’ve knitted a number of samples to experiment with the methods used by Chrissy Gardiner (Toe-Up! Patterns and Worksheets to Whip Your Sock Knitting into Shape), Wendy Johnson (Socks from the Toe Up), and Melissa Morgan-Oakes (Toe-Up Two-at-a-Time Socks). 

Finally, I think I’ve come up with my favorite variation. To test it out, I knitted one sock from the top down (shown on the bottom), then a mate from the toe up (shown on top). There are only subtle differences between the two—the most noticeable being that the “wedge” on the sides of the toe-up sock is narrower than that of the top-down sock. This is because I worked the increases one stitch in from the edge instead of two stitches in. I’m happy to report that when on my feet, I can’t tell the difference between the two.

I plan to write up instructions for the toe-up version for multiple sizes and gauges. If all goes well, the pattern will be available online this fall from Quince & Company. I'll let you know when!

What I've Been Up To

It’s been more than a week since my last post and I'm feeling a little guilty. Here’s what’s kept me away from my computer.

Last week, our son Alex returned safely from Nicaragua. I'm happy to report that he looks and acts much the same as when he left. He had a fantastic time and is considering returning in a couple of years as a supervisor; he’s already talked on the phone with a few of the families he met. School starts tomorrow so he’s been off with his friends most of the time. I did catch him relaxing in the hammock he bought before he boarded the plane home.

I finished the repeat Beginning Spinning course I signed up for this summer. I have 930 amazing yards of two-ply Corriedale yarn to show for it. I haven’t decided what to do with this yarn—maybe a vest or some tightly knit, highly textured mittens. For now, I’m happy to just admire how clever it makes me feel.

I also knitted a pair of socks with my handspun for SpinOff magazine (it won't be published for a few months) and a pair of gloves for Piecework (which also won't be published for a few months). I bought the fleece for the socks (100% superwash merino) from Traci Bunkers at The Estes Park Wool Market in June. I spun the yarn on a spindle I bought the same day, then plied it with a wheel I borrowed during the spinning class. I purposefully spun the yarn as thin as I could, but after I plied and washed it, it came out more of a sportweight than the fingering weight I was after. To make sure I had enough yarn, I worked a short-row heel (which I believe uses less yarn than the more traditional round heel with gusset). I always count the number of rows in the leg and foot of a sock so that I can knit the mate to match. What I failed to take into account is that my handspun is not as uniform at mill-spun. One of the socks is considerably larger than the other. One of my feet is bigger so maybe this won’t be a problem.

I used the new Quince & Co Chickadee yarn for the gloves. It was a dream to knit with and I couldn't be happier with the stitch definition!

I’ve also been experimenting with different ways to work a round heel on toe-up socks. This is the type of three-part heel that you usually see on top-down socks: heel flap, heel turn, and gussets. I’ve knitted five full-size samples and several small sections of just the heel turn. I’m getting close to working out my favorite method for various sizes and gauges. Stay tuned.

Why I’m a Spoiled Brat—#11

Because I changed my name when I married, it’s a little known fact that my mother is Barbara Walker. Not the Barbara G. Walker of A Treasury of Knitting Patterns fame (which would have been fine), but the Barbara S. Walker of ceramics and sculpture fame. When I was a child, my mother took up ceramics and later became a co-owner of The Lodestone Gallery, a fine craft store here in Boulder, Colorado. She made everything from dishes to lamps to Christmas tree ornaments, then in later years she settled into sculpture. Although she tried to get me interested in clay, I always preferred clean crafts such as sewing, knitting, and embroidery. But I am absolutely certain that I was influenced by my mother’s industriousness and creativity. She, as well as my father (who was a college professor), taught me that it is possible to make an income following your passion. Both of them loved what they did. Through the strength of their example, I gave up the corporate world (I had a MS in geology of all things) to pursue a career in fiber. And I’ve never looked back.

Here are a few photos of my dear mum and her sculptures—the last photo is a bust she made of my dear dad. They set the stage for my very good life.