Sock yarn, I wish I could quit you

I'm really not a yarnie. I knit because I love the process and I love making something beautiful and, hopefully, useful. I don't buy yarn randomly just for the sake of having the yarn; it's the projects I get excited about, and the yarn is just the material that will make the project happen.

But sock yarn, sock yarn seems to be another matter entirely. It's easy to buy because I know how much I need for socks and I know that it's intended for socks and it all knits to a similar gauge. Even if I don't have a particular pattern in mind, it has a purpose, and choosing a pattern for the yarn is easy! In addition, there are more color possibilities because the yarn appears in smaller quantities and is mostly unseen under my shoes.

Yes, I am leading up to something.


Pretty, huh? This colorway was dyed exclusively for the Yarn Pirate Booty Club. I bought it from boringknitter who, incidentally, has lots more tasty (and hard to find) yarns for sale.

The problem, of course, is that I have been acquiring sock yarn much more quickly than I've been knitting with it. Simple math will tell you where that will lead. Consequently, I've renewed my efforts with the chevron socks and I'm happy to report that I've finished the first sock and begun the second.

Zipping right along

I just started this three and a half weeks ago.

The body is done and bound off using this stretchy bind off, which seems to have worked well. I've started the first sleeve, though I'm knitting it in the round, not straight as the pattern instructs. I forgot what a pain it is to knit the sleeve right onto the body rather than knit it separately and attach it later. I have to hold the entire project in my lap and keep flipping it around. But at the rate I'm going, I won't be doing that for long!

Once both sleeves are completed, I only have to pick up stitches around the neckline and knit a few rows and that's it. No seaming! I'll have a finished sweater soon, and hopefully a nice day to model for pictures outside, because photographing a black sweater inside on a dreary day is for the birds.

FO: Lace Ribbon Scarf

Lace Ribbon Scarf from Knitty.com in Noro Sock Yarn. I did one less repeat of the lace pattern than called for as I don't really like wide scarves. It curled a lot even with blocking, which is ok as it will be wrapped around my neck. (I do wish I had a decent blocking board, though, but I think that's a subject for another post.) This scarf felt like it took forever. I started it in May and then entered it in the Ravelympics WIP Wrestling and still didn't get it done. But once I was free of St. Enda it practically finished itself.

Although I like the Noro Sock Yarn, I wouldn't use it for socks. It's very thick and thin, and there was actually one bit that was so thin I didn't use it. The rest is fine for a scarf, but for something like socks that will rub up against shoes and be walked on and stretched out around a foot, I wouldn't recommend it. I think I found 3 knots in the skein which is annoying enough as it's hard to weave in ends in lace, but to make matters worse, where there's a knot the color changes quite abruptly. (Look at the third pic for an example of this). That being said, I love the colors and very much enjoyed working with the yarn.

I finished this a week ago, but the weather has not cooperated with me enough to get pictures until now. These were taken at Fresh Pond in Cambridge yesterday. It was the perfect day for a brisk fall walk, because not only were the leaves beautiful but the squirrels were busying themselves preparing for winter so they were both extremely active and adorably plumptious.

Forethought Heel

I have come to the heel in my first Chevron Sock, and was surprised (because I had not read the whole pattern ahead of time) to find in the instructions something called the Forethought Heel. Disappointed not to be knitting a heel-flap and gusset, I had to remind myself that I have been itching to try all these different heel types I keep hearing about (Eye of Partridge sounds particularly enticing!) and forged onward.

My first surprise was learning what an Afterthought Heel is. I don't know what I thought it was, but apparently you knit the sock as a tube and then - the horror! - CUT the yarn and add a heel. What silliness! I don't know about you, but I do not spend time making all those little stitches only to cut them and rip them out. I like to plan ahead and just make the heel when I get to the part where the heel will go. The Forethought Heel is apparently Charlene Schurch's way of getting a heel that ends up looking the same without the equivalent level of pain.

To make a Forethought Heel, you set aside your instep stitches as normal and then cast on the same number provisional stitches, which you join with the remaining heel stitches. Then you knit in the round, decreasing every other row. Or, if you're like me, you decrease in every row until you are almost done, realize your mistake, then rip it out and begin again.

Here is an out-of-focus shot of what it looks like near the end.


The yellow stitch markers are on the unused instep stitches and the curling part above that is my provisional cast-on (together they will be joined to continue along the foot towards the toe). The narrow part at the top is the heel, just a few rows from being finished.

Once you have decreased sufficiently, you graft the last stitches together using kitchener stitch, as you would for a toe. This would be a deal-breaker for many people but I am pro-kitchener stitch as it has magical properties which create an invisible seam when you are done.

Now, all of this is done with yarn pulled from the opposite end of the skein as you were using previously. You are supposed to pick the part that matches the point of stripiness where you left off before beginning the heel. I still don't exactly understand this, but it is supposed to create a bulls-eye sort of pattern on the heel.


Not exactly, but it's still a nice enough heel. I don't know if it's nice enough to justify how annoying and time-consuming it was to make though. I will only know once the socks are finished and on my feet.

NELA Conference

I've just returned from the NELA (New England Library Association) Conference in Manchester, NH. This was my first conference in a few years and I'm so glad I went! I did things the right way this time; first by splitting a room with two other librarians which equals cheapness, and also by not even trying to pretend I was going to attend sessions relevant to my job or that would help me in my career.

Perhaps it seems like that defeats the purpose of attending a conference, but it doesn't. The fact is that I work in reference, which is boring, and conference programs relating to reference are boring. Also, it's stuff that I could learn elsewhere. So I just passed by all those workshops on genealogy research and government documents and attended the sessions that looked interesting to me.

Here are the highlights:
- Storytelling workshop with Motoko and Eshu. I could have listened to them tell stories for hours!
- Dinner banquet with speaker Simon Winchester. He is a fantastic author and interesting speaker.
- "The Internet is Not Flat" with Ethan Zuckerman of Global Voices. He is everything I could want in a presenter - dynamic speaker, multimedia presentation, interesting topic, and plenty of humor
- The Life and Times of Beatrix Potter. Why aren't there more sessions about authors? She had a fascinating life and wrote some of the best-loved books of all time!
- Hot Teen Titles: Sexuality and Teen Fiction. Librarians generally aren't great speakers, but Amy Pattee is funny and animated and did a great job!
- Drop-in Demo: Games and Gaming. I learned how to play Guitar Hero. I have no illusions that this will help me in my job, but it was fun! Apparently, I rock.
- Several of us had dinner with children's author Jarrett Krosoczka who is super nice and totally rocks his argyle sweaters. He has a graphic novel coming out soon, which I am rather excited about.

It was an exhausting three days, but I learned a lot and got to hang out with many fun and interesting librarians. I need to do this on a regular basis to remind myself why I got into this profession!

New project!

I didn't waste any time after finishing St. Enda before casting on for a sweater for me, me, me!



This is the Cozy V-Neck Sweater with Deep Ribbing from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel. It will be my third project from that book. I'm using the recommended Cascade Pastaza, which I love. I used it for a hat once (also in black) and it is softer than I remembered.

Despite my past lessons regarding the importance of gauge swatches, I cut a few corners in my typical, impatient way.

I started a gauge swatch on the recommended size 9 needles, then realized the sweater would be knit in the round and ripped it out. Then I thought a bit about how it is simply impossible to get an accurate in-the-round gauge swatch, and that the sweater has parts that are knit flat, and started a gauge swatch again. I washed and blocked the swatch. It seemed a bit tight, so I made another swatch with size 10 needles, washed it, and pinned it down next to the not-yet-dry previous swatch. It still looked a bit tight. So I began yet another swatch, this time on size 10.5 needles, got halfway through it and said "fuck this," ripped it out and started knitting the sweater on the 10.5. I think it will be perfect.

I've come to the boring part, which is several inches of stockinette. But hey, I started this sweater just days ago and already have those cute shoulders and v neck. This will be so much quicker than that last sweater that I can hardly stand the excitement!

St. Enda Sweater

I can't believe I made this.

Pattern source: Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Heather
Started April 9, finished October 11

Other posts related to this project, in reverse chronological order:
End of September Status Update
For those about to block, we salute you
St. Enda back completed!
Summer knitting goals
Sweater front is done!
Progress, I has it
Aran sweater progress
The proper way to begin a project