Got to the heel part of Baudelaire on Tuesday/Wednesday - this pattern is more-than-slightly addictive and I really like the heel construction - and then came a total cropper when I went for the 'leg with larger instep' option. The pattern says to knit into the back/front loops of the stitches without dropping them, and then into the front/back loops of the stitches, and create a cable. I just couldn't manage it. I don't know whether this is the relative strengths of bamboo and metal needles (I nipped the tips off a new bamboo needle trying) or my own ineptitude, or what. So I did something different...
I did a standard increase (k1 into the front, then 1 into the back) of the 4 stitches ...
... then I separated the fronts from the backs on 2 needles ...
... and then I twisted them and put them onto one needle again for the cable...
and reversed the order of the knitting into the front and back for the cable at the other side, so the front part of the twist has the knit-into-the-front, and the knit-into-the-back horizontal bars are hidden in the twist each time
It's not as much of a twist as I got on the one attempt on one side which did succeed according to the pattern, but better than, say, flinging the whole thing across the office/train, as on all other attempts... So I'm plugging on...
Also went into Robert Sayle/John Lewis today to see the new Rowan yarns. Tapestry is gorgeous - and feels like something a lot more expensive - I fell, and picked up the last three balls in the Pot Pourri colourway, which I'm hoping will make into a small felted satchel-type bag with this button as a clasp (while I seem to be on this pink-and-brown kick...).
The button comes from a felted embroidery workshop several years ago by Teresa Searle... it's about 4 cm long and is some sort of bone...
I also loved Country in the purple-and-red colourway but the yardage put me off... looked as if I'd need at least half a dozen to make anything at all... There was also a really nice new Wendy novelty yarn called Moiselle which was unpriced there - if they'd had a price on it - and I gather it's less than £3 a ball from anywhere on the Internet - I'd definitely have had a couple of oddments for mad scarves, because the colours are excellent (shinier and more vibrant than on the shade card I linked to)...
I think it was this complicated-sounding manoeuvre that made me decide the sock pattern was a bit beyond my knitting skills! The sock does look lovely though - I like the colour of the Fleece Artist. Funnily enough, you gave me one of those hand buttons ages ago and I've just stashed it away with the purple KSH and Tilli Tomas silk (yarn pic on my blog) thinking it would make the perfect wrap fastening.
ReplyDeleteCrumbs: I'd have ripped everything out in a fury! The sock does look stunning, though.
ReplyDeleteYou only have to do that once a sock, though, and only if you're doing the 'fat calves' option!
ReplyDeleteIt all appears to be horrendously complicated ... I got the heebiejeebies reading the description of your workaround and was forced to go "la la la" and cover my eyes.
ReplyDeleteI take it the Baudelaire socks aren't a project you'd recommend to a novice knitter, then ...?
Y'know, sometimes I hate coming over to your blog and seeing all the delicious yarns you buy - you have such an eye for colour! Damn it, I'm skint. Pah.
ReplyDeleteVery cool design! Useful information. Go on! » » »
ReplyDelete