Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Colorful Socks
April 10, 2008
The finishing frenzy continues at my house; I cast off these socks last night. (Okay, maybe three projects in two weeks does not exactly constitute a frenzy, but it’s such a fun word.) They took significantly less calendar time than yesterday’s baby quilt or last week’s cardigan; I cast on at the beginning of March, sitting in the airport waiting for the flight out for my trip to Utah. The cardigan was too big at this point to be a good travel project, so before the trip I pulled out the Adriafil Knitcol yarn I got in Vancouver last summer and did a gauge swatch (3mm needles won out, though I think going even smaller might have been better).
I decided to try a short row heel for the first time on these socks. I followed the directions in the Queen Kahuna book and started the heel when they told me to. As I went along, it looked to me like the sock was going to end up being too short, but I figured I’d never done this before so maybe I just didn’t understand how it worked and it would be fine. Nope; it was not fine. I finished the first heel and tried on the sock and it was way too short. Crap. I measured the heel then ripped it out. I knit another couple inches on the foot, making it as long as my actual foot less the heel measurement I’d taken earlier, then re-did the heel and the fit was much better. I still don’t know what went wrong the first time—surely my ankles are not so freakish that directions that work for so many other people don’t work for me.
I’m not sure how many more pairs of socks I’ll have to knit before I get them just right. These are wearable, but the toes and ankles could be snugger and the fabric firmer and stuff. Good thing I have more sock yarn ready so I can work on all those things next time.