Friday Knitting Blog (08/12/2011)

First off, an apology. I completely spaced off kitteh blog this week. Forgot about it until just now as a matter of fact. Whoopsie.

Anyway, I did finish the first of the Double Heelix socks, and I'm into the 2nd one now. For the pattern/yarn/needle info, see last Friday's blog; it's all there. 

Here is sock #1. Knitted 100% as the pattern said from the initial cast on to the bind offs (one for the toe and another for the cuff). The leg on this is pretty short when knit per pattern specifications, but that's OK. This is about my old default length anyway. This picture was taken with no flash. 

This picture, on the other hand, was taken with the flash. I wanted to show off the contrast color toe tip a little bit. The construction of the toe was interesting. The decreases weren't done uniformly every other row (which is how a toe generally works) but every 3rd row for a couple, every other row for a couple and then every row for a bit. And then right at the end, just to mess with me, the designer throws in a short row! I went ahead and did it, because I had decided to make no modifications to this pattern, and I must say it's bloody brilliant (yeah, I've been watching Dr. Who lately not to mention a bunch o' Harry Potter movies, so my British vocab is coming out). For perhaps the first time ever in my sock knitting, the toe of this sock is not pointy on the sides. It's gently rounded and curved, like a proper toe should be. The grafting not having "ears" is just wonderful. I suspect this is from a combination of decreasing every row at the end and then that 1 short row, but it's very cool. I may have to try to incorporate that shaping into cuff-down toes from now on. 

There aren't any pictures of the second sock as of yet, and that's mostly because it looks a whole lot like the pictures from last week. 

The goal is to finish sock #2 this week (should happen by the end of the second day of my weekend, which is Monday), and then I need to wind and make some gauge swatches for the Honeybee cardigan (Ravelry pattern link). And also probably wind the yarn for my next socks, Kai-Mei (Ravelry pattern link). These two are practically made to be knit at the same time. 

I feel like I should have a sign-off phrase for knitting blog. I tried "all for now" for a while, but it seems common (feels like I stole it). I suppose I could channel Dan Rather and say "Courage," but that's just weird and more than a little creepy. Hopefully I'll happen onto something organically that will just feel right to me. 

In the meantime, to quote Elizabeth Zimmermann, I'll say, "Knit On!"