Fiber Fool

Pattern: A Derivation of the DK Balance Sock Pattern
Yarn: 2 balls Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boot Stretch, with a fair bit remaining
Needles: Two US 1 Addi Turbo Circulars (16 inch and 24 inch lengths)
Recipient: Myself

Notes: I used my Balance sock pattern as the basis for these knee highs. However, I turned it upside down and knit them toe-up, starting with a Turkish cast-on (thanks Deb!) and a wedge toe. I started with 72 sts around the foot. Then I used the standard heel flap heel, but with the flap on the bottom of my heel. Once the heel was turned I began the pattern again so they have a clog heel. I knit the leg for 5.5 inches and then began increases 4 sts per row every 8 rows. I set the increases to be at the back of the side cables and on either side of the center back cables. I increased to a total of 116 sts at about 13 inches of leg (when on the leg, about 15 inches when not on the leg).

The top cable ribbing and stitch count did not provide enough grip to keep the socks up so I ran 5 strands of .5mm elastic through the wrong side knit stitches - one at each cable cross and one at the very top of the sock. I tied each string of elastic with a square knot and have left the tails as they don’t show when worn.

I did not like this yarn. It did not like to stay plied so it was very easy to split it. Ultimately I think the socks have a bit of a grungy look to them with this colorway as well. I’ll certainly wear the knee highs a bunch regardless. As you can see they go well with at least three of my skirts so I should have nice warm legs this winter.

These knee highs went quite quickly. I finished them last week, but we haven’t had much in the way good photography lighting. They took about 3.5 weeks or so. Not bad for a plus-sized knee highs!

I’ll definitely make some more. Hopefully at least one more pair this winter in perhaps a chocolate brown or black… Next time I’ll plan on a bit more negative ease so they are snugger and stay up better. I would also decrease a bit between the widest calf placement and the beginning of the top ribbing. Ultimately, I suspect the extra elastic would be helpful in most pairs though. But, this pair is a little sloppy looking.

Now, my next project - how to block knee highs! :-) That’s why there are no unmodeled shots in that mosaic above!

I hope all of you in the US had a lovely Thanksgiving. We stayed home and did our own vegetarian/non-vegetarian hybrid dinner and then settled in for a couple of old movies - The Ladykillers and Christmas in Connecticut.

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1. DK Balance Knee High Toe Detail, 2. DK Balance Knee Highs, 3. DK Balance Knee High Kick, 4. DK Balance Knee Highs in Fourth Position, 5. DK Balance Knee Highs, 6. DK Balance Knee Highs, 7. DK Balance Knee Highs, 8. DK Balance Knee High Side Detail, 9. DK Balance Knee Highs, 10. DK Balance Knee Highs, 11. DK Balance Knee High, 12. Putting On DK Balance Knee Highs, 13. DK Balance Knee High Kick

Well, my knee high version of the Balance socks are making good progress. Though I have to say progress has slowed rather significantly. I started with 72 sts per sock and I am now at 116 sts! I used to easily complete a pattern repeat (4 rounds) within an one hour program (with fast forwarding through commercials). Now I can’t quite make that, though if I’m not watching by myself and DH can fast foward or if I’m watching TV on DVD I can still often make that happen.

The leg height is at about 15 inches when not on my leg, but because of the negetive ease I need to use to ensure the socks stay up, they are around 13.5 - 14 inches high when on my legs. That means I have about 2 inches to go when on, but I won’t know for sure how many inches that is when I don’t have it on. I think it will soon be time to start the ribbing/mock cables all the way around the top.

I can’t say positively, but I’m guessing this is the last shot of my trying on both socks at the same time. It is getting to be a rather tricky maneuver to get them on now, LOL! I’m thankful that I definitely have plenty of yarn to finish these off. I haven’t put the remaining balls on the scale, but I’d bet I have nearly 1/4 of each ball remaining yet.

Happy Monday!

Thanks to quite a bit of movie watching this weekend (Mystery, Alaska, The Big Sleep, Hudson Hawk, a couple episodes of FireFly and X-Files) as well as quite a lot of alone time yesterday with the House marathon on USA (6 hours to be exact, though I didn’t watch 6 episodes of House, my limit is two in a row so I sprinkled some other recorded shows in there) and I have a fair bit of progress to report since last you saw the knee highs.

I have to admit to moments of delusion when I thought I stood a chance of getting the knee highs done before midnight on Tuesday. Maybe I would have if Saturday hadn’t been almost free of knitting. I tried to knit during Hudson Hawk, but due to a projection system at the home where we watched it there just wasn’t enough ambient light and I screwed up within the first 30-45 minutes or so and decided it best to leave it until I got home and could fix it in full light.

I am still finding the two socks on two circs to be pretty pleasant. I wanted to do the heel flap on the bottom of the foot ala Simple Sox at Needletrax (PDF). So on Friday I traipsed around the area looking for two 24″ US1 Addi Turbos. I transferred the back of the sock to the longer needle when I started the gusset. When I got near to done with the gusset I transferred back to the 16″ circular for now. It fits into my purse/bag a bit easier that way. I know once I do too many increases for the calf I’ll want to switch to the longer needles though.

I’m really chugging along on these. I started them 8-9 days ago and I’m into the leg by a couple of inches - on two socks! Now, if I’m in a hurry I can whip out an entire sock at this gauge in one week. But I have more then half of two socks! I think I’ll be starting my calf shaping in a few more inches. I have the math all ready to go — measurements and stitch and row gauge noted etc. I just need to do a little more research into the method and rate of increase I want to do - just two sts on either side of the panel up the center back and do so more frequently, or do I want to increase 4 sts and do so less frequently? I’ll also wait to decide on the rate of increase until I have decided when I need to start them and thus know how many inches of height I’ll have to reach the maximum circumference of the leg.

While I’m quite positive these won’t get done by the end of Socktoberfest, I suspect they won’t take much more than another week or so. For one, Novemeber starts and with that NaNoWriMo. This means not only days home alone but at least one night a week and even when I’m not home alone I suspect I’ll have more than enough time to knit and read. This week it means last night and tomorrow night (kick-off party) and Wednesday night (regular write-in).

Well, I decided to go with my gut when it came time for SnB on Monday evening and did the Balance sock. It will give the knee highs the air of cables without all that extra bulk which this big girl doesn’t need on her legs (even though they are not bad for big girl legs). It ended up that the Balance sock also won the vote. It is probable that I will at some point knit Spearfish knee highs as well as others. It makes sense to have a bit of a knee high wardrobe if the only clothes that really fit me properly are skirts.

I’m making some progress on them. If you hadn’t figured it out by now I’m doing the two socks on two circs method. I stuck with my 16 inch circs though which I know some people think you can’t even use to knit one sock on two circs. It is going well for me. I like that there is little readjustment needed of the needles when I switch between the circs. It works well for me. My biggest complaint about the magic loop was all that rearranging constantly.

I shall have to either do short row heels (of which Lolly posted some links to great tutorials of yesterday) or probably use DPNs to do the inverted heel flap and gusset as there certainly isn’t room on these circs for all the extra gusset stitches of two socks. But I’ll tackle that problem when I get to it. I wish I could get my hands on a copy of the book, but I don’t particularly care to own it, I just want to peruse it to see what their preferred heel method is etc. and our library doesn’t have a copy. I can get one through ILL, but that could take a week or more. Oh well!

I’m using the Lana Grossa Meilenweit Mega Boot Stretch yarn. If you take a closer look at the left foot you can see it will do a bit of the Trekking XXL-like ombre striping. I have no idea if I could have matched stripes on this or not, but I like the non-matchiness of the Trekking so this is fine that it isn’t matching up.

Now I obviously can’t comment on the washability and durability of this yarn, but I can comment on what it is like to knit with it. It has the word “stretch” in the title. I thought it would be a good choice for knee highs, however, it isn’t any stretchier than some of the preferred sock yarns that are just spun for stretchiness like Koigu, Lorna’s Laces, etc. The construction of the yarn is somewhat similar to Cascade Fixation in the form of a core ply of what I’m guessing is the “Elite” that the other plies are wrapped around. The wool blend plies that are on the outside are very lofty and lightly spun. This means it all comes apart quite readily while knitting which means it is easy to split the yarn. That isn’t my favorite trait. I can overlook splitty yarn for a sweater or something, but for socks which are my go everywhere and get knit while doing everything sort of project I’d really prefer to not have to pay much attention when I’m forming my stitches.

Now, it isn’t the worst. Certainly yarns like Lion Brand’s Microspun split much worse. The knit fabric itself is good on the turbo 1s that I’m using. The yarn isn’t so bad that I’ll rip out these socks and start over with something else, though I’ll probably think long and hard before I buy more, certainly for as large of a project as knee highs. It would have to be a very spectacular color scheme that I hadn’t seen elsewhere or that before I add any of it to the stash.

I’ve been stuck here for at least five days. I have the toes complete and it is time to decide how I want to proceed with my knee-highs. When I first purchased the yarn I thought I’d knit Spearfish in a knee high version. Then I got to thinking that the laciness might not be the warmest and that was part of my reason for wanting to knit knee-highs - warmth to go with all my skirts.

So, then I thought perhaps some sort of cabling up the sides of the foot and probably the center of the back, but then which cable? And how long will it take if I cable them?

Next, I thought since I’ve been all about traveling/twisted stitches lately. I could do a knee-high version of Balance Socks… I wouldn’t need to cart charts around that way as I have it memorized and it has such nice little details to make it look interesting without bogging you down with charts or constant twisted stitches. So, what do you think?

I need a decision by this evening for SnB or I’ll be there yet again and won’t really knit a stitch…