Socks From The Toe Up

Yesterday was errands and knitting - mostly knitting - curled up in front of the fire. Several years ago I did The Sock Study where I explored how to knit socks from the cuff down, the toe up, magic loop, double pointed needles, one sock on two circular needles, and two socks on two circular needles. My favourite method was socks from the toe up, using two circular needles, knitting one at a time. The study didn't really go anywhere after that because - at that time - I wasn't interested in a lot of knitting in the round nor in knitting with small needles and skinny yarn BUT...

... times change. Right now, with my lack of interest in sewing together or fitting, socks are perfect. I'm working on the Dead Simple Lace Socks from Wendy D. Johnson's book Socks From The Toe Up.

The patterns in the book range from simple to more complex with several methods for casting on, creating the toe, and shaping the heel. The heel above is called a short row heel. It took me three tries to get it as neat as I wanted and I'm glad I persevered. It looks rather pretty if I do say so myself.

Previously, all the socks I'd knit were plain. This is my first lacy pair. You begin reading a lace pattern from right to left, bottom to top. This one goes k1 and then k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, k3 repeated three times finishing with k2tog, yo, k1, yo, k2tog, k2. That made no sense to me. With k1 at the start and k2 at the end, it wasn't balanced.

Instead I started and ended with k1 and changed the k3 between the two left and two right sets of lace pattern to a k4 which balanced the design and then...

... I finished turning the heel and started knitting up the leg and realized why the pattern was written the way it was written. The lace pattern repeats in the back and wraps around the entire sock leg. It was designed to have k3 between each lace grouping. I have k2 between two, k3 between two, and k4 between two. Not exactly as written but it works and I'm wiser now. I learned a lesson about socks and lace.

Along similar lines, when I thought more about it later, I wished that I'd taken a less confrontational and more generic approach in my comments yesterday, one more in keeping with my own advice. I have edited the posting to reflect that awareness both because I can and because I believe that when we know better we have the opportunity to do better. I apologize for not taking a gentler and more gracious approach from the beginning.

Operation Christmas Child is one of our favourite parts of Christmas and something our family has been doing for years. When the kids were younger, I shopped with them and now that they're all adults, Howard and I go together. Normally we chose the 10-14 age group but this year we decided to do the 2-4 year old group. VERY fun! The boxes are due Sunday. The date is always some time the end of November. It's a wonderful way to begin the holiday with a focus on caring and sharing.

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - a conscience