Sunidesus Knits

New KnitPicks yarn... I like it. It's very soft and makes a nice thin fabric.

The Stats...
Needles: 0's (2mm)
Yarn: KnitPicks Felici - Martinique
Pattern: generic
Sizing: 14 up to 30
SPI:
Started: 12-24-2008
Finished: 1-19-2009

I know I've said it before, but I love this yarn. It takes up dye so wonderfully and they are super comfortable to wear. I know this particular colorway was an early dying experiment, but I don't remember when I did it exactly. It's been sitting in the sock yarn bin for quite a while and I finally got around to knitting it up. I am certainly a sucker for the blues and purples!

The Stats...
Needles: 0's (2mm)
Yarn: Peruvian Wool, dyed by me
Pattern: generic
Sizing: 14 up to 30, 5" to heel
SPI: 8
Started: 12-11-2008
Finished: 12-24-2008

These were a Christmas present for my friend Elysia. They're just my regular old generic pattern, but a little bit longer than for me since everyone else has bigger feet than I do!

The Stats...
Needles: 0's (2mm)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces - 34 Tahoe
Pattern: generic
Sizing: 14 up to 30, 6.5" to heel
SPI: 8
Started: 12-6-2008
Finished: 12-23-2008

I figured I really should write this up somewhere so I can just link to it instead of writing down all the steps every single time. So here it is!

I like toe-up on circs so I do the magic cast-on except instead of a slip knot for the very first stitch I just kind of loop the yarn around the needle. The non-slip knot version can be found here. I've ended up thinking of my socks as "14 up to 30" or "16 up to 32" instead of thinking of the total number of stitches in a round. The number I cast-on and the number to which I increase does change depending on the yarn and the intended feet.

After I've increased as far as I want it's stockinette until it's time to start increasing for the heel. I use the heel from the Widdershins pattern (never actually knit those socks, just tried out the heel part and liked it). I have a much easier time preventing weird holes with that heel than I have with other heels I've tried. And I like the way a heel flap heel fits.

The increase rows start 3 inches before the length of the foot, so for me I start increasing once I've hit 5 inches (since my feet are 8 inches long). It's an increase of two stitches every other row for 20 rows. So once I can count 10 increases up one side it's time for the short rows.

I figured out the math of the short rows so I can work it over any number of stitches, like so:
1) k until 16 before end, m1k, k1, w&t
2) p until 16 before end, m1p, p1, w&t
3) k until 4 before the wrapped stitch, m1k, k1, w&t
4) p until 4 before the wrapped stitch, m1p, p1, w&t
5) k until 4 before the wrapped stitch, m1k, k1, w&t
6) p until 4 before the wrapped stitch, m1p, p1, w&t
7) k until 4 before the wrapped stitch, m1k, k1, w&t
8) p until 4 before the wrapped stitch, m1p, p1, w&t

After that it's the same as the pattern on Knitty. One round knitting all those wrapped stitches back in, then decreasing back to the starting number.

Then it's stockinette on the leg for as long as I feel like it. I like the way twisted rib looks so I do 10 rows of 1x1 twisted rib at the top to keep things from curling on me.

And I finish the whole thing off with a double crochet bind-off.

So that's my generic sock pattern!

Instead of two solids I used a solid and a variegated on this one. It did take a while to find a combination that worked well. All the colors in the variegated one had to contrast a decent amount with the solid or else it just got all muddy and seemed pointless to use two colors. I did try two variegated at one point and that just really didn't work.

The Stats...
Needles: 7's (4.5mm)
Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream - Softly Taupe (0.9 oz) and Peaches and Cream - Winterberry (0.7 oz)
Pattern: Three-and-One Pattern (Barbara Walker v. 1 pg. 94) - changed color every two rows, co 43
Sizing: 9.25" by 8.25"
SPI: 4.5
Started: 12-10-2008
Finished: 12-11-2008