fox: red 1x1 rib. (knitting)
fox ([personal profile] fox) wrote2008-06-11 06:11 pm

small victories

The migraine fun continued this morning, so I e-mailed in and went back to bed -- and when I got up, the e-mail had not in fact sent, so I re-emailed.  You can tell you're in no shape when you can't tell a comma from a semicolon.

When I finally emerged and was sufficiently self-medicated, I finished the Embossed Leaves socks.



They're a little roomy, but maybe they'll shrink a little in the dryer.  My moment of triumph is that the socks are actually symmetrical instead of identical.  The chart has sixteen rows, 9-16 of which are the opposite of 1-8, so on the second sock I started at row 9 instead of row 1; and I did the decreases for the toe at the beginning of each needle instead of the end, and now my socks are mirror images instead of copies.  I am very, very pleased by this.  :-)

Also, that's two and a half repeats on the leg instead of three and a half, as I said, because even holding a size 1 dpn with the size 2 circ for the cast-on, the cast-on edge of the cuff is a little on the tight side.  Better on the second sock, but still, not something I want to depend on.  So I've just cast on for the Bellatrix socks with my Happy Feet #5 that I bought last week, and I'm using the size 2 circs for it*, but I literally cast on with size 5 straights ... and the cuff seems just about stretchy enough.  Manalive.


* Embossed Leaves called for size 2, which are normally 2.75mm, and I used Addi size 2, which are 3.0.  It was 64 stitches around, but in pattern the whole way, so maybe a shade snugger than stockinette would have been.  On the stockinette sole, I have 6 stitches to the inch.  Bellatrix calls for whatever needles you need to get 8 stitches to the inch, but it's only 60 stitches around, so I'm still using the size 2's; with my (Addi) size 1 needles, 2.5mm, I get 9 stitches to the inch, and my brown anklets were 64 stitches around and fit on the snug side of perfectly, so I wouldn't want to take four stitches away on those needles.  Also, for Embossed Leaves I used Socks that Rock lightweight, which is a very little bit heavier than the Happy Feet.  So I think the size 2 needles should yield a sock that fits about right.  Experienced knitters care to comment on my reasoning?