Jaywalkers on the Roof

Two of my favourite patterns--zig zag and
argyle--in duct tape. A gift from my sister!

It's official...I'm still on my zig zag craze. I finished up these socks a few weeks ago and am still loving them.

It look a while to get pictures, however, because it has been far too hot to have them on even for a short photo shoot!!

Now what to write about these socks? They took some time to whip into shape. As you may recall, I had to rip out the first start because they were too large. I went down a needle size (to 2mm/0s) and then broken one of my wooden Harmony dpns while executing one of the double decreases in the pattern. That gave me the excuse to buy my first Addi Turbo dpns and I love them!

Then I got to the heel and it really gave me fits. I think I ripped it out twice--the first time all the way back to halfway on the foot because I realized I had to do the gusset different. I increased more stitches earlier and made the length of the foot a lot shorter. (It was a little hard to gauge the length because the zig zag pattern makes the fabric buckle up on itself.)

Once I got that figured out, the actual heel wasn't long enough so after a regular short row heel, I added more short rows and basically did a quarter of a short row heel on top of it. That gave some additional length in the heel and made the sock cover it better. It, however, also caused some odd bump shapes on the back of the heel as the peak of the additional short rows lined up with the point of the zig zags. You can see it a little bit on the picture above (where there's kind of a "wrinkle" on the back of the heel.)

I'm sure it's related to all the heel shaping somehow (I haven't considered exactly how), but the only complaint I have about the fit so far is that it is rather tight over the top, where my foot meets my leg. It's better when my toe is pointed and worse when my foot is bent at a normal angle, so I don't know if that means there's too much fabric there or if I just don't have enough stitches around at that point.

Immediately after the heel, I switched to the next larger needles and then proceeded up the leg, changing to larger needles one more time and adding some stitches to the zig zag pattern to accommodate my calf. It feels like that part is going to fit great. I finished with a lot of 1x1 ribbing on the middle sized needles to hold it all up.

You may recall that I started these socks with just the green/orange colour-changing yarn but discovered I wanted more contrast for the zig zag pattern to show. I added the grey/red/brown striping yarn, and it worked out pretty well. I have a few issues with the striping yarn itself (like the fact that they dyed only enough of a colour for one row sometimes between much wider stripes--see the red above) but I like how it contrasted with the main colour. A few times the grey of the one would match up with a green of the other and blend too much, but for the most part I got some good interesting stripes.

Besides the heat, this post was delayed because I was hoping to have some real sock blockers to help these socks look their best. Up to now I haven't really blocked any of my socks because I figured wearing them would put them into shape.

I like to fold the socks so you can see how the toe and
heel are really the same shape (top sock). It also kind of
reminds me of a boat.

But these socks really need them (and they would help for taking pictures--I wouldn't always have to model them). As I said, the zig zag pattern really buckles on itself and I'm hoping the socks blockers will stretch them to size so they'll fit better. The foot part on the smaller needles is like steel, the fabric is so dense and sturdy. Good for wearability, but they take some time to put on! I have some blockers on order at the LYS so I am working on it, but they haven't come in yet and I decided I couldn't wait any longer to post this.

I actually ran out of yarn on the second sock. I thought I had a good plan: I had two skeins of the green/orange (MC-main colour) and one skein of the grey/brown/red (CC-contrast colour). So obviously, I could use up one ball of the MC per sock and half of the CC.

I used the MC for the toes and heels and set up the stripe pattern with 8 rows of MC and 4 rows of CC. I figured that would make sure that I used more of the first. Then to even out the toes and heels a bit, I used only the CC on the ribbing.

So on the first sock, I knit the leg til I almost ran out of the MC, and then did ribbing until I had used up just less than half of the CC. That should have left me with enough for the second sock to match, right?
Project Stats
Started: 3 Apr '12
Finished: 16 Jun '12
Pattern: Jaywalker by Grumperina
Materials: Patons Kroy Socks FX (Clover Colours, 2 skeins) and Ragg Shades (Grey Brown Marl, 1 skein), $ + $6.49
Well, apparently it wasn't. I ran out of the MC one row early, which means my two skeins didn't have the same yardage! I made up for that by doing the row in the CC. That's not a big deal since I was about the change to that colour for the ribbing anyway.

Then I ran out of the CC six rows short. This tells me that my skein perhaps didn't weigh what it said it weighed. Not much I could do about that! (Although I did splice on the long end I had from where I joined the CC on the first sock!) So my one sock is six rows shorter than the first sock. If I were a real stickler, I could shorten the first sock by six rows, but I'm not going to.

And I guess all this is to say that even though I call this the "Jaywalker" pattern, I only took from the pattern how she did the zig zag design and made the rest up as I went along. First off, I changed them to toe-up and then used my favourite toe (Sherman), my favourite heel (Sherman)--though heavily modified in this case, adapted the design up the leg to adjust for fit, and topped it with lots of 1x1 rib on top. (I think she used very little 2x2 rib, but that will never hold up a sock!)

Now I've packed them away for winter because these are going to be some warm socks!

Jacob Have I Loved...

I told you about the wonderful adventures that my zig zag sock had as it accompanied me to New York City. Before I left, I had decided to not take the matching sock because I didn't think I needed to refer to it and didn't want to risk losing it. At some point in the trip I realized I couldn't really think of where the first sock was. But I put it out of my mind; I was on vacation!

Today, my second day back at work, something caught my eye as I walked through the parking lot. When I looked oh my goodness!! it was my sock.

Laying there on the ground at the edge of the lot, very forlorn and looking lost. Poor thing!

I must have had it on my lap one day while knitting during my lunch break and didn't notice when it fell out of the car when I got out. I feel like I have to make it up to it somehow--it had to be out there for at least 10 days!

What I did do, however, was to take it home, brush off all the grass and vegetation it had collected and throw it in the microwave for a little bit in case it also collected some bugs. It's a pretty sturdy sock so I think it will be ok. After all the ripping and reknitting I did on it, I think we have a bond strong enough to weather an incident like this.

Knew York Knitting

I was gone and now I'm back.

We took a whirlwind trip to New York City. Or it felt like a whirlwind because if there was something to do, we did it. Somewhere to go, we went. Something to see, we looked.

I took along my zig zag sock...the second one of the pair. I knit on the drive to the airport. While waiting for the plane.

While flying in the plane.

I was getting pretty far.

Once we got to the city, however, I pretty much stopped knitting. I did not carry it around with me all day as we went gallivanting. I might have been able to manage if I didn't have the camera with me, but it was just better to have my hands free and eyes available. And we really did not have much waiting time or down time to use up anyway.

Friday we took an afternoon break after a very full morning (that lasted til about 4:30). While the others napped, I settled myself on the chaise longue at the window and knitting while looking out at a bit of Times Square.

When it was time to go home, I knitted some more at the airport and on the plane until I got very close to the end, but even closer to the end of my yarn.

No worries, however. I have a bit more yarn from the first sock (that's why I didn't knit the first ball right to the end) and I really think it will be enough to finish this last stripe or get me close enough that it won't matter.

What did I do then?

I pulled out a second set of sock yarns and started a new sock. Here it is when it is just far enough that you can see the toe part emerge. By the time we landed I had finished the toe.

(Yes, my yarn is wearing "support hose," little sections of old
nylons. It keeps them from becoming a mess--especially important
if you're carting them around.)

Troy asked me do the driving on the way home, so that was the end of my knitting.

Sudden Day Trip and What to Pack?

Wednesday night my sister calls me and says that Marilyn is leaving Chicago and she's going on Friday to see her, do I want to go? Never mind I work on Friday. Nevermind...wait, who is Marilyn??

Turns out she meant the 26-foot tall statue that was installed last summer.

"Forever Marilyn" by Seward Johnson. It is being removed on this coming Monday and will be starting a tour of other American cities.

Now, I have no particularly strong interest in Marilyn, but I didn't want to let that stop me from having a fun trip into the city with my sister. And work is actually slow enough now (pat, pat on my back for getting so much done early!) that I took the day off (with the boss's permission, of course).

We didn't get all the details arranged until Thursday evening and that meant I had very little time to prepare some travel knitting. I mean we were taking the train--this is prime time! I thought about starting some new socks with some new yarn I had recently bought. I tracked down some possible patterns. I even went so far as starting a Ravelry project page (calling them "May the Fourth (be with you) Socks," since they would have been started on May 4), but in the end I couldn't face the thought of another work in progress around here.

But I don't have a lot else going on that could go. The most likely candidates were my zigzag socks, and they were not behaving well enough to be rewarded with a field trip! But I decided that putting them in time out forever really wasn't going to solve the problem.

So I took them out on Thursday and reassessed. I already told you that I knit as far as the leg and they wouldn't fit over my heel. Since then I ripped to the top of the heel and added more height to the heel in an adaptation of Cat Bordhi's "Sweet Tomato Heel." I found this heel method through two sources almost simultaneously: a picture in a forum on Ravelry and a link left by commenter GerryArt. (Thanks, GerryArt!) (It's this link, in case you're interested. It looks like a simple method that would work well!)

Thursday evening I looked at the socks with fresh eyes. I knit a little more on them moving up the leg after the heel and adding a few more increases to make sure they were wide enough. When I tried them on, though, I decided that the foot part of the sock was way too long, it was never going to fit right. I agonised for a long 30 seconds or so and then just started ripping.

By then it was late enough that I didn't even have time to get all the stitches onto the needles. But I figured I could do that on the train. While falling asleep, I realized I would have to rip back even further to do the gusset. Good thing I hadn't wasted the time putting the stitches on the needles!

Yes, my sister knits too. She's working on one of her hats.

We ended up not having much time on the train because we searched near and far for seats that could hold us and the two girls with us. It was a crowded train, but we ended up finding four in a row. Score!

While on the train, I took out the additional rows, got the stitches back on the needles properly, and had time to knit one row. (Not even one round, just one row.) But I felt like the socks were back on track.

Once off the train, our first stop was the City Library at the corner of Rudolph and Michigan. It doesn't hold books any more, but you can visit for free and the mosaics on the roof, walls, floors (ok, everywhere) are well worth your time.

They also have a room with tables and chairs where you could eat a box/packed lunch or enjoy a coffee if it's too cold outside. (They don't sell anything there; you'd have to bring your own.) We also toured the fancy room where you can have a wedding or other big event as well. The room looks out toward the lake and you have a nice view of Millennium Park and the Bean rising from the trees:

(It totally looks like a space ship from here!)

The library also hosts art exhibits. One of them today was...well...lets say quilt like. The artist takes all kinds of fabric, mounts them to chicken mesh for stability and then loads them with all kinds of embellishments. Most of them were very bright and vibrant. This is "Eating Cake" (I'd guess about 6'x8'):

It was much more vibrant in person; unfortunately my camera washed out the color. Here's a detail,

to give you an idea of the embellishments. Here's a list from the info card: plastic toys (paratroopers, alphabet letters, sheriff badges, ants, rings, bracelets), buttons, tassels, silk flowers, satin ribbon rose, fake fur, beads, fringe, children's dance costumes, Barbie clothes and shoes, fabric, clothes--and I'm sure she didn't list them all.

Another piece had quite a different colour pallette, but the idea was the same:

In case it's not apparent to you, this is a wedding dress. Just flattened out and gussied up! It was really neat stuff. Crazy awe-inspiring stuff.

But then we were off...next stop, Marilyn:

She seemed happy to see us.

We did the obligatory pictures standing under her, between her legs. (Such as the one at the beginning of the post.) There don't seem to be many other options. It's not the most polite place to be... I'll leave it at that.

We continued our walk up Michigan Avenue to the Water Tower. We stopped for a snack and a rest there. We ended up exiting through the American Girl Doll Store and it almost killed the girls to not stop and shop. But that was not on our agenda. (We didn't actually make them run through the store; they had a little gawking time.)

We went just a little further north (further than I usually venture) because I had looked up a yarn shop on Oak Street. After having just denied them their American Girl experience, our own girls were only too happy to go another four chilly wind-blasted blocks for a yarn store. (Hmm...maybe I am not so good at reading people because that doesn't sound right.)

We found the shop, "We'll Keep You in Stitches," which focuses on knitting/crocheting and needle point. It's on the fourth floor, but worth the stairs. The proprietors (two sisters-in-law) are just the right amount friendly and helpful without getting to prying and judgmental.

I admired their hand painted needle point canvases but settled on two balls of linen/cotton from Araucania. The colour was beguiling. I wish I could show you in the hank, but it a mix of cool greys and blues with warm oranges and yellows. The pallette is soft and striking at the same time. I plan to use it to knit a gift for someone. I have been worried about it because I really didn't think she is someone that needs a lot of warmth so that kind of rules out things made with wool, alpaca, cashmere, and even silk. This linen/cotton blend might just be the ticket!

From there, we made our way all the way back to the other end of Michigan Avenue and then decided we had enough time to go visit the Bean. One of the girls with us had never seen it. (She had also never been to Chicago and never taken a train, so quite a big day for her!)

When I got there, I realized that I had never been there when you could walk under the Bean. I don't remember what was happening that day, but the whole thing had been cordoned off.

We took the obligatory reflection pictures, making the girls twist and contort their bodies for a good pose, but I was especially taken in by the city reflections. It was a sunny and foggy day. The tops of all the tall buildings faded into forever. I think it was an interesting mix of weather--bright enough for good reflections but the reflections were of a misty city.

From there, it was back to the train and a little more knitting:

We quickly found seats at the top of a double decker car and were able to take full advantage of the travel time. I'm still not very far on my sock after all that ripping, but I think we're on a good path again.

Sock Fail

"Jaywalkers"
from Ravelry user Sandra

I apparently am not over my zig zag craze.

When I needed a project I could take around with me, I looked for a sock pattern I could make with some Patons Kroy Socks yarn that I already had. It's one of those yarns with slow colour changes that I can not seem to resist. I picked it up a summer or two ago at Erica's sidewalk sale.

I started to knit the pattern (Jaywalker by Grumperina, fyi) converting it to toe-up as I went, but I didn't think I was getting the best look from the yarn. The colours didn't change fast enough for the zig zag pattern to show up.

On top of that, I took a second look at the ball band and realized even with two skeins, I didn't really have enough to make long socks. I like long socks. So I thought I would kill two birds with one stone, or solve two problems with one bullet, or pick whichever violent metaphor you would like, and buy another ball of the same stuff in a contrasting colour. That would allow me to stripe to bring out the zig zag and to stretch out the yarn to get longer socks.

I went back to Erica's first but missed their closing time by five minutes. I met a lovely woman from Minnesota in their parking lot. Or I assume she's lovely under better circumstances. She was apparently visiting her daughter nearby and needed a sewing notion. She was incensed that they would not let her in the store to buy it. "Just one bobbin, that's all I need," she kept saying. I finally told her to tell them on their website because I could not do anything about it! I also directed them to another store that I hope had it. She uses a Viking machine and I'm pretty sure their bobbins are proprietary. I'm not sure there's another dealer in town besides Erica's.

Oh one more thing, since I'm so side tracked already. At some point I had to try and tell them how to get to the other store. I could drive there, but couldn't think of the directions right away and they didn't live in town. So I go to my car to give them an old map I had, and by the time I get back the daughter has it pulled up on her phone. Of course...

Anyway, from there I went to Yarn Gourmet, where I do not go very often at all. They do not carry this yarn. They do carry Mini Mochi that I made my Circle Socks out of and love so very much. This time, however, they had no colours to entice me at all. I wanted to buy some but the colours they had just said, "Nothing to see here; just keep on walking..." So I did.

While I was there, however, I managed to pick up my first set of Addi Turbos. These are the "affordable" top notch needles. (Compared to Signatures, for example, which are something like $45 a set.) But Addis are very good (I had heard). They're metal which is what I was looking for because I had shattered one of my Harmony (wooden) dpns while working on this sock. For the pattern, you need to do a double decrease and it puts a lot of pressure on the needle. Enough pressure and...snap!! I worked for a while with four instead of five needles, but buying the Addis was the perfect solution. I really like working with them. I was worried because they're 8" instead of 6" and I sometimes thought the 6" were too long. But they're great.

Anyway, (I am being wordy tonight, aren't I!), I didn't find any wool there.

One more thought as I was leaving was that Joann's carried a lot of Patons yarn and maybe they would have it. An added convenience is that they have late hours. So off I went to Joann's and sure enough they carried this sock yarn. I had a number of options, but the best one seemed to be this grey, black and red self-striping yarn:

It seemed a little bit of an odd combination but I convinced myself it would work. And after knitting the foot of the sock, I have to say I think it does. It's different from the first colour, which gradually changes from one colour to the next. It's self-striping in the sense that it will be grey for a while and then suddenly change to red and then after a while it will suddenly change to another colour. It's a different effect and some people like it. I myself would rather have more control over my stripes (you're so surprised) and would just work with different colours. Striping is so easy that I don't know why they make self-striping yarns. But oh well, it will be handy for this project since I'm using it interspersed with the other yarn.

I merrily knit along on my new size 2mm Addis. Added a few stitches for a gusset. Went and turned a heel in the first colour,

and then continued up the leg, now doing the zig zag all around. It's looking so pretty, I thought, I have to try it on.

That was a problem. The bottom part of the sock (the "foot") was pretty snug, but I was able to get it on pretty easily. And it's supposed to be snug. But the heel and the leg part absolutely would not go over my heel. It's not wide enough and there is absolutely no stretch in this zig zag pattern. Grumperina warned me of that in the pattern but I thought I had enough stitches. Apparently not.

You can see that I have already taken the needles out (it was a silly hope that the socks would go on if the needles weren't "in the way") and am now deciding if I have to take it out to the top of the heel and add stitches there, or if I have to take out the heel as well and work on things at the gusset stage.

Before I rip, though, I had better measure my gauge in the pattern so I can figure how many stitches I will need. I also will probably change to larger needles right after the heel. The fabric is very firm on the 2mms, which is what I wanted for the sole of the foot, but the leg could be looser. Then I'll get to see if my size 2.25mm Harmony needles are up to the task or if I get to buy another set of Addis!