March 23, 2012

Oops.

I said in my last post that I wouldn't post again until I had actual news, but any news has been thoroughly thwarted by my complete lack of knitting anything for the last two weeks.

I tried to do my 2-at-a-time sock heels again, trying to use the directions from Knitting Circles Around Socks, and Sensational Knitted Socks, and that totally didn't work.  So, I've made a copy of the directions from Knitting Circles and have been meaning to try again, but was somewhat disheartened.

Technically, I have another project I could be working on (my Chroma Striped Scarf), but that hasn't motivated me either.  I tend to go through phases with my various activities, and I think I'm just out of a knitting phase right now.  Hopefully the ball will get rolling again soon, though, because I really don't want these socks to take 4 months, as my socks tends to do.

March 5, 2012

A glimmer of hope

I'm sure y'all are sick of my sock posts by now, and I promise to quit blogging about them until something actually happens (and I can post a picture!), but I do have a small bit of news.

First, I went out and bought 2-at-a-time Socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes, hoping that it would help me with my heel issues.  It didn't, but not because it was unclear--it was because how she casts on, and her starting position, in the book are different than the method I used.

In the meantime, I'd posted a plea on the Magic Loop Ravelry group boards, asking for some help.  I only got two responses--one suggesting a series of videos by Liat Gat of Knit Freedom (most of which cost money, as its sort of an e-book with video tutorials), and the second suggesting Knitting Circles around Socks by Antje Gillingham (even though its for two circular needles, rather than magic loop).  I already own this book, and hallelujuah, the instructions for the heel flap are CLEAR AS DAYLIGHT, THANK GOD.


I was able to pull back my work to the end of my cuff, so hopefully I can cruise through the heel flaps again (on the correct needle this time) and continue on with my life.  I also have decided to forgo using Sensational Knitted Socks* as a guide (heel-wise, at least) and am going to create my own thing using the instructions in Knitting Circles and Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.  That can't possibly go wrong, right?


*Just to be clear, I love Sensational Knitted Socks and it worked really well for me when I did my socks on DPNs; just not this magic loop two at a time craziness!

March 2, 2012

EXTREME SAD FACE

Y'all.  I tried to get my sock heels done, I really did.  I turned the heel of the first sock, no problems.  Picked up the gusset stitches on one side...and realized (to my great horror) that there was no way for me to get to the second sock heel.

I have a hunch (though I can't find any confirmation anywhere) that my problem is due to the fact that I did my heel flap on the back needle.  There aren't any tutorials anywhere I can find that explicitly state which needle you're *supposed* to do the heel flap on (and I wasn't sure it mattered), but thinking about it, if the flaps were on the front needle, I would be able to move on to the second sock heel, easy peasy (if I'm thinking about it right).

Sadly, I didn't figure all this out until after I'd removed the socks from the circular, picked up gusset stitches on both socks, and knit a round or two (thinking I could just do the turns on DPNs and then put them back).  It was only then I realized another horrible problem: my DPNs are wood, and I knit MUCH tighter on them.  BOO HISS.

So, my plan is to rip back, all the way to the cuff and start the flaps and everything over again.  I'm still not sure how to address the problem I have of following the heel/gusset instructions in Sensational Knitted Socks, where she has you rearrange stitches (can't really do that on the circular, especially for Sock 1), but maybe it will come to me.  Wish me luck!