Knitting, why have you forsaken me?!

I should have known. Or more correctly, I knew. I knew the socks seemed a little big; they were a little loose when I tried them on. Wasn't too worried about it; mother assured me she didn't care.

I plugged along, finished the foot as per the instructions (1 inch shorter than foot length). Plowed through the heels (which are Double Stitch Short Row heels).

Y'all...they are ENORMOUS. Things went terribly, terribly wrong.

I checked my gauge when I first noticed the bigness, and thought I was getting 8.5-9 stitches per inch. Online calculators informed me that my stitch count (64) was right on for that gauge. But...I KNEW.

Having re-checked it (since I now have the world's largest sock swatch), I seem to be getting 7 stitches per inch! I don't know if things are stretching or I'm blind, or both.

At any rate, I have to RIP OUT THE ENTIRE THING AND START OVER.

Lessons learned:

1. Listen to your knitting common sense FOR GOD'S SAKE.
2. Quadruple check your gauge.

I'm digging my favorite trusty sock book out of storage as well, since it never steered me wrong before. Oh, and a size 1 circular (I'm pretty sure I have one somewhere).

ARGH. *insert sounds of my hysterical weeping here as I mournfully update my Ravelry page*

In other news, I guess this means I'll be able to snug up and perfect the heels the next time around.

Here goes...

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had started some two-at-a-time (toe up) socks back in September (post-Ravellenic Games), and had only gotten about half way through the toe increases before stopping.

I picked those bad boys up again this past weekend and started knitting them again.

They're even longer now, just over 5 inches--I'm very pleased with my progress. The yarn is Smooshy with Cashmere, and I'm following a tutorial for two-at-a-time magic loop socks from Heidi Bears. My mom picked this yarn out way back in December of 2014! Nothing like having a slacker for a daughter. I'm hoping to have these done in time for Mother's Day. Mom prefers very simple socks--plain feet and a basic 2x2 ribbed leg, so right now I'm just whizzing through the knitting.

I've knit two-at-a-time magic loop socks before, but this will be my first time trying a short row heel-eek!

I am nothing if not insane.

I don't know what my problem is.  Didn't I just post that socks always burn me out?  Oh, right, I did.  So why in heavens name am I considering knitting another pair when I haven't even finished the ones on my dang needles?

Because I am insane.  And I hate giving up (I will conquer you, socks!  I will start completing you in less than 3 months!!! I WILL!)

I was browsing the internet the other night, still frustrated by this whole magic loop heel thing, when I came upon a glorious, glorious tutorial by Heidi Bears (who, incidentally, has an awesome looking crochet bear pattern).  This tutorial was not of much help to me previously, as I was doing my 2-at-a-time socks leg-down with a heel flap and the instructions at Heidi Bears blog are for toe-up socks with a short-row heel (which I've never attempted by itself, let alone on magic loop).

But then I got to thinking--why not try it?  There it was, all spelled out for me with fantastic instructions and pictures, and such pretty example socks.

So, socks are likely in my future once again, though probably not right after I finish my mom's green pair.  I'll probably have a buffer project in there of some kind (maybe the aforementioned Malabrigo handwarmers?)

I am a glutton for punishment.

I found the cure!

Y'all brace yourselves for crazy news: I KNIT THIS WEEKEND.

It's true!  How did this come about, just after my self-confessed funk?  Because of the yarn store.

I went in to get a present for my aunt for Mother's Day (she's in town), and left feeling like I should be knitting something.  I'm not quite sure HOW it worked, just that it did.  I finished turning both my sock heels and am working on the gussets.  This was not without a lot of frustration (I couldn't get it to work right, but stopped caring because they look fine), and at one point I had to take the socks off the circular and put them onto DPNs and back onto the circular to rearrange them to the right starting position.  I'll probably have to rearrange them again.

I had such high hopes for this 2-at-a-time sock thing, and the heel is totally bumming me out.  I was moving along pretty well up until then.  I mean...it had only taken me 20 days to do both my sock legs and to start the heel originally, which is record time for me.  I'd almost want to try again, except I really have to figure this heel business out.  I'd just to it on DPNs and put it back on the circular after the heel was done, except my DPNs are all wood, and my gauge changes completely.  Grr argh!

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!

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!

On to the heel turn...

Slightly late, but I just wanted to check in and report that I managed to finish my leg cuffs and, as of last night, the heel flaps for my magic loop 2-at-a-time socks!  This evening I'm hoping to start the tricky part: the heel turn and gusset for each sock.  Should be interesting.

Plugging along

I had a goal for myself to try and post at least twice a week, and totally failed at that goal as soon as I made it.  Figures.

In happier news, I'm plugging right along on my socks!

 

Please ignore the cat fur.  *sigh*

Check me out!  I'm loving this magic loop two-at-a-time thing.  I'm still nervous about the heels, but I have several more inches to go on the leg of the socks before I have to really worry about it.

One of my concerns is due to the fact that I'm following the instructions for heels in the 4-stitch pattern section of the book Sensational Knitted Socks.  The instructions have you unknit the last purl stitch, and then shift things around to center the pattern.  I can't do that via magic loop (unless I take them off and do them on DPNs to do the heels, but I don't want to do that).  For these socks, it doesn't matter and I'll skip that particular step because my mom wants the plain stockinette feet.  In the future though, I may have to start out with my pattern already centered, which could be interesting (at least, that's how my friend Sam helped me figure it out).

If anyone has any suggestions/advice for this problem on future socks, I'd love to know!

Simple socks

I'm getting ready to start a new pair of socks (for my mom, as usual) and I've decided to embark on a bit of an adventure with them.

Not long ago, I managed my first toe-up magic loop sock in the form of the Skew Socks.  I don't have a problem with dpns, but something about magic loop made it so much more pleasant; maybe it was less fiddly?

At any rate, while my mom liked the Skews and thought they were funky, she is partial to the first pair of socks I knit for her (which was the first pair of socks I knit EVER).  They're very simple: a 2x2 ribbed leg, heel flap, and plain stockinette foot.  I feel like her love for them has more to do with the Mini Mochi I knit them with than the pattern, but she insisted that the new socks should be the same (also Mochi, but plain too).

I had a feeling that I would never be inspired to work on them, as I like to incorporate a new technique in most of my projects (not only grow as a knitter, but to also stave off boredom).  Then I had a brain wave:  I could knit them cuff down, with magic loop (which would be sort of new).  And it would be so much more pleasant. 

Then I had a totally crazy idea:  what about two-at-a-time?  I spent awhile watching videos and reading tutorials and I think I can manage it.  I'm still a little unclear about the heel/gusset part, but I have faith in myself.

So here's hoping I not only finish these socks in less than 3 months, but that it goes smoothly!  Wish me luck.