Friday, May 16, 2008

In the beginning...
there was an idea to knit with two other knitters at my favorite LYS. Since I love socks and we have all made them together, a sock was declared the winner in the slightly organized KAL for our Thursday knitting group. We all agreed on one sock pattern and off we went. Each of us picking out a different kind of yarn. Since my sock yarn stash has expanded to more than one drawer in my storage system, I decided to dig into my stash. I am using my sock yarn purchased at MS&W from last year. I fell in love with this soft baby yellow yarn. I am usually nuts over shades in green but for some reason, the yellow spoke to me. Don't tell me that the rest of you haven't heard those two little words, "buy me". So being the obedient person I am, I did, not one but two.

So here is beginning as shaky as it was. I can see in the beginning that there were some misplaced holes in my sock, so it was frogged. I knit two at the same time on dpns. I do the cuff on one then move to the cuff of the second sock. Then it's on to the leg and then back to the other sock for the leg. I want a pair of sock done at once. No orphans here!
I got past the funny misplaced holes in the beginning and moved on to the body of the sock. Again I could see glaring errors and one of the socks was frogged back to the cuff when I was shamed by my knitting peers. What went wrong here, I do not know but I do know that it was fixed after many attempts.

I was having one of those "how can I make a photo of my latest project look really good" thought. I was working on the Eye of Partridge heel, which I have never done before. I noticed that there is a subtle pattern developing. I know how to count the rows in my short row heel already but not for this heel pattern. I started looking at it by holding the heel up to the light. I could see a nice diamond shape appearing. I was amused. So this is how it is developing. I have now turned the heel on one sock and am working on the heel of the second sock. Next the gusset. I will have to read that a few more times before I understand how to do it. It's been fun knitting this sock and will plan on knitting another set using this same pattern but a different color right after these. I love the pattern and since I am one for getting stuck in a rut, this new rut will be fun!

6 comments:

Susan Luni said...

Your post answered one question--I wondered how two-at-a-time socks were knit without constantly dropping one ball of yarn and picking up another. I never thought of knitting them by sections. Sounds much easier.
Then you raised another. I just finished my first eye of partridge heel flap, and it doesn't have diamonds in it. Why not? My pattern was sl1, k1, and purl on the reverse. It has eyes, but no diamonds. I like the cushy fabric.

vlb5757 said...

I split the skein into two balls. I weight them and get them pretty close to half the amount that was listed on the label-usually about 50 grams each. I put one ball in a zip bag and then start knitting on the first sock. I get to a certain point and then knit the other sock to that point. I go back and forth between the two. You have to have at least 12 dpns to do this. Since this is my first time doing the "eye of partridge" I am not sure. I looked in another sock book I just got and mine looks like the book. Could you have done your sl 1 as as to knit instead of purl? If you look at my picture really closely, you can see the little circle in each diamond. I think that is supposed to be the "eye". I am sure that your socks are still lovely!

Bobbisox said...

Your sock is lovely, and your eye of partridge is pretty too. Mine are usually done with patterned yarn then the stitches POP out but then the pattern you were doing would be lost with patterned yarn. Your yellow looks so cheery.

3bagsfull said...

This is looking fantastic. Great Job! Yes, it is one of those ruts that really are quite fascinating. Each yarn will make itself known even when using the same pattern. I LOVE the 'eye of partridge'. I probably will use that exclusively now. The socks look great. perfect summer weight and color.

vlb5757 said...

Bobbisox thanks for commenting on my socks. I had hoped that others who have done this pattern or at least the heel would know what it's supposed to look like. I thought that if I used a striped yarn the whole lace pattern would get lost. I am going to knit the same socks in another kind of yarn as soon as I finish these. I want to see what kinds of yarns or colors do well with lace. I am having a great time with the sock though!

vlb5757 said...

3bagsfull-I am so thrilled that you shared your sock with me on the bus. I would have never have known how wonderful eye of partridge heel was. This will make my second heel. I want to learn as many as I can. I don't wear a lot of socks in the summer so guess I will have to shop around for a cotton that I can use for the summer. I have just been so focused on winter socks I have never given much thought to summer socks. See you on Tuesday!