Monkey, Cookie A., Knitty Winter 2006

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Details
Pattern: Monkey, Cookie A, Knitty Winter 2006
Yarn: Koigu Painter's Palette Premium (KPPPM) Colorway: P303-58
Needles: US 2 Addi Turbo 32" (Magic Loop)
Modifications: Short Row Heel, Toe Up using Queen Kahuna Fan Toe
Started: Thursday, May 3, 2007
Finished: Thursday, May 24, 2007

Tonight, I used Peggy's Stretchy Bind-off for Toe-Up Socks on my Monkeys and they are done! Behold the beautiful Monkey modeled on my very own Duct Foot.







The little girl reminded me to leave a bit of sock yarn leftover for mending in the future, so I thought about it and devised a way to catalog my sock yarn bits by labeling them including the pattern name I used and storing them in a zipper bag inside a photo box.

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Friday, May 11, 2007

The Monkeys have heels now. The pattern calls for gussets and heel flap, but I wanted to try a short row heel. I followed Queen Kahuna's No Wrap, No Gap Short Row Heel directions, but managed to muck up the last stitches which left me with a small hole on one side of each sock. *sigh* I'll just close them up after I'm done by weaving in some scrap yarn. Last night at knit night, Joanna told me that I didn't pick up the wrap stitch on one side of each of my socks. *pout* I was so proud of myself and now this... *oh well* I'm not going to rip out the heel, I'm just going to go forward and try again next time.

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Thursday, May 3, 2007

So, I've dumped Anastasia and am now courting Monkey. Yes, I'm in L O V E with Cookie A's Monkey sock. I'm feeling good about these socks now as I've completed the first repeat of the lace pattern and I'm past the point of no return as far as ripping out the toe for the 4th time. I gave up on the short row toe and went back to my favorite rounded, tried and true Queen Kahuna Fan Toe. Damn my OCD, but I gotta have a nice, smooth rounded toe.

I do believe that Cookie is now my sock guru. I'll have to cook up a Cookie mantra now. I mean peep her patterns. They are the SHIZNIT!

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Monday, April 23, 2007

*sigh*

Here I go again. Casting on for my second pair of socks. I grabbed a couple hanks of Koigu KPPPM P303 and the last hank of Koigu KPPPM P111 at the Yarn Barn during the Yarn Crawl Saturday since I forgot to bring my knitting and I was going into withdrawals. I love KOIGU! I just kept petting it. It's so soft and squishy. *drool* This yarn would be perfect for the Anastascia sock.

So, here's the thing with me and socks. I hate boxy, pointy toes. Yes, I admit it. I've got this OCD thing where the toe has to be nice and rounded and if it isn't, I'll rip it out and redo it. So, now I'm thinking. "HEY! I'll learn how to do short row toes and heels! That's the ticket! That'll give me the perfect toe for sure, right?" *yanking at short hairs*

Er? ONE PROBLEM! Which way to short row? I mean for crips sake. There's wrapped, no wrap, Japanese, salted, unsalted, kosher, virgin, cured, smoked, baked, fried, no fat, low fat, lean and fricassee *phew* GOOD LAWD! Just tell which on to use, already. *headdesk*
I did some googling and stumbled across this great little compendium of short row tutorials by Knit Werks called "Short Rows for Socks"

Maybe, I'll just say screw it and go back to doing the fan toe again. It's a good toe. Nothing wrong with it, but then I'll still have to learn how to do short rows for the heel, so might as well conquer the toe first, right?