Green Socks

I'm making some socks. And they're green. As students in my library would say, "I know, right?"

Now that you've recovered, I can give you a few more details. I'm making these for an upcoming hiking trip that Jeff and I will be taking with my brother. I didn't know Cascade made sock yarn (how didn't I know this?), but The Knitting Nest had a whole bunch of this green. It knits up wonderfully -- very sturdy -- perfect for hiking. Plus it's put up in 437 yd. hanks, so plenty of yarn for a lengthy pair of manly socks. AND it was only $12.00 What's not to like? This colorway is known as Mossy Rock. I like to think it's named after a Tacoma Public Utilities park where my family spent a very soggy Memorial Day weekend in the mid-1970s. I remember it raining a lot, catching tadpoles and garter snakes and keeping them in coffee cans, and laughing hilariously when I heard my mom's friend Gerri uttering the phrase "crap-ola" while playing cards.

I'm using the six-stitch pattern dimensions from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks, but I'm not following a particular pattern. I did a 24 stitch magic toe cast-on, increased to 72 stitches (my standard circumference), then started a 4x2 ribbing across the instep. I didn't want to work a short row heel, so I'm doing a heel flap where the flap is actually on the sole. It worked pretty well. I did a slip-stitch heel for reinforcement purposes, but I don't know that it's noticeable. I wanted to put these cool blast-from-the-past stripes in with some leftover KnitPicks Essential that I had, but I made the cuff too short, so what you see here is more than is what is on the needle now. I had to do some ripping back. But overall, I'm pleased.

I need to get this pair done before I leave next Saturday.

Herz Broken

Do you remember the third Star Trek movie? It was the one between Star Trek II, where Kirk yells the immortal "Khaaaaaaaaan!" and the fourth one where they go back in time to San Francisco to save the whales. I thought so -- hardly anyone remembers it. One of the plot points involves getting Spock's soul out of Dr. McCoy and re-implanting it in Spock's body during a very rare and dangerous Vulcan ritual. The point of all this is the outfit Spock wears during this process. You see, I just made a cabled version of it.

Get a load of those shoulders. Yep -- I made that. I read some time ago that when looking at the modeled shots of knitted objects, one should pay special attention to the parts of the garment you can't see in the photos. In the photos for the Herz & Baum Vest in Guy Knits, the model is always wearing a jacket over the vest. You cannot see what the armholes look like. That's because, unless you're a linebacker, these armholes are going to stick out. I mean really stick out. Ridiculously far.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I think I may just chalk this up to experience -- knit and learn. I put a LOT of work into this, but I'm not going to wear it if I'm going to look like a clown -- or a Vulcan going through fal-tor-pan. If anyone has any ideas -- besides donating this to Home for the Criminally Broad-Shouldered, please let me know.

To help get my mind off this colossal disappointment, I buckled down and finished the Sailor's Rib Socks that I made out of Malabrigo. Beautiful color, perfect match of yarn pattern to stitch pattern, and they fit wonderfully. So there.

Plus, I've got in mind another pair of socks that I want to knit for an upcoming special milestone. I'll share some of it, but I think I'll keep some of it back as a surprise. We'll see...

Steekcam

I know y'all must get tired of hearing about these damned steeks. I am too. So they are now gone. Snipped, cut and forever divided.

I started the final process yesterday with Jene. She took a few whacks at the neck steek and did a great job. Then we went and had awesome hot and sour soup at the Bamboo Garden, which I can definitely recommend. Today, I finished up at The Knitting Nest where Julia snipped a few stitches, too. Here she is in action. Look at that steady hand!






When Staci clomped in, I got her to shoot a little video of steek cutting with my point-n-shoot camera. Listen to Staci's and my witty observations as you watch the horror that occurs when scissors meet knitted fabric. Seriously, folks. Just knit up a swatch, make a crochet steek somehwere in the middle of it, and then cut it in half. It will work, it will hold, and then when you need to apply this to real knitting life, you won't be scared. Well, you'll still be scared, but at least you won't faint. One hopes.

I started the neck band at the shop and then finished it when I got home. There's a little weirdness going on at the bottom of the neck where the decreases bring things to a point. I may have to do some structural weaving behind it to make it all work. It's just a little gappy.

I tried it on at the shop, and much as I expected, I looked rather obscene and Brüno-esque in it. Those of you who were at The Knitting Nest are probably wishing you could un-see that. Definitely not a pretty sight. The effect brought to mind a giant green braided sausage. But it's been soaked and stretched and will soon be ready to go. I promise a modeled shot once it's dry.

A Call to Armholes

I didn't realize it until just now, but my last post was my 200th. Kind of hard to believe.

I'm still waiting to cut the neck steek, but I had a bit of time on my hands and I'm itching to get this thing done. I went ahead and added one of the armhole bands. I was anxious to see how the crocheted steek would hold during the process since I would have to pick up and knit just two stitches over from the crochet chain. No problems that I could see. It went fast, even if it was uncomfortable knitting with this thing on my lap while it was 100+ degrees outside.

While knitting, I watched a strange little movie called Fido. It's about an alternative 1950's America in which, after the end of a worldwide zombie war, zombies are used as personal servants. Quite strange and quirky -- kind of Night of the Living Dead meets Pleasantville. The 50s-ness is awesome. It's a little gory, but not as much as your average zombie movie.

But I digress. The picture on the left shows the inside of the armhole. The lighter color yarn is what I used to make the crochet chains between which the steek was cut. It's bunched up in a few places -- I think that's where I skipped a few stitches to make the number come out even around the armhole. Originally, I was thinking I would need to tack this down in some fashion, but it sees to naturally fold flat -- possibly because I picked up the stitches for the armhole band along a purl gutter in the pattern. I'm not sure if that was the intent, but it seems to have worked for me.

Although this looks like regular 2x2 ribbing, there are actually two small sections that for a few rounds are 3x3. Then that is decreased back to 2x2. These are are both down toward the bottom of the armpit. Why would you do that? Perhaps to give some ease or keep something from puckering, but it's just four stitches decreased over a total of 160. Could it really matter? Click on the top picture and see the note at Flickr that shows where this occurs. Go ahead -- live on the wild side.

A Steek, Well Done

If I say so myself. No problems at all. There are two little strings at the cast on edge, but, as I hoped they would, they just tightened into the crochet stitch above when I gave them a little tug. Whew!

I know that some people expressed interest in watching this from the knitter's version of an operating theater, but I just couldn't wait. I wanted to try one of the armholes first -- for some reason, that seemed "safer" than cutting the neck. Since it's evening, I couldn't get enough good light for a video from my point-and-shoot camera, but there are still two steeks to go.

Really, people, you should try this. It's kind of fun. Like you're getting away with something. And I have -- so far!

Steeks and Geeks

I decided to go with the 3-needle bindoff for the shoulders of the Herz & Baum Vest, which you can see to the right. It was just a matter of using a set-up row to cast of the stitches that wouldnt' be included in the shoulder seems (paying careful attention to the math), and then doing the bind-off. It's not super-tidy, but it does offer the advantage of making the patterns on the front and back meet perfectly. If I'd sewn these seems, I'd have had to play that game where you're always half a stitch off. That would have made my brain hurt. No brain pain for me! It looks like a corner on the left side of the bindoff, but there are actually four cast-of stitches across there for the armhole steeks.

Now, to the steeks. You know how you read the pattern instructions carefully, and then get started, and then, three weeks later when you actually get to some important new structure (like a steek), you think you know all that already? Can you imagine the problems this might cause? I thought so. I forgot that the instructions required twisting two rows in the steek so that the crochet run through those rows would be tighter. This method went up the center of a column of stitches, and not across the halves of two neighboring columns. Not so stable without twisted stitches. Well, that was out -- maybe I could try it without the twisted stitches, but I was scared. Then I thought, "No problem, I'll just use Eunny Jang's instructions for crocheted steeks, which I'd used before on a tea cozy." But that method requires an odd number of steek stitches. Grrr...

So I waited all week until I could consult with the geniuses at knitting. One option we came up with was unbinding the bindoff, then laddering the two rows down and twisting them with a crochet hook and then rebinding off. Tedious, but do-able. Then, knitting genius Staci pointed out that if I just turned the vest (and that frown) upside down, I'd have an odd number of stitches across the steek -- 4 would become 3. So simple, so easy. All I had to do was start the crochet chain at the opposite end of the steek I'd planned. The picture to the right shows in red the "V"s of the three stitch rows (with a little left over on each side. The blue lines show the neighboring halves of stitches that will be bound together by the crochet chain, and the green dotted line shows where the final act will take place.

I've begun the chain already. I was going to use the same yarn, but then I chickened out and found some similar Cascade 220 green yarn (I know you're shocked that I had this), and got started. Ideally, I'd have a little more wiggle room. When I'm done crocheting each side, I'll have a knit and a purl stitch left to fold under. I'm hoping this will give me enough sturdiness for picking up the stitches necessary for the neck and armhole bands. I'm knitting the chain fairly tightly with a pretty small hook, so I think I'm good.

If I can get up the nerve, I might post a video of the slicing. Don't worry, Jene, I'll be sure and save some for you to see live and in person.

Then Refresh His Heart

A few years ago, the men's chorus I sing with performed Brahms' Alto Rhapsody with Rose Taylor. It was a totally enjoyable experience, my first with singing Romantic music like this. Kind of hard to describe -- bleak, yet uplifting at the same time. I only remember snatches of the German lyrics, but as I've been working on this Herz & Baum vest, the phrase so erquicke sein Herz has been going through my mind -- "then refresh his heart."

And I suppose I have been a bit refreshed. This vest languished for a short while, but I got back up to speed recently and today I finished the last of the 24 neck decreases which take place every third round. I have only a few more rows to go until I've got the sleeve holes knit to the requisite length. Even then, I might add a bit more. Most of my height manifests itself in my torso, so I want to make sure this is long enough.

It's clear from the instructions that I am to bind off once I get to the top and then sew the shoulder seams after cutting the steeks. But I'm wondering if it would be possible to bind off just the stitches along the back of the neck during the last round, and then use a 3-needle bindoff on the live stitches between the back and front. Would that work? Which would provide a firmer shoulder seam -- 3-needle bind off or sewing up after a regular bindoff? Right now I'm leaning toward seaming, but it's not going to be easy with all these cables...

On an unrelated note, I somtimes get asked about the title of my blog. It comes from the lyrics in the number Some People from what is arguably the best Broadway musical ever, Gypsy. Just a relevant sample:

Some people can get a thrill
knitting sweaters and sitting still.
That's okay for some people
who don't know they're alive.

Despite the fact that these lyrics knock knitting, this really is a great musical. The original movie version with Rosalind Russel is bland. The made-for-TV version with Bette Midler is better. But nothing beats the original Broadway production with Ethel Merman. Gypsy is 50 this year, and they've just released an anniversary version of the original cast album. If you've never seen this musical, do so. And if I haven't convinced you, listen to this review that aired on Fresh Air a few weeks ago.