Thursday, November 29, 2007

Christmas Knitting

I'm doing only a few items for Christmas knitting and only one person I'm knitting for reads the blog so I won't be talking about her item (which I haven't started yet anyway). But I'm having issues with the other two items.

Socks: these socks need to be a size 8. All the directions I can find give a heel to toe measurement but nothing tells me when to start the toe. I'm used to custom fitting to my foot but I am a 7. Even worse, when I asked her shoe size and she said 8, I asked if it was 7 1/2 - 8 or 8 - 8 1/2. I should have stopped at 8! So, she's 8 - 8 1/2 and I just don't know when to start my decreases for the toe (I'm going to do a Kitchener). I'm just working myself into a state for nothing. The basic sock pattern (with the round toe) says to start the decreases about 1 3/4" from tip of toe. I need to stop over-thinking this and just knit. I tried to keep track of the time it took to make and it was about a week so if I can just get past that darn toe, I can finish in another week. Done before Christmas!



Scarf: I have ripped this out 3, maybe 4, times now. This design business is tough! I finally had a pattern that I was pretty sure I liked but didn't like the way the cables were looking. I don't know if the pictures will show and I'm not sure I can describe it well enough but the cable didn't seem to alternate the way I was hoping; even though I was alternating right and left it looked like the same line going back and forth. No over/under - that's it! No over/under was happening. So, I found a pattern in a book and will follow that. I don't know how long this will take me to make. I remember last year's scarf as taking forever but it was all seed stitch so maybe this pattern will be more interesting. It is reversible with 1 large cable centered on one side and 2 smaller cables on the sides on the other. I definitely need to learn more about cables because I do like doing them. I think I can get this scarf done before Christmas.


#3: I don't think I will get this done before Christmas. Last year's gift for the same person was done after Christmas, too. I'll have to do better next year.

4 comments:

Kathleen C. said...

Hey C! I can answer your cable question for you. When you switch the stitches around you need to keep an eye on whether your sticking the second group to the back or the front. *That* is what determines the direction of the cross!
It looks to me like you're alternating the crossing... first you're holding them to the front then your holding them to the back and then to the front again. This is a perfectly valid way to make a certain cable. But I hear you saying that that's not the cable you want.
Does this help?

Caroline said...

The first cables I tried were one-directional and there was a sense of an actual twist. I guess I expected to get something like that with the right and left twist. I did get the 2-layer effect but it just seemed like I took the top layer and zig-zaged it on top of the bottom layer. I like the pattern I found, it looks like a braid with 3 cables twisting together.

Unknown said...

I can try to answer your sock question. Whenever I have knit socks for someone I have gone with the assumption that a size 8 foot is 8" long. it actually works pretty well so for an 8 1/2, I would start making the toe decreases when the foot is 7 3/4" long leaving 1 3/4 to get the toe finished up in. Good luck!

By the way, thanks for the comments on my recent surgery. g

Unknown said...

Since it is a scarf, and a very pretty one, by the way, picture it on the neck of the giftee. How much of a scarf really shows when wrapped around a neck and tucked into a coat? I'd never make it as a craft person. I do understand your need to have it as good as possible. Aunt Mary Jane