pain in the ass. A pretty pain in the ass, but a pain in the ass nonetheless.
I really don't like garter stitch in the round. Interestingly, i hate it more than regular old stockinette done flat (which is also knit one row, purl one row).
But clearly I don't hate it more than I hate seams.
Second sleeve of Uniform under way. . . . soon, the yoke and collar. Soon.
wee toddler socks for giant chubby toddler feets.
These are the little one's socks, but the basics are the same for nearly all the socks I make. Since the littlest little has giant chubby toddler feet and yelled "NO LIKE IT! TOO TIGHT! NOT COZY!" on my first attempt of a sock, I bumped up the stitch count and did the cuff in 2x2 ribbing and carried it down the foot at well.
I prefer fingering weight yarn for socks that are meant to be worn with actual shoes, as anything thicker is too chunky. That said, I've made socks in bulky weight yarn that works out fine.
For these toddler size socks, I cast on 44 st,, divided them over three needles and worked 2x2 rib for a few inches (in this case 5 stripes worth). Adult sizes I usually cast on about 64 stitches, depending on the foot. I work my socks on size 0s or 1s, because I am a loose knitter and you want a firm sock fabric. Loose fabric shoes wear and holes and feels icky on the feet. Go for tight, and go down a needle size or three if you need to.
For adult socks, I'd generally do an inch or so of ribbing and then switch to stockinette or another stitch pattern. I kept the toddler ones in ribbing in case I was off on the sizing and needed the ribbing to suck in any excess.
Once the cuff is as long as you'd like it, take half the stitches (22) onto one needle, arranging the rib columns the way I liked them and worked the heel flap back and forth over those.
Now, over the years I've become picky about heel flaps. You work the heel flap back and forth across one needle, no longer in the round. The heel flap gets a good amount of wear, so I want them reinforced with a slip stitch pattern, but I hate the ridges that come with the standard K1, sl1 on the right side rows (plain ole purl the wrong sides) heel stitch pattern. And so I nearly always do eye of partridge instead, which is k1, sl1 on one right side row, then sl1, k1 on the next right side row. I find it makes for a slightly flatter fabric with all the cush as the regular heel stitch, and it also breaks up any pattern in self-striping/self-patterning yarn very attractively.
I also always keep 3 stitches in garter at the edges, as it helps me keep track of how many rows I've done so I can match the second sock, and it makes an attractive detail line on the finished sock. And of course, I slip the first stitch of every row as if to purl with the yarn in front so I have a neat, tight chained edge to pick up stitches after I turn my heel.
I work the heel flap until it's a little more than square--for grown ups about 2 1/4 ish inches, for the toddler sock about 1 1/4 inch--stopping after a right side row. Then I turn the heel. There are about a billion different ways to shape the heels, but my favorite is a round heel.
Pop a stitch marker in the middle of the stitches, marking the center of the heel flap. Purl across the heel flap stitches, until 2 stitches past the center, p2tog, p1, turn the work in the middle of the row. Slip the first stitch, knit until you are 2 stitches past the marker, SSK, k 1 and turn. Repeat the purl row, slipping the first stitch and purling to 1 stitch before the gap, p2tog across the gap, p1 and turn; knit across to 1 st before the gap, SSK across the gap, k1, turn. Keep doing this til all your heel flap stitches have been used up and worked. Voila, a heel!
Then I use a new needle to pick up one stitch per ridge along the side of the heel flap (see where that chained edge comes in handy?), plus 1 more stitch at the corner of the heel flap and instep stitches. Knit across the instep stitches in whatever stitch pattern you're doing--I like to knit all the instep stitches onto one needle. Then take another needle and pick up the same number of stitches along the other side of the heel flap, including that one extra in the corner. Use this same needle and knit across half the heel stitches. This is the new beginning of your round. Slip the other half of the heel stitches onto that needle holding the first side of the picked up heel flap stitches.
You should have three needles: Needle 1 holding half of the heel stitches plus your picked up gusset stitches, Needle 2 holding your instep stitches, and needle 3 holding the other side picked up gusset stitches and the other half of the heel stitches.
Then you start your gusset. Work one round even. On the second round, work the gusset stitches on needle 1 until you have 3 left: k2tog, k1. Work your instep stitches on needle 2. Then at needle 3, K1, SSK and work the rest of the gusset stitches. Work this decrease round every other round until you've decreased away the extra stitches you picked up from the heel flap and are back down to your original cast on number.
When I do socks for myself, I usually work the decrease round every round for a few times, then switch to every other round, just because of the shape of my foot. See what works for you.
Work the foot until it's about 2 1/2 inches shy of the total length of the foot (in the toddler's case: 1" shy). Then start the toe decreases to shape the toes. If you're doing adult socks, you'll wind up with about 20 stitches total for the toe. For the toddler ones, I decreased until there were 12 total stitches. Here's how to do 'em. Needle 1: k to the last 3 st, k2tog, k1. Needle 2: k1, ssk, k to the last three stitches, k2tog, k1. Needle 3: k1, ssk, k to the end. Repeat this decrease round every other round until you've decreased about half of the stitches you need to get rid of away. Then I like to switch to decreasing every round because I hate a too pointy toe.
Finally, you've gotten down to 5 stitches on each bottom-of-the-foot needle (1 and 3), and 10 on the instep needle. Work across those last 5 stitches on needle 1 using needle 3, so you now have 2 needles, each with 10 stitches on them and the working yarn is at one end. Now, break the yarn leaving a longish tail and kitchner stitch those toes together. It's not hard, it's just fiddly. Follow one of the zillion tutorials online and you will be fine. Don't over think your way into a problem. When you're done, admire your new sock and go make another one now before you forget.
Whenever I've taught folks how to knit socks, I've always told them not to think too hard about how to turn the heel or what you're doing until you've done it. This of course is the reverse of my normal knitting advice, but for socks, if you've never knit them, you'll read through the directions in the pattern and be like, THESE PEOPLE ARE NUTS THIS MAKES NO SENSE. Just trust in the pattern and you shall see!
The specifics of the toddler socks, written in my lazy girl shorthand:
co 44, 2x2 rib for 5 stripes.
heel flap 22 stitches, eye of partridge, 3 st in garter at each edge. Work for 18 ridges. Turn heel, (2 past center), pick up 20 st. Shift gusset decreases in to keep 2 st in purl at gusset edges to continue the 2x2 rib over instep. Dec e/o round til 44 st, work 45 rows from flap. Toe dec, e/o round until 16 st on instep, then every round til 8 on instep. Slip edge stitches over their neighbor (eliminates dog ears--I'm fussy), kitchner and weave in ends.
At long last, here is the advent calendar, belatedly in January.
As you can see, I hung it in a poorly lit place in my house so the photos aren't great, but whatever, the thing got done! Each ornament is double sided, except for the one blue name ornament, which was thicker felt. All the rest of them have the same thing, with slightly different embroidery on the reverse sides (save the owl and penguin, which have faces/bellies/wings only on one side). Not only does it look nicer, but they're a bit more sturdy as well. Plus, I'm a stickler for nice looking embroidery backs and this way everything's hidden. I'm pretty pleased with how it's come out! I have my favorites, and there are a few that I think I'll replace in the future as well.
The full thing, clearly taken on the 14th of december.
Holly, with individual berries on both sides.
Tree. The garland was better in theory than in execution. I may redo this one in future years.
look at the penguin's lil belly! I love him.
candle. The stripes are different on the reverse.
Present, no bow though, because it looked weird and i got tired of trying to make 1/4" pieces of felt bend to my will.
french knots! I can finally finally finally do french knots! and went a little overboard with them here, on both sides.
a bell. It's a bell, it's fine.
The mitten is one of my absolute favorites. I love how the big chain stitching mimics knitting, and with it on both sides the ornament is super squishy!
I'm kind of meh on the bird. He got a bit mangled by the toddler this year, so I think he might be the first to be replaced next year (the bird, not the toddler).
I'm pretty pleased with the drum, all in all.
santa hat--i drew this shape freehand (along with all the others), but thankfully got the jaunty angle done the first time around!
The first one done! Pattern is the same on both sides.
Sparkly names!
Oh, look. A short name. How easy, how quick!
The only single sided ornament, because there is no way I am going to try to embroider 8 letters on a 1 1/4" x 1/4" piece of felt twice.
candy cane. I sewed the stripes on individually, but cut them longer and then trimmed to fit the white base after they were on.
snowflake. This one is one of my favorites, and it was fun to embroider as well.
owl! he's so cute.
Snowman, no hat, because haven't i already tortured myself with fiddly pieces enough?
Christmas tree light.
candy piece--super fiddly, but also kind of fun to make and figure out since the white swirls repeat on the reverse.
A wee stocking, cute, but fiddly.
This one is the littlest little's favorite: "COOKIE MAN!"
the star--also the only one with a different hanger (all gold). This is three layers, the darker layer was embroidered separately then sandwiched between the two yellow stars, and the whole shebang embroidered again.
2nd little sock started. Yarn is Knit Picks Felici, I think. Years old. Needles are Carbonz dpns size 0 (EFFING LOVE THESE THINGS).
I am finally out from under the hangover of the holidays. Not a literal hangover (much), but entering back into the real world a bit more.
For whatever reason the holidays came on fast and strong this year for me and totally wound up swamping me. I did, however, finish up the advent calendar! Did I ever share pictures of the finished product? I have them, but they are dim and somewhat shitty looking.
Eh, when has that ever stopped me before? I promise I get that up shortly once I find them. (or retake them in better light...)
Meanwhile, since winter has finally decided to show up in my parts of the world, I am knitting the shit out of things. I am 3/4 of the way through Uniform, still, and have taken a pause on that for the moment to knock out a few additional little things. I made thrummed slippers for JBB (that need slipper soles on them so he doesn't slip and crack his head open), spun about 16 oz of fiber into yarn, and a bunch of other random stuff.
In a somewhat vain attempt use up my stash of sock yarn, I'm knitting the littlest little some socks. I know many folks love the toe-up method of sock knitting, or two-at-a-time-on-circulars, but I am not a fan. I learned old-school, top-down, heel flap, double pointed needles from the ancient internet and from the amazing and glorious book Folk Socks, by Nancy Bush (recently updated!), and that's the way I like 'em.
It helps that a traditional heel-flap construction heel truly fits my foot better than every single short row style heel does. They're always too shallow or weirdly scoopy on my feet. I haven't yet tried Cat Bordhi's Sweet Tomato heel, which looks promising to me, but I've been burned before, yo.
The one issue with top-down socks that I'd not yet solved was the lack of a decent looking super stretchy cast-on. Normally I'm a fan of a tubular cast on for ribbing (the Ysolda tutorial is my favorite, because no need for scrap yarn!), because it's so pretty. But while it's stretchy, it's not nearly stretchy enough for sock ribbing. And there's nothing worse than a tight cuff, ow. Long tail cast on done on needles bigger than the working needle can sometimes work, but looks sloppy and still might not be stretchy enough.
I've recently converted to Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off for some sweaters, and I have no idea why it never occurred to me to search for the corresponding stretchy cast on . . . until this week.
Because of course there's a Stretchy cast on. And it's essentially just slip knots, in a row, on the needle. And don't get me wrong, I had my doubts until I tried it. Holy shit is this cast on perfect for socks! It hinges at the ribbing columns, it essentially disappears into the knitting after the first row, and while it's a bit fiddly and slow to work, I'm also just impatient and will suck it up.
More on socks, and my recipe for them, to come.
So JBB's family has a felt advent calendar, and I'd been thinking off and on about making one for us. I kept seeing Purl Soho's advent calendar pattern and kit with wool felt last year and was like, YES I will do this. Then promptly forgot about it for a solid year.
Til this November. When I saw the Purl Soho one again, and was like, hmm. And forgot about it again until right before Thanksgiving, when I realized it was full on crazy to kick this project off a week from December 1st, and yet... I had a FULL WEEK, yo. That was AGES of time.
But I didn't love some of the ornament choices (I don't like repeating shapes in different colors, feels like a cheat) and felt color choices (that pink, whoah) of the Purl Soho one and I really did not love the attachment of the ornaments via straight pin, and did some online/Pinterest research. I loved the idea of a slightly retro-modern wool felt calendar with ornaments hanging off of buttons (pretty ones), and lo and behold had a shit ton of wool felt stashed away. I even got so far as to save some icon images on which to base some of the designs, and pulled together a list of 24 ornaments and several extras for just in case the original ideas prove to be too much of a pain in the ass.
And then I scrapped the idea entirely because hi, ONE WEEK.
And then the next day I had to kill time before an appointment and realized JoAnn's was open early and oh look they have some cream wool felt on sale...and some lovely green wool felt on sale...and check out these buttons that would totally work sewn onto the tree ...and WHAT HI METALLIC PERLE COTTON I LOVE YOU AND WANT TO MARRY YOU EVEN THOUGH YOU TANGLE LIKE A SONOFABITCH AND CUT MY HANDS.
So yeah. This happened:
why yes, that is a giant tinker toy arm it's hanging off of, so good of you to notice.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, just 6 hours before we packed our stuff up to go to the in-laws for the holiday, I decided to cut out the pieces. The cream wool felt is thick and fluffy, and not nearly as stable as I'd like, so I knew it needed to be doubled for the backing, with some interfacing between to stabilize it. But I laid it out, drew the tree freehand on the green felt (which is much thinner but more stable), and cut out that sucker--scissors for the tree, rotary cutter (god bless that thing) for the background. And then 24 2.5" squares. Pencil didn't transfer well to the cream felt, so I wrote out sample numbers about the right size on a sheet of paper, and packed the red perle cotton, 24 squares, 1 embroidery needle, and the swan embroidery scissors and winged those suckers.
not pictured: the glass of wine.
The embroidery was the easy part--done by the day after Thanksgiving. The pain in the ass part was assembly, and I just didn't have the room. And so I carted it off to my mom's when we returned. And thanks to her, and despite her being allergic to wool, we got that sucker sewed down (and reinforced with interfacing for the backing and a second thinner piece of felt for the squares) in an afternoon. And by "we" I mean "my mom"--she did all the sewing, I did the placing.
That night I cut out 24 itty bitty little ornaments from the wool felt and started sewing 6 of them. The next day--November 30th--I finished sewing the 6 itty bitty ornaments and crocheted 24 ornament hangers from yarn or crochet cotton held together with sparkly perle cotton. And late that night I finished sewing all the damn buttons on.
The ornament hangers. Sparkle, Neely, sparkle!
So as of this writing, I am 6 days ahead. I just gotta be 1 day ahead and we're all good.
drinkin' and embroiderin'
remember how I said I'd given up on the felt advent calendar?
Yeah. Not so much. More to come on this one.
Not really secret secret, at least not now, because they are now in the hands of the recipients, but behold the last minute matching-but-not-matching-at-all fraternal sister sweaters...
So last week I realized that there were two little girls in my sphere who were sorely lacking in handknits. And I had 4 skeins of Cascade 220 wool--a dark orangey pink and a lighter pink--that were just the right weight, yardage, and colors for two matching but not fully matching sweaters. Oh and I had under a week to make them because the little girls are not local, and I'd be seeing them around Thanksgiving.
I'm awfully prone to this last minute OH SHIT LET ME MAKE SOMETHING gifting/crafting. I very nearly decided last week to attempt to bust out a handmade felt advent calendar for the littlest little, but then after a few delirious hours of sketching 24 small Christmassy items, I finally gave up on it.
But anyway. Because I am not crazy, I started with the baby version. And because I am crazy, I decided to draft my own pattern. So voila, the tiny sister of the duo, with a seven spoke yoke (in retrospect, a round yoke would have been better), and twisted 1x1 rib edging tipped in the contrasting color.
please ignore the shadow of me taking the picture in the lower left corner.
That was two nights work, if that. God love baby sweaters in worsted weight yarn. And busting out the two sleeves at the same time on two circulars. And so while that one sat on my heating vent drying after being washed, I started on her big sister.
This one is because I'm crazy. I drafted my own pattern again, but this one was round yoke, colorwork (cribbed the chart for the yoke from the lovely Iðunn and tweaked the decreases a bit to suit the yoke depth)
And because it's colorwork, after the ribbing, I cast on a few stitches for a steek and worked in the round. For the non-knitters, steeking is where you knit the sweater in the round, then cut down the front and pick up bands afterwards. All very easy to write. A bit harder to man up for when you actually have scissors to fabric.
pre cutting.
I asked JBB to take a picture of me cutting, and instead he took a video. So now you can see me cutting the steek stitches from the inside of the sweater with the super sharp embroidery scissors while watching House Hunters on HGTV in my messy messy living room with super messy hair.
I wound up tacking down the steek stitches/facing after picking up and working the buttonbands. If it had been for a grown up, I probably would have just left them to felt into the body a bit, but since it's for a little kid, safer to tack that down.
tacked and just waiting on the buttons.
All the numbers and other nerdy knitting details here, at Ravelry.
AKA, songs I sing them at bedtime (mostly because I know all the words to them). Warning, some links are to youtube.
rock a bye baby--ok, this one is actually a lullaby. Creepy, yet still accepted by the rest of the world as a night-night song.
I've been working on the railroad--Trains. Always the trains. Always.
Dream a little dream--Arguably, yes, this one is a lullaby. I still have a hard time remembering the modulations in the last (repeated) verse though, and the tiny stubborn audience wants to hear it THAT WAY EVERY TIME, GODDAMNIT, MAMA.
Rainbow connection--Sweet, then you listen to the lyrics. Not quite as sweet as you think? Still, it reminded me to watch Still Alive, the Paul Williams documentary which is on Netflix.
Somewhere Over the Rainbow--Another sweet yet surprisingly sad. I linked to the Iz version, but I wind up singing a very dramatic Judy Garland imitation.
Yellow submarine--Slightly more rollicking that I'd prefer for a bedtime song, but I acquiesce to the demands of the tiny dictator. Interestingly, this was for years the biggest little's absolute favorite song. God help you if you skip the bridge. At least I no longer have to do the sound effects.
Blackbird--Beatles version. Again, pretty but sad. And featuring dismemberment and blinding of a bird! Sweet dreams! (And yes I know it was inspired by the Civil Rights struggles of the 60s, and is meant to be inspiring. It is, just also, sunken eyes.)
Bye Bye Blackbird--Joe Cocker version. Sad song where no one loves you, Narrator. And a song that will never fail to remind me of Sleepless in Seattle.
A Kiss At the End of the Rainbow--Let's all watch, this shall we? Ovbs, this is from the Christopher Guest movie A Mighty Wind! Who doesn't love A Mighty Wind? Joyless people with no soul, that's who. This is I adore this song, it's so lovely. My favorite part is the bridge, where Catherine O'Hara sings solo. Sadly, neither kid took to Potato's in the Paddy Wagon.
Man, I could link to every damn song in that movie, I love it so.
And now we come to what the littlest little calls "happy songs," which makes me think that he's a bit unclear on the meaning of "happy":
Leaving On a Jet Plane--Hey, I'm leaving, the taxi's waiting. Sorry I cheated on you all those times, those girls meant nothing, I promise. Maybe sometime soon I'll marry you and make you leave with me on the predawn flights! Oh hey, babe, who knew John Denver was such a jerky boyfriend? (I'm guessing his girlfriends, that's who.)
The Gambler--Learn to play cards then hang out on a train smokin' and drinkin', and die in the night! (but the video I linked to was when Kenny Rogers was on the Muppets!) Sweet dreams! Reason I know all the words? It was an unlikely party song at parties at Haverford in the 90s.
Daydream Believer--It has the word sleepy in it, that counts, right? I love the Monkees, and also, NEIL DIAMOND! Who doesn't love songs written and possibly also sung by Neil Diamond? People who are DEAD TO ME, that's who. If I could have gotten either kid into it, I totally would be singing them Thank the Lord for the Night Time or Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show (that link with Johnny Cash!) in a sparkly shirt every night.
You Are My Sunshine--I don't stop at the first verse, I sing all the stalker verses. If you leave me to love another, you'll regret it all someday. You've shattered all my dreams... I'm coming for you. You know, beloved heartwarming songs.
Long Black Veil--Straight up murder ballad. The Band's version was one of my paternal grandmother's favorite songs for my uncle to sing at family hymn sings (which, them's another set of stories). Oh my lord, there's a Springsteen version from the Seeger Sessions:
Down in the Willow Garden--Another straight up murder ballad! AKA the song Holly Hunter sings to the baby in Raising Arizona. I linked to my favorite version, by Kristin Hersh (of Throwing Muses). She has an album of all the murder ballads and creepy traditional songs her parents used to sing her as bedtime songs, called Murder, Misery and Then Goodnight, which is out of print but well worth finding.
The Rose--Hey kid, know what's fun? Stories of wildly talented blues rock singers who drink themselves to death! WHOO! That said, I love this song. First link was Bette. This one is Amy Poehler and Jack Black.
My name's Jen. I make stuff using yarn, fiber, clay, words, etc.
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