Shades of Grey - Toe Up

There are two directions you can knit socks. One way is from the cuff down to the toes. My first socks (Ripple Stitch socks and Beaded Eyelet Rib socks) were knit this way. The other direction is from the toe to the cuff. There are two big advantages for working socks starting from the toe: 1) If you are knitting a pattern with a charted design then the chart is read in the usual manner of bottom to top (working from the cuff down you the chart is read backwards) but the biggest advantage for most knitters is that 2) after dividing the yarn in half and knitting the feet and heels the remaining yarn can be used for additional length in the body and cuff. Socks knit from the toe to cuff heel usually work a short row heel (a heel flap can be done but it takes a little finagling) so sock knitters who prefer a heel flap or those who are avoiding the short row heel usually knit from the cuff to toe.

My last project for this independent study was to knit a pair of socks from the toe to the cuff. I used the two shades of Pearl Grey yarn (see Dying Some More Yarn.) My main reference book was Toe-up Techniques for Hand-knit Socks by Janet Rehfeldt

Here are the details for the Shades of Grey socks:

Yarn: Fingering weight superwash merino/nylon blend from KnitPicks.com.
--I like the softness and shine of the merino/tencel blend used in the Beaded Eyelet Rib and Ripple Stitch socks better than this yarn. It figures, because the merino/tencel is twice as much ($6 a skein vs. $12)! << Sigh >> I always like the expensive stuff better.

Colorway: Rit Liquid Dye - Pearl Grey
--The toe, heel and cuff were knit in dark grey. The foot and body were knit in light grey.

Gauge and needle sizes: I used size 2 needles for everything except the top 4" of the body where I used size 3 needles to increase the gauge (to fit my calf) without having to increase the # of stitches. My gauge on size 2 needles was 8 stitches per inch.

Direction knit: Toe up.
--It took a few attempts to get the toe started properly and I don't think I really did it the way shown in the book but the end result looks fine! I cast on 10 stitches and I applied the same technique I frequently use to start a circular crochet project -- I picked up 10 stitches in the bottom of the cast on and then began increasing every other row . I used the M1R and M1L increase method from the book and my first impression is that a standard toe shaped with increases is better looking than one shaped with decreases.

Cuff pattern: K2, P2 for 2"

Body pattern: Stockinette stitch for 8". The bottom 4" of the body were worked on #2 needles and the top 4" of the body were worked on #3 needles.

Heel pattern: The Sherman Heel (see Ripple Stitch socks for details.)

Foot pattern: Stockinette stitch.

Bind-off: The bind-off was the only part of this sock that I struggled with. I worked three different bind-offs before I found one that I liked. I felt like Goldilocks:

This one was too tight (even using the trick of binding off with a larger needle size): Simple Rib Bind Off

This one was too loose: Russian bind-off variation by Wendy Knits

This one was complicated (it takes time and is very difficult to take apart): Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Stretchy Sewn Cast-off

This one was just right!: "Work 2 sts in pattern (either knit or purl). Move yarn to back (if the last worked st was a knit, this is already the case). * Transfer the 2 worked sts to the LH needle, and k2togTBL. Work 1 st in pattern (move yarn to back if it was a purl), * repeat between *." and I found it here.

I don't know yet which direction of sock knitting I prefer. I'll just have to keep knitting more socks until I figure it out!

Spiral Rib Hat

This hat was knit with the plied Shetland handspun (see spinning) and worked on size 10 circular needles. The stitch pattern is K2,P2 ribbing for 4 rows and then the pattern shifts by ending the 4th row with a K2,P1 (stopping one stitch short.) Reset the row marker and start the next row with that last stitch (in other words, the stitch which should have been purled at the end of the 4th row is now the start of the K2,P2 ribbing for the next 4 rows). The complete hat pattern is copyrighted so I can't give more details but it's not any more difficult than working the stitch pattern for the desired length and following the usual decreasing instructions for the crown of a hat (google the keywords -- knit, hat, decrease, crown).

Pidge - 99% natural & 100% handmade

A pidge is a short scarf closed with two buttons and it was the perfect project for my handspun corriedale. (see Spinning). I wanted to use a natural dye for this project so I tea dyed 203 yards with an entire box of Twinings Blackcurrent tea.





I was also trying to make all the components of the pidge natural and handmade, including the buttons and I was inspired by this idea for handmade wooden buttons. We have 3 oak trees and 2 maples on our little suburban yard so finding branches to experiment with wasn't difficult. Hubby helped by cutting the branches and played around with sawing them at varying angles. I didn't like the idea of using oil on an object that is going to be used on a garment so I deviated at this point from the original tutorial. To finish the buttons I applied stain and polyurethane. My daughter Sarah pointed out that I lost the ability to call it 100% "natural" when I used the polyurethane. She's right. I should have used shellac. Oh well, it'll have to be 99% natural and 100% handmade!






To begin the scarf, the number of stitches to cast-on must be a multiple of 4 plus 1 and the pattern for each row is a simple *K2,P2*, repeating *to* and ending with a K1. Knit until you reach approximately 2" from the desired length. Make 2 buttonholes of appropriate size for your chosen buttons and knit an additional 2".

My inconsistently handspun yarn, filled with slubs and many thick and thin areas knit easily and beautifully into a pidge!

Notes:

Size 6 needles and 29 stitches.

The finished scarf measures 24½" long and 4½" wide.

For a nice finished edge I slipped the last stitch of each row purlwise.