Apology

Boy, did I ever get Cat Bordhi's name wrong! She's the author of "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles". Although her technique didn't work for me since I need to knit on a couple of stitches at the end of each needle to keep bad things from happening, I admire her innovative spirit. Cat, if you ever read my blog, please accept my apology.

Back to Frogger

I've finished with Michelin Man! I've even got the instructions mostly done. At this point it was a great temptation to write "Make a toe. Knit until long enough. Make a heel. Do the top." Hopefully I can do a photo shoot today before it rains, but the Shuj is out on a job and won't be back until whenever.

He did call, however, to make the marinade for the Chinese bbq pork. Guess he's over the last Chinese meal he did when he told me to shoot him if he ever suggested such a thing again. Keeping a cook out of the kitchen is like keeping me out of a yarn store.

Oh! Frogger! Meant to talk about that. Now that I can make toes and heels, I think Frogger is going to be a knee sock if I have enough yarn. That will give me enough room for a foldover cuff that I can bind off with a lace edging. I've been dying to try that! Now do I put a Fair Isle stripe up the front...with bobbles...oh such fun!

Socks on Circulars

Maybe expereimenting on a sock meant for submission isn't a good idea, but why wait to learn a new technique? Knitting the second sock, glove or whatever begins to smell of production knitting as the second one needs to be like the first one. Some intrepid designers knit the second sock in the same colors as the first but put them in different places. Cool idea and I'll probably try it. But these socks are the same eggplant color throughout and messing with the spaces between the Michelin Man rings would just look weird.

Back to circular needles. After reading Cat Cordi's book I gave the technique a try. After a few rounds I noticed that there was no worm hole in the leap between the two needles. Hot dog! An excuse to add some Addis to my collection and whip up on that lace stocking I'm doing for the Vintage Knit-Along! But first things first. I had to finish Michelin Man.

A minor irritation of this technique is the part where you come to the end of the row. At that point you have to pull the working needle through so the work sits in the middle and the ends dangle, thereby becoming the resting needle. Then you flip the sock around with a tinkle and a rattle like Jacob Marley dragging his chains, push the new working needle through so you can get to the business end, and start knitting the other side.

Then came the heel. I've just learned short row heels/toes and the idea of doing one on a circular needle did not appeal. Back and forth on a circular for large projects is OK, but 24 stitches on a 29 inch needle? No way. Two dpns for me on that.

Another problem. Crossing the gap between the top of the heel and the instep. Next thing I knew there were a couple of evil eyes staring at me. Now how do you mess with gap stitches on two circular needles? Each needle has its own set of stitches and never the twain shall meet. Back to the dpns to fix this problem.

And what did I see then? MOLE TUNNELS! There was a funky ridge where I snugged up the yarn between the two needles. Yuck!

Is it Frog City for this one? Please, God, not that...