:Kalliope Lane

So the gussets and heel flaps and I had some issues, you could say. Picking up 18 stitches (for the larger size) wasn’t quite enough for me to avoid little holes along the side of the heel flap. But I was determined to pick up only 18 because, well, that’s what the instructions said to do.

But I’d read in Sensational Knitted Socks that she recommends picking up extra stitches along the gusset to help avoid the gap. I tried to space out the 18 in a clever way, and went on knitting for about 8 rounds until I decided that it looked like crap and that I wanted to rip it back and fix it.

So I unknit the damned thing stitch by stitch for about 8 rounds. Is this what they call “tinking”? Well, I hate it. But on the second try I did a much better job with the heel flaps — I knit the picked up stitches much tighter this time, which may have been enough of a solution right there. (I also tried out Grumperina’s “pretty way” to pick-up-and-knit, which I liked quite a bit.)
But I ended up picking up four extra stitches on each side, for a total of 22 on each. I finally figured out that I’d just have to do extra rounds of decreases to get down to the 36 sole stitches. I’ll try to post a picture tomorrow evening.
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I went on a book spree yesterday. I found four at the 3-for-2 table, and also had a 25% off one book coupon. I came home with:

The Drowning Tree

The Ice Queen

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime

and Smashed

I’m looking forward to all of them. I’ll post brief reviews when I’m done.

We’re making calzones tonight, so I’m off to do my usual kitchen assisting. (I love that I’m not the chef in my relationship.)

I finished my tutorial on the magic loop. I’ve made it a permanent page, and you can find it here or through the link to the right.

So I’ve been working on my first Jaywalker, and it’s going pretty well. I’m doing the larger size (84 stitch cast-on), so it might be a little loose on the foot, but I need the extra room for my damned fat ankles/calves. I might try to get a size 0 Addi Turbo for the foot part to tighten it up a bit. Here’s a photo from yesterday (I’m a little further now):

I’m also working on my first of two Kitty Pi cat beds. I’m using Cascade 128 Tweed and some Plymouth Firenze eyelash with size 11 Denise needles.

There’s also the Peppermint Twist sweater from Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook

My gauge is off, so I’ll probably be frogging this to start again. Bleh.

I’m going to post a mini-tutorial on the magic loop. I’ve read a few times that people get ladders with it, and I just don’t understand how that’s happening. That will come later today!

I’ve come back to knitting in the past few weeks, and realized how much I missed it. For whatever reason I got it into my head that I wanted to learn to knit socks, so I went out and got this book:

I made the little Class Sock to learn the basic technique, and then got myself the only sock yarn at the only LYS open that day and made this ugly thing:

Yarn: Regia Multi Effekt Color (75% New Wool, 25% Polyamide)
Needle: #1 Addi Turbo, 40″ circular for magic loop
Gauge: 9-10 st/in
Pattern: first pattern in Sensational Knitted Socks (above), but kept simple with stockinette stitch so I could see the (ugly) yarn striping pattern

Needless to say, I’m not going to knit the other sock because I hate, hate, hate looking at the yarn and don’t want to do it anymore. It’s also rather scratchy, but I’ve read that it softens a lot after washing.

So for my next sock, I’m going for the ubiquitous Jaywalker by Grumperina. I picked out a yarn so gorgeous I want to eat it:

It’s Lorna’s Laces Sheppard Sock in the Black Purl colorway.

If you’ve read Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials trilogy, you’ll be familiar with the concept of a “daimon” or “daemon”. Here’s a handy Quizilla quiz to tell you what yours would be (pardon the poor grammar re: a/an):

Your EAGLE DAEMON represents an unlikely
combination of fierce pride and remarkable
wisdom. Though widely admired, you can be very
distant at times, and like to stay out of
people’s personal lives.

What Animal Would Your Daemon Settle As?
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