Frustrations of finding needles

 So I was hoping to buy a replacement needle for the one that broke on the Sheepicorn socks. LYS doesn't have the size and length of the type I need, Knit Picks is expensive if I wanted to get two sizes that I need it would be about $25. They have 'some' needles on sale, and in the nickle plated don't have the size and length I need. Grrumble. Going through Amazon for Chiao Goo is on hold due to choosing to boycott for ordering online (not going to go into details here but if you've been following the news, explanation isn't necessary). So I'm stuck with working on the gloves still, and decided to pick up the crochet project that was going to be a blanket. I am using a dark royal blue as a border on the multi color piece that's been languishing. Decided it will be a good mat for Rocky to lay on in the kitchen window.

I have decided that these socks will not be fitting any natural foot so when I get the courage I'll be taking it off the needles and rewinding the yarn to start again. It's still sitting in the corner, banished from activity until I decide to do that. I love the Faux Braid pattern, just the sole will be standard knit with a padded heel I think. 

I just spent most of my 'hobby money' on some soil and fertilzer for the garden instead. Priorities I suppose are determined by the constraints of commerce.

That's all I've got for now, just plugging along.

Gloves are shaping up and a demo sock

 The gloves are working out much better by not increasing as rapidly halfway up the thumb and then I didn't write down how often I increased every other and every three rows but it's turning out better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No puckering and a lot closer to the thumb. I decided to increase every other row once then every third row twice and at this point going to increase every other row. I'm liking it.

The green experimental 'Faux Braid Pad Foot' sock is... a work in progress and will be frogged and re-designed.

 

The issue is the braid pattern is a lot looser than the sole of the sock making it fit oddly and the slip stich fits too small. I looked at the slip stitch sole pattern and... they only do it on the ball and heel not the entire length. Which makes a lot more sense.  I wrote addendums to the pattern for adding in extra stitches on the sides so will see how that works out. Will also look at the pattern again more closely, the reason why I only got the idea is because that is a top down pattern not toe up.  It's a demo sock, now I know it doesn't work in this configuration and will try again.

That braid pattern though is really nice, I like it, does need some attention but it works well for a sock, just not this pattern. The slip stitch works really cool with the color pattern but maybe not in this configuration.

 

I will frog it all back to the toe and do the braid pattern and just knit on the sole. Also make it a bit wider as well. 

That's been my knitting adventures for the week. More pictures and updates when there's more progress.

Sigh.

Just not a good knitting week and pattern design

 I looked at the blue gloves again and decided.... the thumb gussets had to come out. They are much too big, not going to have sloppy knitting on my hands. Literally. 

 

 

So yes, I frogged both of them all the way back to where the gusset starts. This gives me a chance to also get them both in sync with row sequence as well. Not too much frustration with picking up stitches. I made sure to stop where an all knit row was to make it easier. At least on the first one I did. Second one, sill my was distracted and had to be careful picking up the slip and knit stitches. It's not a rush project, won't be needing them for another nine months at least. 

 

Oh and I decided not to rip out the green cuffs for the other pair and just knitted the first two stitches together on the round. A couple of reasons why I chose to do that; first, I really, really did not want to restart them again. Second, the first two inches are at the thicker part of the arm and a little extra room by one stitch is actually a good thing.

 

 

 

 

I decided to try a new stitch combination on a sock. This is going to be 100% an original design for me and so far, pretty happy how it's turning out. Temporary name is 'Faux Braid Pad Foot Sock'. Because that's what it is. The pattern on the top of the foot, and the leg, is called 'Faux Braid' and the sole is a three row alternating S1K1/K/K1S1. So it adds just a little extra padding to the ball of the foot and when I get to the heel will see what type of heel will work best with the stitch. I tried to do the four row slip stitch but it curled too much so I researched to see if anyone else had done a slip stitch on the sole of a sock and someone did. Voila! The striped yarn is working out really well and I am now considering taking out the blue 'wave' socks completely down to the toe and doing a pair in this pattern.

This is an older pair of socks I own, they're good 'summer' socks because they're rather thin. What looks like moss or seed stitch is actually faked. They add an extra loop inside the sock so it thickens the stitch so technically this could be either a slip stitch or seed stitch. The yarn, of course, is much thinner than anything I want to use so in order to copy this pattern from a commercial sock will be interesting. 

Toe and heel are contrast colors and the sole is straight knit, not a problem. Making the stitch counts to  look similar is the thing. A narrow band of seed stitch, two stitches of plain, the wide band of seed, two knitted and the other narrow band of seed. So.  Starting with a women's medium, 32 sts on top to work with divide in half is 16, half again is 8. 6 seed, 2 plain st, 16 seed, 2 plain, 6 seed. The calf/leg part is a mock 3-1 rib. Technically it looks like a 3-1-1 (p1k1p1k3) but commercial stitches are deceiving. 

When I actually figure this out I'll be looking for a plain or semisolid yarn to work it in. I love colors but sometimes a solid color works better for a pattern. It feels good to be creative but I want it done now.

Right?