knit – jodi's weblog

lockdown knitting

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After a few abortive starts and design failures, the shawl I started just as we went into isolation is finally conforming to my vision. It’s going to be way too huge but that’s okay; “swaddled” seems like a good goal right now.

After testing out a few compatible lace stitches that did not excite, I fell back on an allover arrow pattern with a gradient slide through the different yarns.

Here’s one of the earlier attempts, the best of a series of boring iterations. I know gradients are all the rage in knitting at the moment, but these yarns clearly wanted it.

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Yarns by The Green Button Jar except for the pale blue at the top, which is by Indigo Dragonfly.

on the blocking towel

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Left: Soldotna sweater by Caitlin Hunter (Ravelry link: Soldotna Crop), steeked and cardiganized, in yarns by Indigo Dragonfly (shop link: Indigo Dragonfly).

Right: Boobholder by Stefanie Japel (Ravelry link: Boobholder), elongated into a cropped cardigan, in yarns by The Green Button Jar (shop link: The Green Button Jar)

some socks I have finished recently

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(yes, they all have partners)

I only make one sock these days: top down, half handkerchief heel, wedge toe, one-row stripes of gradually changing colours, using up fifteen years’ worth of stashed tiny balls and odd bits of sock yarn.

finished socks / sock in progress

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a better look at socks!

Here’s how that new top-down sock (on the right) compares to the old toe-up one (on the left). The toe-up design is a tube with a heel added in, with no increases for the instep. It means a lot of tightness across the arch, and pulling against the sides of the heel. Just look at how that eyelet stretches open! Ugh.
In comparison, on the right, we have a heel flap that cradles the heel, a lovely sloped instep fitted to the foot, and no straining or stretching in the eyelet pattern. The lesson I’ve learned here is that the first sock pattern I ever learned, which was also the first thing I ever knitted, is the best sock pattern (for me). I won’t be straying again.

restartitis

This handspun was given to me by Stacie years and years ago, and immediately knit up into these socks, toe-up in order to squeeze out every last bit of gorgeous yarn. They’ve never been worn, because an afterthought heel is the worst and toe-up socks are terrible and no bind off in the world is both stretchy enough for a sock cuff while still being attractive and I don’t know what I was thinking.
So! These are finally getting fixed, completely reknit from the top down, with a nice sturdy long-tail cast on and a perfectly fitted half-handkerchief heel, as socks should be. Of course I’m too lazy to properly unravel and take the kink out (although not too lazy to rip and reknit an entire pair of socks), so the pretty pattern of the first sock looks rather sloppy in the second. Let’s hope it blocks out.