MG: ohisashiburi!

hi there! i'm back! i've just returned from an extended trip to ohio, during which Kitty Kitty and i met up for some fibery-fun (as i'm sure you've already read from her posts). we learned spindle spinning techniques from each other, drooled over patterns, and chatted incessantly about knitting. it's great to have an equally obsessive knitbuddy.

during the rest of my trip however, i oozed into a major knitting slump. all i have to show for the time i've been gone:



more bluefaced leicester on my ashford spindle; i'm still not very consistent on it (i miss the wheel!). and i knitted a sock! not a practice sock, but a real sock--custom-fit to my hubby's foot. it was a try-on-as-you-go effort using stasia's toe-up sock formula (uh-oh, her site is gone. :( the link i have doesn't work anymore.) and a figure-eight toe.

i made hubby try on the sock a bizillion times b/c i wanted it to fit just right. i even did so while he was sleeping. he was rather cooperative and would stick his foot out of the covers for me as he continued slumbering.

the sock has a significant imperfection. somewhere in my searches through sock techniques, i neglected to pay enough attention. the spines of my short row heels are different. see?



i used knit-togethers and purl-togethers at the wraps, both of which are right-slanting on the right side of the fabric. i didn't think about matching them at all beforehand, so the spines are inside-out versions of each other. which one do you like better? i have to decide what to do about the second sock. hubby suggests a mirror image version, so matching spines are either both on the outside or inside of the ankles...

the cuff gave me a hard time. i wanted a turned hem with some stretch in it. the ribbing was irregular (4x1 and 2x2 mixed), so i couldn't work out a tubular cast-off. i looked in books and searched online but couldn't find anything i liked. so i made something up. it's a combination of the various stretchy bind-offs i found. i did one row of tubular prep, slipped the stitches under a purl seven rows down on the wrong side, then used Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn bind-off (i used knitting needles). it's relatively stretchy, clean enough, and doesn't flare much when the sock is worn. i think i like it.


it's good to be playing show and tell with you again. meow...