Toes in a Pinch? Try a Cinch!

I finished knitting my Haleakala Socks (while running year end reports for work from home and while everyone else in the country was watching the Super Bowl... go Seahawks!) and I am preparing to sew up the toes.

These are different socks, but the toes end up the same... a couple of live stitches at the very end of the sock!

To finish my socks, I have always grafted the remaining toe stitches together, creating a seamless finished toe. Doing this is a bit of a pain, but it's only for about 20 stitches, so it's never been a big deal. You take those live stitches** (below) and sew them together so there isn't a visible seam.

When you're done, it looks like this:

Knitty.com

So tidy! (Yes, those are two pieces of fabric that have been grafted together, I promise!) The instructions that I've used in the past are HERE. I think they are clear, easy to follow, and have big pictures to help. Once you get the rhythm of grafting, it isn't really all that onerous, but maybe don't try to watch TV and learn how to graft at the same time.

Now, switch gears: it's time for a new school of thought. Kate Atherley of Knitty advocates abandoning grafting for socks and just cinching the remaining toe stitches together. That's right. Says Kate, 

Socks ... do not need grafting.

Yes, that's right. I'll say that again. Grafting is unnecessary – indeed, it's actually counterproductive – in sock knitting.

Knitty.com

She goes on to explain that grafting is a lot of work for not a lot of return. There isn't a lot of visual impact at the toe of a sock; why spend all that time? On top of that, when you graft, you get little puckers of extra fabric at the corners that either hang on and bunch up on your toes or require additional work to sew down. Read her article HERE.

Instead, why not try running the the tail of your yarn through those lovely live stitches and simply cinch them together and then weave the end in?

So, I thought I'd give it a try. These Haleakala socks already aren't my favorite -- I'm not a fan of self-striping yarn -- so what could a different toe really hurt? You just thread the tail of your knitting back through the live stitches, pull tight, and then weave in the ends.

My socks! My comfy toes!

Turns out I love it. It took me almost no time at all and they are more comfortable than grafted toes. Sold. I do not anticipate EVER grafting a sock toe again. Thanks Kate!

 
**Live stitches! These are stitches that you could knit into to keep the project going. If I were to just leave them as they are without weaving in the ends, grafting them together, or cinching them like I did here, the project would unravel.

WIP Party: My Haleakala Socks

WIP Part Project #5: My Haleakala Socks

These are my first socks ever! Well, sort of. I originally cast on for these so that when my first Cookie A Sock Club shipment arrived, I would have knit at least one pair of socks. But then the first package arrived and I just launched into knitting those socks instead. I got about 3/4 of a sock completed before I set them down last January. Since then, I've knit several pairs of socks, but never picked these back up, in part because I actually misplaced the project for several months...

The pattern is pretty intuitive and easy to memorize. The cable panel only runs down the front of the sock, which I like aesthetically and comfort-wise (I worry that bulky cables will be uncomfortable around my Achilles tendon and ankle), but all of that 2x2 ribbing got a little bit dull. I do like patterns that are repetitive, but that was quite a bit of k2,p2*.

See? Stripes!

Overall, I'm happy with how these turned out. My biggest complaint is that the yarn striped. When I purchased the yarn, I thought that it would be a greeny-black, but the way the yarn was painted it ended up creating black and green stripes. I think this hides the cable pattern and black and green stripes is not something that I would have selected intentionally.

I also tried out a new method for finishing up the toe and I am quite pleased with the results! I'll be posting on that on Monday, February 17th. Stay tuned :)

Now I just have my purple sweater and the blanket for the living room left from the WIP Party!

WIP Party: My Pirouette Socks

WIP Party Project #4: My Pirouette Socks

Frogged. Totally and completely ripped out.

Before

After

The more I thought about this project, the less I wanted to work on it. The yarn kept splitting and the pattern required more attention to shift the stitches around the foot and ankle than I wanted to give to a frustrating yarn. I might try this pattern again with  a different  yarn, but I am not sure if I will ever use this yarn. On top of it being splitty to begin with, it did not frog very tidily. It is pretty kinked and looks like it will be even more challenging to work with than it was originally.

There are just too many other things I am excited about knitting and too many other yarns that will be pleasant to work with to continue this pair of socks.

WIP Party: My Ernie Socks

WIP Party Project #3: My Ernie Socks

These are from the 2013 Cookie A Sock Club! Every other month, sock designer Cookie A mails you two sock patterns, a skein of lovely sock yarn to make one of the patterns, and two cookie recipes. I received this pattern in the first shipment around February. I knit up the first pair of socks in the skein I received and got a significant amount done on this pair in the second pattern, but then the next Cookie A package arrived in the mail... Originally, I wanted to knit at least one pair of socks per shipment before the next package arrived so I put these down and started the next pair. And never picked them back up. (And the other pair of socks is still on my needles...)

But I've picked them up again and now they're done!

This was a fun, quick pattern. I think the stitches got a little lost in the dark, variegated yarn, so if I make these again, I'll probably do them in a solid or semi-solid yarn that is a brighter color.

WIP Party!

Maybe you're the perfect knitter who finishes everything they starts and even weaves in the ends as soon as you're done knitting.

Maybe you don't have any works-in-progress (WIP) that have been "in progress" (read: sitting in your knitting basket for at least three months without being touched) for ages with little to no actual progress being made.

If you are, then bully for you.

I am NOT one of those knitters. I try to be. It's cost-effective -- if you've ever bought new needles for a new project because the size you needed was holding a WIP, then you know what I'm talking about, space-efficient, and you actually get stuff done. I just get too excited about new projects or something comes up. Is anyone else panicking about Christmas knitting?

So I've decided. Enough is enough. I am going to complete or frog* every WIP currently on my needles before starting something new. At the start of this WIP Party, I had 7 projects on my needles. From oldest to newest:

The Sweater Vest for Grandpa Jack:

Cast on July, 2010. Frogged November 18, 2011.

Cast on August, 2012.

The Blanket for Curtis/Living Room:

Cast on March 23, 2011.

The Bird Mittens for My Grandma:

Cast on November 11, 2012

My Haleakala Socks:

Cast on January, 2013.

These have actually been lost (found just today!) since about April, 2013.

My Ernie Socks:

Cast on March 12, 2013.

Cast on March 12, 2013.

My Pirouette Socks:

Cast on April 14, 2013. I think these are heading for the frogger...

My Pretty Sweater in Purple:

Cast on September, 2013.

Cast on September, 2013.

So, here I go! Anyone care to join me in my WIP Party? Feel free to post links to your WIPs (and their completion!) in the comments below.

*What's frogging? Frogging is when you take a project off your needles, unravel it, and either start over or use the yarn for something else. You rip all that hard work out (and sometimes your heart goes right along with it). It's called "frogging" because you "rip it, rip it, rip it" and that sounds like "ribbit, ribbit, ribbit". And because "frogging" is cuter than "tearing out your soul one row at a time".

Here I Am

It has been a doozy of a few months. I've gone on a vacation to Disneyland, taken a quarter off from library school, been ill, broke up with Curtis, moved to a new city, started knitting socks, got back together with Curtis, got promoted, started working out (Jillian Michaels), joined a co-ed soccer team, had my debit card information stolen by some butthead in the UK, and have seriously started considering a career change from corporate information management and analytics type jobs to public librarianship. My life has been topsy turvy and not always in the fun, colorful way that makes you think of chaotic circus routines involving sequins and somersaults (though maybe it does...)

So here I am, on Capitol Hill, in my bed on a rainy Sunday, thinking about getting some tea and how exactly I want to start revamping my Library Out Loud blog and how long I think it would take me to finish knitting my socks (four hours?).

My first pair of socks ever!