Monday, June 22, 2009

Sock progress and problems

Knitting is funny. Most of us have been at that point where we knit and knit and knit and the work doesn't get any bigger. Then we knit some more and we're there (or have gone too far). I've had a couple of these moments on this second sock.

First I counted the cable crossings on the first sock to know how far to knit the leg. I though I had only a few rows to go, but really I was one cable crossing short. Six does not equal seven. There are 10 rows between crossings. When I finished the correct number of rows, the legs matched. Yah!

I cropped out a close up of the gadget I use for cable row counting. There are 10 rings between each bead. If I need a different number for another project, I can use the number I need. I can go above 10 by using both sets of rings. It makes such a difference on dark yarn. I do double check when the light is good. The hardest part is making sure you're picking up the next ring in the correct direction.

I divided for the heel. On this sock of 84 stitches, 40 of them are used for the heel. I had the heel flap done and was doing the short rows for the bottom of the heel. One needle had 2 stitches more than the other....all the way down to where I divided stitches and counted wrong!

I'm back on track, and the rows seem to take less time to knit. Who'd have thought that 2 stitches per row made such a difference. It does help that the TV is not on. I keep sort of watching it, which slows progress.

2 comments:

Chery said...

I've made several of these cable or repeat counters of varying lengths. I find increasing every other row for a toe or gusset is lots easier when I use one with two links.

If you use one green (or GO) bead and the other is red (STOP) to do the required change (increase, dec, cable cross, etc.) it makes travelling toward the red more logical.

Lorraine said...

Thanks for the suggestion. The different beads do the same thing. It's just that I sometimes pick up the wrong ring.