I don’t know if it’s the pattern, the or fact that I’m knitting a sock for a friend, the yarn or the way I’m knitting it. Perhaps it’s a combination of all four influences.
To recap, the pattern is Ribbed Ribbons by Wendy Johnson. Without a doubt this woman writes a good sock pattern. I’ve knit a few of her patterns in the past.
The yarn is Spud and Chloe Fine which is a fingering weight 80% superwash wool/20% silk blend. The silk gives it a tiny bit of sheen which was what lead me to choose this pattern in the first place. I thought the yarn would be showcased best with something that had some movement to it.
The friend is news that I can’t share at this point but suffice it to say that I’m very flattered that she asked for my help.
The way I’m knitting it, that’s the new part. I was listening to a podcast earlier in the week, I don’t recall which one it was, and they mentioned that they were using something they had heard Kelly Petkin of the Knit Picks Podcast suggest when doing lace to write each row out on an index card and then just flip through them as you did the pattern. No more post it notes falling off the pattern or losing the piece of paper you were tracking your rows on.
Now I recall listening to this podcast but it was one of those many things that I’ve heard in the past and not managed to keep filed away in my head. Sometimes I plain old forget about this stuff until I hear something that jangles it lose or I’m just reminded of it. I made yet another mental note to remember this tip. Especially since I had a ton of index cards that I never used for school.
Then my friend asked me to knit this sock and I thought, hm…that index card idea would be good to use right about now, especially to make this project more portable. So yesterday, I sat down and wrote out the lace repeat on 24 cards. Then I punched a hole in the corner and put them on a binder ring. That part is my own little invention. Additionally I grabbed a binder clip (I love those for holding pieces together to seam) so when I toss the sock in my bag to go knit tonight I won’t have to worry about the cards flipping to the wrong row on me.
Well I zipped pretty quickly through the foot of the sock last night and this morning I started turning the heel. This heel is a little different from my usual heel turn, which normally I’d substitute but that’s not a choice this time around as I need to stick to the pattern. As such I was having a heck of a time remembering which row I was increasing on. I also kept telling myself I’d need to write down eventually which row I was on in the lace pattern when I started the gusset increases.
Then yet another idea hit. The reason I was having a hard time remembering, other than just being distracted and trying to carry on a conversation while watching the news, was that as I finished the lace row, I turned the card. So while I was knitting the increase on the odd numbered rows, the even numbered cards were showing. As I’d be getting interrupted while knitting the heel just trusting myself to remember this was not going to work. So on the back of the card I wrote INC in pencil, along with writing on the back of the card for row 7 that this is where I start the gusset increases.
Why in pencil you ask? Because I know I’ll be knitting this pattern again. Soon possibly. I really like this pattern. For myself I don’t usually chose socks with holes but this is one pattern I simply must knit for myself.
Not only that but I am loving the card idea to make my sock knitting more portable. For the longest time I always had a sock going for the hubby. So even if I was working on a more complicated sock for myself, I could carry around his socks to work on in those odd moments I grabbed to knit while waiting. Granted there are some socks that I’ll still knit just plain for myself but they are few and far between. I like having patterned socks, even if the pattern is simple. My most recent sock purchases were solid yarns so I could make some lovely cabled socks for myself. In fact the one I’m working on right now for me is going to get transferred to cards, even though it’s only a two row pattern at this point. I keep forgetting which row I’m on and it is hard as heck to tell, especially since the yarn is so dark and so small.
And now, back to the sock.
