Reader Mail

As I sit here sipping my coffee this morning and checking out my comments, I thought I'd pull a Wendy and respond in a post. 

Becky asked: What (if any) books are you using to guide yourself through the madness?

Becky's referring to yesterday's (unintentionally) cryptic message.  Let me first tell you all what I'm up to.  Since it's a holiday weekend, I'll give you the short version. 

I found a great toe-up heel flap technique for my monkey socks, but I needed to jiggy it to fit my stitch count.  Since no one actually explains how they arrived at the numbers for their heels, I had to figure this out on my own.  The upshot is that I have great new insight into the relationship between number of stitches and decreases, and how to make sure you end up on the correct side if you're using the magic loop.  This last bit is really important actually.

To answer your question:  I'm winging it.  I don't have access to a yarn shop with a good selection of technique books, so I have precious few on my shelf.  I didn't invent this heel method, I just unlocked it's secrets. 

Someone posted a poll on KnittyBoard asking people how they knit their socks.  Very few people said they knit two socks at once, toe-up with magic loop.  This is probably why there are very few patterns for and little information online about this method.  I intend to post my pattern mods to help others like me.   

Heather asked: So, is your hubby a Frenchie;)?

Nah, B's Australian, which is pretty cool in its own right.  I learn new vocabulary nearly every day. ;)  His dad and step-mom are over from Oz touring around France.  So, we're going down to say, g'day.

OK, I'm sufficiently caffeinated now, and can get back to my pattern jiggying.  I had another idea late last night.  With any luck, I'll actually turn the heels today and get back to the regularly scheduled pattern.  With still more luck, I'll be done on Sunday. 

Comments

[Heather]

Thanks for the answers!

I am doing my first toe-up sock right now and am really enjoying it. After doing the first several rows on dpns, I quickly shifted to magic loop and am really preferring it, so I for one will be reading your mods with great interest!!