Friday 5 March 2010

Little minxes

Little Minx socks - front

Today we have some knitting progress - yipee! Things are slowly returning to normal with most things having found a home - just a few more things a-waiting but hopefully they can get sorted tonight and then we can be DONE! Maybe a final tweek or two as I start to use this new workspace but that's okay, you can't pre-empt everything! (although I did give it a damned good shot!!)

So, back to the knitting. The little minx socks really are getting there now but I've only been knitting them watching tv and I've not done a lot of that lately so progress is slower than normal shall we say:-) Now I'm downstairs working, I can monopolise the TV and dvd for longer knitting times rather than using my computer to watch films *hehe* Much more comfy in the living room than on a swivel chair, I must say!

Little Minx - back

The foot section knits a bit quicker being plain on one side so you can steam ahead and get some good progress here. Saying that, the twisted cables are so easy to do, you just motor along remembering to twist every 4th row. I can get quite a few repeats done in 1hr of tv watching so it won't be long till I'm at the top. I keep telling myself every row counts but I think a concerted effort is needed to get these finished so I can start Vivian soon. I may just cast on Vivian this weekend anyway as time's-a-tickin' - April the 8th deadline:-)))  (not that you or girlie bump need the reminder sis!!)


You may have noticed that neither sock has a heel yet. Unfortunately the red bit I need is at the end of the ball so I've decided to knit both heels after both socks are finished. That way I can match up the colours better. The yarn isn't totally exact with its colour proportions as I found when I tried to match the second sock to the first but its near enough and still obviously looks like a pair so I can live with that:-))


Because I've had plenty of time to think about adding the heel to the sock, I've thought about different ways for doing this. The afterthought heel - which I intended to use - is meant to be reduced on both sides and then grafted together. I was thinking if I have to graft anyway, maybe I could do a short row heel? I don't like the obvious lines the decreases give the heel shape and I much prefer the sleekness of the short row heel. It would be easier to knit the heel from the top rather than the sock base so the grafting would be meeting st stitch instead of the knits and purls of the twisted rib pattern. I haven't come across anyone else using this method so is there an obvious reason it's not used, do you know? Anyway, I'll give it a try and if it goes pear-shaped, then I can always use the afterthought heel method.....:-))

Tomorrow, I get some nice baby yarn in the post - excited!! Time to start designing and knitting baby stuff. More on that soon:-)) Have a good weekend yourselves now!

8 comments:

  1. The giveaway winner is up. Go take a look!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my! I WON!! I really won that lovely shawl pattern!! Now what are the chances of that?!! Thank you so much Jane, you've seriously made my day!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Elaine,

    have you checked your Rav mail box? I sent you the pattern through there, so if there are any modifications done to the pattern, you'll be notified and can download a new version.

    Jane

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congrats on winning. I just knew it would be one of the Elaines and since I found out about the contest from you, it is only right that you were the winner.

    Show us how it turns out!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Elaine! When it was a capital 'E' that did throw me at the beginning, I really thought it was you!:-)) I seriously didn't think I'd win at all, it was an amazing surprise! Especially after I said that number 1 would never get picked - Lol!

    I think I'll have to dye up some yarn especially for this - might do some extra, stock up the shop and have a mini yarn giveaway soon to celebrate - watch this space;-))

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  6. Hi Jane, Rav mail checked, pattern very gratefully received, downloaded and printing as we speak:-)) I just can't wait to get started - thank you so much!

    I love the look of the finer yarn - I've never knitted a shawl in laceweight so I think I may give Luiza a go with a silk/wool mix - once I get it dyed of course!
    Thank you again Jane!

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Hello and thanks for stopping by. Do stay a while and visit. Please do leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you and be inspired by all your blogs out there too:-) elaine xx

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