New York Minknit

Sometimes, I hate learning new things. I like doing things the way I always have, and assume, grouchily, that no new way can be better. I am, however, determined to try all of the different ways of how to knit a sock, and this pattern (Swirl Socks by Sulafaye), required learning how to knit toe-up. After some frustration trying to learn Judy’s magic cast-on, I went with the crochet cast-on, and I was amazed! It was so easy!

Combined with thicker needles (size 2) and sport-weight yarn, these socks have been flying along. I’ve become a total toe-up convert. That first progress shot (above) was after just five days of knitting. Probably, if I thought knitting taught life lessons, I would now say something about the importance of learning new things without fear.

I went on a business trip to Cincinnati this week, which entailed lots of airport waiting, and thus, lots of knitting. Something about getting to stay in a hotel suite still feels glamorous to me. Traveling for work–even if just to Ohio–seems so sophisticated! And a hotel suite without all the household chores of home meant more knitting time.

By the time I came back to New York, all the bulb flowers had blossomed. I had enough yarn to make these socks even taller and into knee-highs, but I had been knitting just this sock all week, and I got bored. Sometimes, when I read difficult [read: not particularly plot-driven] and long books, I get physically annoyed with the book. I remember reading Gravity’s Rainbow one summer and hitting the book against our dining room table. My dad looked up, and I was like, “This damn book won’t end!” It was slow-going in the beginning, and I seem to recall that the book was actually fairly interesting in the middle, but by the end, I just couldn’t take it anymore. I was like, “End, you stupid book, end.” I got that way with this sock, and just bound off mid-calf, with yarn left (I had pre-divided the yarn into two balls), because I couldn’t deal with knitting more of it. That’s the beauty of socks, though–you can just stop when you’ve had enough.

I had never seen this kind of flower (above) before. They looked like they were cut out of crepe paper, but they were real. The rectangular ends of the petals were what made them seem fake–most flower ends are tapered, but these look like they were snipped off neatly. If you know what kind of flowers these are, leave a comment.

Off I go to cast on for the second sock.

Pattern: Tropicana, from MagKnits, by Sabine Riefler.

Yarn: One skein of Koigu KPPPM in P319 (pale purple and orange), and one skein of Koigu KPPPM in P113 (peacock) from Article Pract, in Oakland, California. Each skein is $13.50, so $27 for two.

Needles: Inox 8″ DPNs, size 1, also from Article Pract. They come in a set of five; I lost one the first day. I prefer the Susan Bates DPNs, which are shorter and slicker, but yarn stores seem to only carry Inox.

Project began/ended: December 28, 2007 to March 15, 2008.

Notes and Modifications: 

Notes: First, a little info about the name of the socks. Even though Article Pract is in Oakland, I kept thinking it was in Berkeley, since I seem to think all of the East Bay is one big entity. A couple of years ago, when Adam and I went to visit my family, we ate at Pizzaiolo and I was like, OMG, this pizza place is next to a yarn store! But unfortunately, it was closed, which made me sad. So, this past Christmas, when I was having lunch with a friend who had eaten with us at Pizzaiolo, I was like “I need to go to that yarn store.” (This is the same friend who said, “I thought when you said you started a knitting blog, you meant that you were going to use knitting as a metaphor for life; I didn’t realize it was actually going to be about knitting.”) Anyway, I also think the colors are Very Berkeley: Rainbow! Hippy! Vaguely ethnic! Earthy! Peace-loving!

Modifications: The first and most obvious modification was that I striped two colors in the pattern. This was an idea that I got from the many many chevron scarves floating around the internet that use this same feather and fan pattern, and specifically, from Doggedknits.com’s chevron scarf, aka the scarf that inspired many. I picked two colors of Koigu that I thought would contrast well; the final effect is a little weird, but I do like them. I think ugly colors of sock yarns have a special siren call for me.

The other modification I made is that I started with 66 stitches in a k2, p1 rib, and then I decreased immediately to 55 stitches to begin the pattern. After a few rounds I decreased again to 44 stitches to finish off the rest of the sock. (You can sort of see how I tried two different methods of decreasing–one from the outside in of one repeat and one from the inside out of one repeat above.) This turned out to be a bad idea.

It would have been okay if I had made the sock a little longer, closer to 7″ or 7.5″ instead of 6″, but I freaked out due to the short yardage of Koigu, and began the foot after 6″ of leg. (Also, I was kind of mad, because I had paid almost $30 for this yarn, and I think that buying another skein of yarn would have made these super-expensive socks, only suitable for black-tie events.) In fact, I actually had some yarn left over, so I could have made the leg a little longer, but the way it is now, it kind of puckers and puffs out around the top. Also, the ankle area is tight, but I’m hoping that is going to stretch.

Photo shoot notes: While these photos were being taken, Laura Bennett, Project Runway Season 3 finalist, her husband, and her children were frolicking in the background. I thought about asking her to pose with the socks, but Adam was like, “Um, after she’s seen you wearing them?” And then I realized that asking a reality show celebrity to hold your sweaty socks might be good blog fodder, but potentially really weird behavior.

Adam has become obsessed with Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. So obsessed in fact, that he was champing at the bit for volumes 2 and 3, which no Barnes and Noble had in stock. We had to go to Forbidden Planet to find them, and inside, we saw this Dalek [which due to Adam’s other nerd hobbies–like watching Dr. Who–I recognized]. I was like “Nerd hobbies collide! Traveling sock must pose with the Dalek!”

I was actually rather sympathetic to Adam’s plight because I had been searching every Barnes and Noble and yarn store in the city for this issue of Piecework, which features an article about how to make these Finnish mittens. Somehow, every other knitter in New York had snatched them up, and I was forced to order it off the internet, but I did get a copy.

I read some article once and the now-forgotten person being profiled said to their intern, “This is New York. You can find anything.” I have held this quote firmly to my bosom, but I have news for whoever said this. There are things you cannot find here.

Traveling socks…in the snow.

I may have acquired Piecework, but I often see beautiful knitting projects on the internet, and they are–unless one is willing to pay ridiculous shipping fees–impossible to get. (Though I sometimes think most of the fun of shopping for hard to find items is the search, no? The end product isn’t even that important.) Here for you to lust after, Things I Cannot Find in New York:

1.) Germany: Sport & Strumpfwolle Color-Ringel, color 15742. I saw Elemmaciltur‘s socks and I have been lusting ever since, though my babelfish-translated email to the company garnered me a depressing response: shipping to the U.S. is incredibly expensive.

2.) Japan: Ooh! Exciting news! I just realized one of my long-time favorite Flickr projects, this Japanese shawl, is actually a pattern I have! It’s a variation of a tablecloth in Marianne Kinzel’s First Book of Modern Lace Knitting–Yarn Harlot made it into a shawl here.

But Japan continues to lure me with cute things. Look at this beautiful baby sweater! So refined, yet cute!

3.) France: I actually tracked down (and bought) this pattern via ebay, but the yarn has been discontinued, and the occasional lots that pop up on ebay.fr cost way to much to ship here, especially for a novelty acrylic yarn.

4.) U.S.: Even things in my own country continue to elude me. Like Jess Hutchison’s booklet of Unusual Toys for You to Knit and Enjoy [the ethics of copying her out-of-print booklet has been hotly debated on Ravelry–a topic, interestingly, that is discussed almost point for point in today’s The Ethicist] and Hello Yarn’s fiddlehead mitten kit (good news on that front though–Hello Yarn is going to release just the pattern soon).

Pattern:  Stella’s Razor’s Edge, from Spunky Eclectic.

Yarn: 1 skein of Watermelon Slice, from LoveSticks, on Etsy. (And check out The New York Times Magazine‘s article about Etsy in today’s paper, if you haven’t already.) This skein was a gift from Adam, but I think the skeins run around $20 (not including shipping) or so. This color is also available from LoveSticks at The Sweet Sheep.

Needles: Four size 1 metal DPNs from Susan Bates. I used to have five, but I lost one, so now I use four. No big difference.

Project began/ended: I started these October 1 and I finished them yesterday, December 15. Since my first pair of socks took a year, and the second pair took six months, and these took three months, um, let’s see… y=1+(365 * (0.5)^x), so by my ninth pair, it should be down to a day and a half to finish a pair of socks, at this rate of decay. (I seem to have forgotten how to do even the most basic calculus, including integrals, so please leave a comment if my math is wrong.)

Notes and Modifications:

Modifications: I cast on 77 stitches instead of 66 and I did a ribbed cuff instead of the garter stitch cuff in the pattern. When it comes time to divide for the heel, you will have partial chevrons left for the top of the foot if you use 77 stitches (since you will have 3.5 chevrons each for the top and the bottom of the foot). I decreased the remaining chevrons into stockinette to eliminate this problem. Also, for the afterthought heel, leave at least one column of stockinette on either side of the waste stitches. It will make picking up the stiches for the heel much easier.

This was the first afterthought heel I’ve ever done, and I made them a little pointy accidentally. If I tug a bit though, it fits neatly on my heel. It keeps the striping intact, and is an easier construction than the heel flap–though I kind of like turning the heel with the heel flaps. I also accidentally made one toe a little too pointy.

Random tangent: If you read my 8 Random Things About Me post, you will note that I bragged about my lack of cavities. Clearly, the Higher Powers decided I needed to be punished for my hubris. I went to the dentist last week and was told I have one, and possibly two, cavities. Sigh. A blemish on a previously perfect cavity-less set of teeth.

Notes: This sock yarn seems very soft, and though I don’t know how it will hold up to wear, I would definitely get it again based on the colors. As noted in the post where I named the socks, the colors are very intense, and they stripe so neatly. LoveSticks seems to be an indie brand that’s floating under the radar, so get some skeins now, before she becomes the next Yarntini. I have average sized feet and I could have squeezed another inch or so on each leg, in case you’re interested in yardage.

Photo shoot notes: It was way too cold to take these photos outside, so these are taken at the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I suppose I really should have taken photos of them at their namesake, the Queens Center Mall, but I wasn’t up for dealing with the mall so close to Christmas.

Adam and I were discussing what constitutes a hobby, with Adam arguing that reading was not a hobby. His argument boiled down to two points: If the activity in question is a commonly listed question on an online dating profile (favorite book / favorite movie / favorite tv show)* and if it doesn’t require gear, it’s not a hobby. Though I agree that tv watching, is not, in general, a hobby, I was like, c’mon, reading! It’s a hobby!

*I think his theory was that if it was common enough to be a category in an online dating profile, then it meant it was practiced by most people, and thus, not a hobby.

Anyway. Gear. Gear is the favorite element of a hobby for many people, I think, and I finally bought some exciting gear for my hobby, knitting. Yup, I now own a swift and a ball winder! The purchase was somewhat expensive, but look what it makes:

Yarn cakes!

And I was so excited by my yarn cake that I started knitting these socks right away:

I am calling them the Queens Center Mall socks, because they seem kind of like the thing an eleven-year old outer borough* girl would buy after reading The Official Preppy Handbook, but getting it wrong, by buying the socks in a poly-blend at the Queens Center Mall. They’re pink and green, total ’80s prep colors, but also strangely garish, and kind of tacky. I totally love them. As you can see by my coat, which I had customized with the addition of pink ribbon (by my Queens dry cleaner), I think I just might be this girl. 

*If you’re not from New York, the “outer boroughs” are Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island, with the main borough being Manhattan. I think New York dominates the media enough that the rest of the country gets that each outer borough has its own sterotype. Queens, home of the Mets, Archie Bunker, The Nanny, The King of Queens, and George Constanza’s parents. I can’t think of any literature set in Queens. Apparently, we are an illiterate borough of tv-watching yahoos.

Pattern: generic top-down sock pattern
Yarn: 1 ball of Sockotta, 5% cotton/40% wool/15% nylon, $9 from The Homespun Boutique, in Ithaca.
Needles: Inox 2, set of 5
Time to make: Started February 20, finished September 8

Not much to report–the yarn is kind of stringy, and the pattern rather ugly, but I actually really enjoyed knitting the self-striping pattern. I would definitely knit a self-patterning yarn again, though I do think the result is weird.

Ugly socks meet ugly shoes. My inner San Franciscan comes out.

Ugly socks without the shoes.

It only took me half a year to knit these socks! Here’s a flashback montage of the sock over the seasons.

Michele from Knitsane tagged me with a meme, but I’m still thinking it over. In the meantime, you get this photo–I think it’s one of the better ones from this traveling project gimmick. 

The AMNH is kinda racist* but still cool. I love the dinos, the gems, the whale room, and the old-school vitrines.

* See this photo of a vitrine in the Hall of Asian Peoples! Someone was telling me about this book, Give Me My Father’s Body, about the fight of an Inuit Eskimo to get his father’s body back from the museum, where it was on display.

If you want to knit a dinosaur, here and here are some dino pattern links.

Many people, including me, have been defeated by Robert A. Caro’s massive biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker. I own the book, and got as far as Chapter 5 in a week, and I’ve been stuck there since November 2006. Anyway, I went to see two of the Robert Moses exhibits currently in New York today, and I’m sure it would have been even better if I had read the book first, but I didn’t.

(Adam, who takes all the beautiful photos on this site, was being driven crazy by his side job of being the official photographer for New York Minknit and so he gave me his old camera. Fortunately for you, the readers, this means that I can now post photos of traveling sock when it is not near Adam. Unfortunately for you, this means the photo quality is going way down, since I do not currently have the photo skillz of Adam. So, I apologize for the quality of these photos, since I am still learning how to use the camera.)

Here is the second Ugly/Spring sock in front of a proposed Mid-Manhattan Expressway that Moses was trying to get built from 1946-1971. At one point, it was suggested that the Expressway run through the tenth floor of the Empire State Building. Craziness!

This was the Robert Moses exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, which was pretty good. I had no idea that Robert Moses built Tavern on the Green and the Central Park Zoo. (One plaque said that before Moses built the Central Park Zoo, the old zoo had these deranged animals that were prone to attacking visitors. Moses also wanted to build an “oldsters’ home” in the Ramble, in Central Park. Perhaps I should really finish that Caro book.) Also: free before noon! And lots of intense Robert Moses quotes:

Then I went with my friend to see the Panorama that Moses commissioned for the 1964 World’s Fair.

But first. The Unisphere.

The Panorama is awesome. Since it’s a permanent exhibit at the Queens Museum of Art, you can go at any time. Until next week, the Queens Museum of Art is also showing a related Robert Moses exhibit. We ran out of time to check that out, but it looks great too.

The sock hovers over the Manhattan part of the Panorama, a mini-replica of the entire city of New York, including all five boroughs and all of the bridges.

Since Adam normally takes the photos, he’s used to my weird photo schemes for showing off the knitting. But today, I had to try and distract my friend–“Look! It’s Staten Island!”–while I was taking photos. But I finally had to admit that I was, yes, taking photos of a sock.

This post is more about the New York part and less about the Minknit part of the blog, but more real knitting content to come soon.

Yarn: Trekking. My co-worker gave me this ball of yarn, so I’m not sure about the price and color.

Needles: Susan Bates 1s. One set of 5 that I had all year, until last week, when I lost one needle at BAM while attempting to knit while watching The Namesake.

Pattern: Classy Slip-Up, in Knit Socks!: 15 Cool Patterns for Toasty Feet, by Betsy Lee McCarthy.

This pair of socks actually took me exactly a year to make. I looked in my archives and I started knitting them in May of last year (well, it looks like I tried to start in April, but I really got going on May 14, 2006, which is exactly one year ago). This is because of two reasons:

In addition to some computer-mouse-gripping issues / bad posture habits, I was knitting the first sock extremely tightly, which gave me tendinitis for a while, and I had to go to physical therapy. But thanks to the physical therapist and improved ergonomic habits , I can now knit socks again.

But of course, I got the dreaded SSS–Second Sock Syndrome, where I was unmotivated to knit the second sock for months. Hence its popularity as the traveling project:

Memories…misty colored memories…

The sock. It went everywhere. Even to the jail called Alcatraz.

But now they’re done:

I don’t know if you can tell, but my gauge got looser over an entire year of knitting. Apparently, I used to knit extremely tightly. I’m not sure I became less stressed, but maybe the sock and I reached a special understanding or something. Also, some action shots of the socks mid-jump.

I liked this yarn a lot, and I would use it again. Also, I liked the pattern, and the book Knit Socks! is extremely clear and very easy to follow. Provided that I can conquer my tendency to hold sock needles in a death grip, I would and will make more socks.

Here’s a sign (below) that I thought was funny. it was for a laundromat.

I’m trapped! In Alcatraz!

The nascent sock and the finished sock are planning on escaping from the jail cell for knitted objects!

You probably can’t knit in jail, especailly in Alcatraz, ’cause you could hurt someone with needles!