I’ve had several emails from readers who tried to post a comment only to be redirected to the FBI’s web site. Some have wondered what interest the FBI could possibly have in comments left on a knitting blog.

Ahem… I am not in league with any nefarious parties. Nor is any agency, as far as I know, keeping track of who may be hanging around here and commenting.

It’s the anti-spam utility I use to keep the blog spammers at bay. It redirects commenters that it decides are spammer right to the home of the FBI, where it is to be hoped that they might see the error of their ways.

But nice, ordinary readers who just want to leave nice knitterly comments should be able to!

As far as I know I haven’t made any changes. But for some reason the spam checker has decided to clamp down. I’ve loosened things up a bit — hopefully not so much that the spam gates have opened.

Please try to comment on this post. If you have problems, email me at (just click on that link if you want) and I’ll try tweaking it again until I get it right. Believe me, I have no desire to keep anyone from posting a comment (unless they’re a spammer)! If necessary, I’ll look for an alternate spam-blocking method.

Danielle asks if I have a favorite bind-off for a 2×2 ribbed sock.

On socks for women, I like to use a picot bind-off (cast on 2, bind off 4, repeat). It’s very stretchy, and cute besides! For some reason many men are a little squeamish about having a picot edging on their socks! 😉 So when knitting socks for men, I usually use Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off, or a single-crochet bind-off. I also like the purl or lace bind-off.

Unless the pattern calls for 2×2 ribbing, though, I usually do a 1×1 rib and a Kitchener bind-off.

Susanne points out that there’s a bit more errata in the Magic Cast-On instructions:

On the bottom of Page 3 on “Row 2: K all stitches on both needles (no decreases).” I think you mean no INCREASES as we have just cast on.

Susanne, you are so right! Good catch! I have fixed the on-line instructions and the PDF document, and I’ve added it to the Knitty article errata.

Like me, it’s a work in progress! 😉

Since the new issues of Knitty is out, I can now publish the Magic Cast-On here on PI.

If you click on Freebies on the menu above, you will find Judy’s Magic Cast-On for Toe-Up Socks. That page was there before. But if you follow that link, you will see that the page has been updated with a link to a new write-up that is printable (scroll to the bottom). A PDF version is also available.

Republishing has given me a chance to correct a couple of errors in the Kitty version and to get rid of the little knot.

Enjoy!

P.S. Did you see that Widdershins, one of the toe-up sock patterns in the new Knitty, uses my cast-on? 😀

OK…. I have a little knitting content for you today. But very little, I’m afraid.

Because I don’t seem to have the time to concentrate on any larger projects In an attempt to keep 2006 the Year Of The Sock, I have two new socks-aborning on the needles.

To the left is the reborn Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Rainbow. My plans for these toes include a second stab at arch shaping a la Meg Swansen. I think I will work the instep and ankle in the stranded stitch from the Crusoe pattern in Knitty. These socks are being worked on my trusty Inox Gray US#2 circs.

To the right is a pair of socks I’m making as a gift. I don’t think the recipient reads here, but just in case I’ll only say that it’s someone who likes red and black a lot. The yarn is Cascade Fixation (I love-a love-a love-a this yarn) in colorways 3628 (cherry red) and 8690 (black). The needles are Clover US#3 circs.

Can you tell I’m glad it’s summer and time to start knitting cotton socks again? I think Fixation is so fun in its stretchy goodness, and it comes in such great colors. How much fun can one girl have? I’m thinking of doing the lovemeknot socks in it. But maybe not in red and black. I’m thinking lime green and maybe white.

Someone asked me a question about using the Magic Cast-On with striped yarns. How do you get the stripes to “fall right?”

Well… it depends on how you want the stripes to fall…

OK. I sorry for the smart-aleck answer, but it is true. The absolute middle of the sock toe will be between the two needles that are used for the cast-on. The tail makes the loops on one needles and the “working yarn” makes the loops on the other. You are probably casting on between 20 and 30 total stitches, and that doesn’t take much yarn.

If you want the first toe round to be one color, start the first loop in the middle of the color repeat so that the working yarn and the tail are both the same color.

If you want a little stripe of a different color at the toe, start the first loop where the color changes. This is nicely illustrated by the Rainbow socks in the picture above. These toes were cast on with the tail green and the working yarn yellow.

If you want both toes to start the same, measure how far it is from the needle to the next color change when starting the first sock, and start the second sock at the same place in the color repeat.

If you want your socks to stripe randomly, start in random places.

See? It’s not hard at all.

My favorite rose is blooming! This is Eyepaint. It will bloom fairly constantly until November. I love to look out in my yard and see its cheerful blossoms dancing in the breeze.

The other roses have buds, also, although they haven’t opened yet. I am reminded that it’s almost time for Rose Festival here in Portland.

Thank you to every one who commented about the rainbow socks. I guess I’ll keep them. (sorry Starr) 😉

A friend of mine needed someone to take a few things down to his beach house this weekend and then be there while some guys install a wood stove. I jumped up and down yelling pick me! pick me! volunteered.

I’m taking all most of my unfinished objects and I’m going to spend the weekend knitting. I’m leaving right after work today. It’s supposed to rain all weekend, so I won’t have any distractions to keep me from finishing something. I’d really like to make some progress on the green sweater. And the tipsy knitter socks are only a couple of pattern repeats away from being done.

Shelly asks:

What’s you favorite reference for toe up contruction?

I have to admit that I don’t really have one. Most of my favorite sock books are for top-down construction. I love Nancy Bush’s books, for example, but they’re all top-down. Toe-up construction just isn’t addressed by most of my favorite designers.

I’ve found that many top-down sock patterns can be worked toe-up by reading and working the pattern backwards. It doesn’t always work, but in most cases it can be done with a little modification.

For the basic sock construction, I often just use my favorite techniques and go for it. Of course, I always start with Judy’s Magic Cast-On For Toe-Up Socks. And I have a favorite heel (flap-and-gusset type) that I usually work. I’ve found that a standard pointy toe fits my foot better (although I don’t seem to have worked many lately, looks like I’m stuck on rounder toes right now). I usually look through my stitch pattern books until I find one that I’d like to try. Sometimes I start with the stitch pattern and pick a yarn I think will go well with it, and sometimes I pick the yarn first and then look for a stitch pattern.

I do encourage everyone to try two-at-once sock knitting. It isn’t any faster than doing them one at a time, but it certainly alleviates the dreaded second sock syndrome. And it’s easy to do, especially if you are already familiar with knitting one sock using either two circulars or magic loop.

Just cast on one sock, then use a second ball of yarn to cast on the second sock. Knit from the first needle on both socks (remembering between the socks to drop the yarn for the first sock and pick up the yarn for the second sock), then turn the needles around and knit from the second needle on both socks. And go around and around and around until you have a foot. Then work the heel on the first sock while the second one just hangs there. Finish the heel of the first sock, then work the heel of the second sock while the first sock rests. Then go back to knitting around and around until you have a pair of socks. Cast off. Done.

I don’t know if that was helpful or not! I hope it was.

I just wasn’t feeling the love with the embossed leaves sock toes. I couldn’t knit the same lace backwards, but I liked the star toe. Couldn’t get the lace knit frontwards to fit with the toe. Not wild about the colorway with this pattern. Blech. To the frog pond they went.

Last night I saw what Alice did with her socks — same pattern, same colorway, toe up. Her yarn looks quite a bit darker and richer than mine. Hand-painted dye lots can be so different! I think Alice’s looks great and I might try again with a different colorway. But not with this colorway. For some reason I’m still not feeling the love there. I have some Lorna’s Laces, though, that might be fun to play with in this pattern.

Anyway, I started a new pair of socks. Once again, this is Socks That Rock in Red Rock Canyon. Double circs. Inox Gray US#2. Magic cast-on. Two at a time. The usual. I started with a 6-part pinwheel toe.

The stitch pattern is called Tipsy Knitter in the Socks Socks Socks book and Tilting Ladders in Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. In the picture, I’ve finished 1/2 of the first repeat. In the last part of the repeat, the cable will become a ladder and the ladder will be a cable and they will tilt left. It’s hard to tell from this picture, but the ladders and cables in the first 1/2 of the repeat tilt right.

The colors are pooling in strange and interesting ways. The blue, unfortunately, seems to be ending up mostly on the sole side of the socks. I think, though, that with this pattern the pooling is OK. It’s just another tipsy part of the sock. The blue is peeking out on the front side, now, so I have hope.

I’ve been working away on the silk/cashmere leaf scarf, also. It’s coming along nicely and is about a foot long. I worked a couple of repeats last night at Tangle knitting night. Alice had a great idea for how to end the last leaf, if I ever get there! I have a feeling this scarf is going to be one of those long-term projects. I can’t work too many repeats before I start to lose concentration and mess up the pattern.

I went back to sock knitting while sipping on a glass of wine. (Friends don’t let friends drink and knit lace!) The tipsy knitter socks seemed much more appropriate under those circumstances.

Click here for the instructions: Judy’s Magic Cast-On.

Click on the above link and scroll to the bottom for a printer-friendly version. Or right-click on this link and choose “save link as” for a PDF version of the instructions. (Note, those are Windows instructions. Mac people, do the equivalent on your system.)

After you have learned Judy’s Magic Cast-On, the page at this link might be of interest: Starting A Small Circle With Judy’s Magic Cast-On.

FAQ

Q. Figure-8, Turkish, Judy’s Magic Cast-On – they all seem the same. Are they? How are they different?

• Figure 8, Turkish and Judy’s Magic Cast-On all start at the very end of the toe. None of them require picking up stitches, short rows or grafting.
• The first round of Judy’s Magic Cast-On creates an actual center row of stitches and subsequent rounds circle this row. The first round of both the Turkish cast-on and the Figure-8 cast-on make a row of stitches on both sides, and the center of the piece lies between these two rows.
• Judy’s Magic Cast-On has no row of “pseudo knit stitches” – i.e. knit stitches without the purl-bump twist on the back.
• Stitches made with Judy’s Magic Cast-On have the same tension as the rest of the knitting and do not require tightening up later.
• With Judy’s Magic Cast-On, both ends of the yarn remain on the same side of the work. This is very handy if you use the tail to double your stitches on the first row of a circular pattern – that is you knit a round with the yarn and tail held together, and then knit the next round by knitting one stitch in the each loop from the yarn and one stitch in each loop from the tail. The tail and the yarn are at opposite ends of the work with both Figure-8 and Turkish, making this technique unavailable.

Q. What about using a long-tail cast-on or the increase cast-on?

The long-tail cast-on creates a row of ridges on the outside of the sock. The increase cast-on creates a row of ridges on both the inside and outside of the sock. If these ridges bother you, then you would probably like one of the other cast-ons better. If you don’t mind the ridges, then these are also perfectly good methods.

Q. Which is best?

They all work. Know the strengths and weaknesses of each and use the one that is most appropriate to the piece you are making. In case of a tie — use the one you like the best or seems easiest.

Q. I’m using Judy’s Magic Cast-On, but I keep ending up with bumps on the outside of my toe. What gives?

You might be starting with the toe inside out. When beginning the first round, hold the needles with the points to your right and the side with the purl bumps is on top, then knit from the needles closest to you. This will seem a little counterintuitive. But your sock will “grow” downwards. Having the purl bumps on top will ensure that the purl side ends up on the inside and the knit side on the outside.

Q. How do you get the stripes in self-striping sock yarn to “fall right?”

The absolute middle of the sock toe will be between the two needles that are used for the cast-on. You are probably casting on between 20 and 30 total stitches, and that doesn’t take much yarn. If you want the first toe round to be one color, start the first loop in the middle of the color repeat so that the working yarn and the tail are both the same color. If you want a little stripe of a different color at the toe, start the first loop where the color changes. If you want both toes to start the same, measure how far it is from the needle to the next color change when starting the first sock, and start the second sock at the same place in the color repeat. If you want your socks to stripe randomly, start in random places.

Q. My tension is off. How do I correct that?

Try to cast on with the same tension around the needles that you have when you knit.

If you find that you have to tighten up the cast-on loops after you’ve worked a round or two, try making sure that each loop is snug around the needle next to the previously cast-on stitches before making the next loop. The two strands need to twist around each other to make the purl bumps on the under-side. If you make the stitch and don’t snug it up against the other stitches before making the next, the twist will be loose and your stitches will be loose.

If you find that the loops are too tight, try using larger needles for Judy’s Magic Cast-On, and then knit off onto smaller needles. Remember not to pull on the yarn as you loop it around the needles. Because you are holding both ends of the yarn, the loops will not slip off.

Q. Does it matter which direction I loop the yarn around the needles?

Not at all. But, it will make a difference in how the stitches are mounted. If you loop the yarn around the needles in a counter-clockwise direction (looking at the needle with it pointed towards you), then the stitch will be mounted with the leading leg to the front of the needle. If you loop the yarn around the needle clockwise, the stitch will be mounted with the leading leg towards the back. Remember to knit through the back leg when knitting these stitches on the first round so that the stitches are not twisted.

Click on this link for the original Knitty article: Judy’s Magic Cast-On For Toe-Up Socks

Click on this link for corrections to the original Knitty article: Errata

Supplemental Information to the Knitty article:

I’ve seen some comments here and there that Judy’s Magic Cast-On as it’s shown in Knitty.com leaves a little knot on one side of the toe because you start with a slipknot. I thought that would be an easier way to anchor the yarn to the needle, figuring that when one is learning a new technique it doesn’t help to have to deal with yarn that keeps slipping. As I often do, I over-thought and confused the issue.

What I usually do instead of a knot is to loop the yarn around the needle as shown in this picture, with the tail to the left of the working yarn (assuming that you are holding the yarn in your left hand and the needle in your right hand). This “knotless” technique alleviates both the little knot at the side of the toe and the problem some people have had with the slipknot being loose.

I’m actually very pleased to know that knitters have tried this and found it useful! Please don’t hesitate to ask questions. You can email me at .