Bo Diddley socks

Who do you love?

I’m lovin’ my socks, oh yeah! I think I could walk 47 miles in them. But I will skip the barbed wire, the cobra snake necktie, and snakeskin houses with skull chimneys. (That should guarantee that Bo Diddley fans will get here and wonder how the heck they ended up on a knitting blog. They have good company in all of the Bob Dylan fans that get here searching for Tangled Up In Blue.)

But I digress.

I’m lovin’ my new socks. And because Who Do You Love kept going through my head every time I knit on them, I am hereby dubbing these the Bo Diddley Socks.

I really wanted to get a pic of them slithering through the grass or posed along a tree limb, but yesterday when I took these pictures it was raining cats and dogs. So instead they are tip-toe on a chair next to the window – the only light that was available. The color is pretty true on my monitor.

Notice how the first scale starts on the toe near the end and follows the line of the toe increases. Sort of. That was the plan, anyway. Go ahead and click on the picture to biggy-size it. I’ll wait.

dragon scale pattern

This picture shows the Dragon Scale pattern up the leg. Pretty, isn’t it? I love the way the pattern plays with the little short blings of color in this yarn.

I think the pattern sort of resembles the up-and-down action that occurs in other chevron-style stitch patterns, like what is found on the Jaywalker socks. But this pattern is much stretchier than Jaywalkers are.

I used a picot bind-off because I thought the little points would look cool and snake-ish with the scales. I didn’t bind off in the traditional sense. I just tacked the live stitches down inside using a sort of duplicate stitch, so the cuffs are really stretchy. Note that the cuff is vaguely wavy on top, still following the scale pattern.

The other choice for a cuff would have been to replace the last row of scales with ribbing. The bottom of the ribbing would have followed the line of the scales, allowing the previous row of scales to complete. I think that would have looked cool also. Maybe next time (if there is a next time). I’ll see how well these stay up with no ribbing.

Bo Diddley heel

That was what I did here on the heel: The heel stitch ends when the scale starts, so it follows the line of the scales up into the leg. You will recall, gentle reader, that this is the second attempt at a heel. The first attempt was not so happy.

I really do like this heel, though. I’ve been known to stop perfectly nice people in their tracks and demand they look at it because it’s just so pretty.

I love the way that the scale curves down into the heel.

The heel, apart from the scale, is worked in standard heel stitch, with one exception: There is a double-slip-stitch in the middle to match the center two stitches of the scale.

Oh, yeah… and they fit really, really well, too. I can’t wait until it’s cold enough to wear them!

There is a new pair of socks on my needles (like you couldn’t have guessed that). They are one of Cat’s new sockitectures. I will have more info and pics tomorrow or the next day.

Bo Diddley heel

The Particulars:

• Yarn: Koigu KPPPM (100% Superwash merino/ 50gr, 160m per skein) in colorway P342 (multi-grays with little blings of rainbow colors) — most of two skeins.
• Needles: two 24″ Addi Lace circulars, US#1 (2.5mm).
• Pattern: modified Dragon Scales from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury Of Knitting Patterns, used with my own standard sock pattern, more or less.
• Techniques used:
  • Knit toe-up, two at a time, on double circulars.
  • I used the Magic Cast On.
  • The heel flap is worked in heel stitch, with two slipped stitches in the center to flow into the scale on the back of the leg.
  • Picot cuff, live stitches sewn down inside (stretchier than first binding off).

Friday night Blue Moon Fiber Arts held a reception at the World Forestry Center to launch Cat Bordhi’s new book New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One I took off from work a wee bit early, it being Friday and all, and drove to a west-side park-n-ride lot to catch Max back to the Zoo. I was afraid that traffic and parking would both be frightful, because there was also a concert at the Zoo, and it was Friday so everybody would be trying to get out of town. Or into town. Depending on their inclination. But at any rate everyone would be trying to get somewhere and a goodly portion of them would be trying to get to the Zoo. So I rode MAX, which at that time, going towards town, was almost empty.

The MAX stop at the Zoo is the deepest transit station in North America, and the second deepest in the world (no, I don’t know which is deepest). There are high-speed elevators that whisk you up to the surface in nothing flat. Every now and then people get stuck in them, and local news has a heyday. But that didn’t happen tonight. I would have been OK because I had knitting with me. But I’m glad I had the usual 20-second ride to the top.

patient knitters

When I exited the elevator, the first person I saw was Bobbie. Apparently she had the same get there early and knit idea that I did. So we sat, and knit, and chatted, and were soon joined by Duffy and Chrispy and several other knitters. And we all sat and knitted and looked at each others WIPs and FOs, and everybody petted my swatches. (The verdict: Malabrigo is really soft and nobody could believe it was 100% Merino. Most people preferred swatch #1, except Duffy. She liked swatch #3 the best. I’m still undecided.)

After knitting and chatting for awhile, we decided to wander over to the World Forestry Center and find the building (Miller Hall) where the reception was. It was not terribly well marked. We ended up briefly crashing a wedding reception, but eventually found Miller Hall. Blue Moon wasn’t quite ready for us, but it wasn’t too long before the doors opened and we were allowed in.

Tables were set up in the foyer with stacks of Cat’s books for sale. There was no yarn. Blue Moon wanted the night to be about Cat’s books, and yarn would have been a distraction. A yummy distraction. But distraction nonetheless.

So we trooped into the hall, where the PDX Knit Bloggers, being the shy types that we are, pretty much took over the left-side front of the seating. Kathy was there, and Cindy and a ton of other people that I’m forgetting. All of the socks that are pictured in the book were spread out on the table where Cat signed her books. We got to look at all of them, and touch them, and admire them. And Cat very graciously answered all of our questions.

my winnings

The plan was that Cat would speak, then sign books, and there would be dessert and coffee served. But traffic tie-ups meant a lot of people could not get there by 7:00 pm. People sort of raided the dessert tables, and Cat began signing books. So Tina Newton of Blue Moon, ever the resourceful hostess, played a little game with the audience. Did I say there was no yarn? I may have slightly misstated that…

Yarn was won for having “unusual” items in knitting bags. Almost everyone there had a knitting bag, so we all began digging. Kathy won the first skein for having a plastic fork used as a lucet to make cording (link borrowed from Cindy) — deemed the most unusual tool made from an ordinary object. I have never used a lucet, but it looks cool and I need to learn. I must have a plastic fork around here somewhere…

I won two skeins, one for having dental floss (what, you don’t carry dental floss in your knitting bag?), and another for having, well… certain feminine articles, let’s say, this being a family-friendly blog and all. You can see them here in my bag, along with the dragon-scale, snake-whatever socks: One skein of light STR in Blue Brick Wall, a gorgeous mix of ecru, periwinkle, cerulean and turquoise that will be on my needles soon I think; and a skein of medium STR in Metamorphic, a steel-blue, rust, gold, lime blend. Duffy won a skein of Oregon Red Clover Honey STR. I had been dying to see this colorway, as a possible contender for the Bee Fields shawl. On the Blue Moon site, the color looks reddish. But the skein I saw was a beautiful golden honey color. And it’s available in a silk lace-weight. That might be the one!

Cat knitting a treehouse

Cat, as always, was witty and charming and told wonderful stories — I think mostly off the cuff. In the picture, she is showing how to knit a treehouse. If nothing else does, that should give you a clue what a strange and wondrous place the mind of Cat Bordhi is. Who else would have thought of knitting a treehouse? Who else would have thought of eight completely new sock architectures? The new sockitectures in her book arose after she realized that the gusset triangles that we sock knitters have, for hundreds of year, been carefully placing to either side of our foot, could in fact be placed anywhere around the foot without changing the fit of the sock. It’s completely brilliant. So there is a sockitecture with the arch shaping underneath, and one with it on the top, and one that has a big gusset only on one side, and one with the increases running in a spiral around the foot and up the leg — eight sockitectures in all with little baby socks to practice on. Book two will reveal sockitectures that don’t start at either the toe or the heel. That should be very interesting! I can’t wait for book two.

Through her whole talk, Cat wove the theme of three things that knitting is made of: Knits, purls, and that unnameable something that makes knitting a magical thing that captivates us and nourishes us and keeps us buying yarn.

Cat announced that her book has sold out (Blue Moon still has a few available via their web site), and the second printing will not be available until October! And then she completely and totally embarrassed me by thanking me again for getting the flu one day and making up the Magic Cast-On.

If you have a chance, check out Cat’s new You Tube videos showing many of the techniques she uses in the book.

And I, who was feeling a little bit slightly famous and cool was reminded that the universe does like to keep me humble. I was asked, for the very first time by a stranger, to autograph a book. She said to me, I have no idea who you are but you’re somebody famous, so sign my book. I truly think it was one of the funniest things anyone has ever said to me. And the other PDX Knit Bloggers got a pretty good laugh about it, too.

Peacock Feather Shawl makings

I have never been a monogamous knitter. I am distracted by a bright, shiny new project, and startitis rears its ugly head.

Yesterday I opened my mailbox and found the Peacock Feather Shawl pattern, that had been on back-order when I requested it from Woodland Woolworks. I drooled over it for a bit. But I was still captivated by the Bee Fields Shawl, and wanted only to finish with the Great Green Glob so I could start on another lace project. Because I do have some sense of decorum. Two lace project is one more than I should have going at any given time.

But then I went to Tangle yesterday. And a new shipment of Malabrigo Lace had arrived. And there were hanks of this gorgeous colorway – Purple Mystery (#30) – that’s perfect for peacocks. So maybe I brought a little yarn home with me.

The pattern includes specific directions for a swatch. I really didn’t think that simply swatching was cheating on the Great Green Glob. And the yarn was so pretty. So I wound a ball on my trusty nostepinne (we are low-tech here at chez PI). Hanks of laceweight are so deceptively small. There are 470 yds in one skein of Malabringo laceweight. It’s way smaller than, say, a skein of STR. I started winding.

peacock-swatch-21.jpg

And I wound, and wound and wound… three hours later, I was ready to start swatching.

I should really remember this: laceweight takes a long, long time to wind because it’s really, really thin strands of fiber. Please remind me next time I decide to wind it by hand.

So I swatched. And I love, love, love this yarn! It is so incredibly soft, it flows across my needles like butter. I would swear that there was something more than wool in this fiber, but the label says 100% baby merino. Who am I to argue with that? And the color just glows! I’m in love. I keep petting my little swatch and holding it against my face. It’s that good.

The swatch (according to the pattern) should block out to about 7″ x 7″. My swatch, knit on US#4 per the instructions, blocked out to 5-1/2″ x 5-1/2″. sigh I’m not sure if I should go up one size, to US#5, or two sizes, to US#6. I really like the swatch. I keep petting it. But I need to get one closer to the right size. I have no desire to lose a foot off the shawl.

Today I meant to pick up a new USB hub, but instead I paid a visit to a new-ish Portland LYS: Twisted. (I swear my car just drove there with no help.)

Twistini and Poison Apple

Twisted is a cute little shop with a decent selection of yarn, including yarns from several local and/or indie dyers. They have a great selection of sock yarn. Some Yarntini in the store’s own colorway, Twistini, and a skein of Ashabee’s Fiber Oasis in Poison Apple (isn’t that a great name?) jumped off of the shelf into my waiting arms and insisted on coming home with me.

Gentle reader, I ask you: who am I to argue?

I had a wonderful time comparing socks-on-the-needles with one of the owners (Shannon, I think? I will go shoot myself now for not remembering names.) She: Toe-up Monkeys. Me: the dragon-scale, snake-skin, whatevers. It was cool to see the toe-up Monkeys, as I’ve been wanting to knit a pair of Monkeys. But I’m such a toe-up person.

Twisted also has tea — a nice change from the rather ubiquitous coffee (this is Portland, after all, caffeine and micro-brew capital of the world). I didn’t have time to drink a cup and knit for a spell, but I plan on going back some day and doing just that. Some day when my wallet can stand the strain, that is.

Thank you to all for your thoughtful replies to my last post. I would hope that knitters, as a group, would remain inclusive. But I would also hope that we retain our sense of humor — and that includes the ability to laugh at ourselves. Because, as Mama use to say, others are going to anyway so you might as well join in.

Rockin Girl Blogger

Yesterday I learned that Maia of Maia Spins has tagged me as a Rockin’ Girl Blogger.

I’m really flattered, because I love Maia’s blog. She spins and knits and knits to spin and we get to see it all – plus lovelies and goodies from the garden and maybe a furry friend and a bit of real life tossed in for good measure. Her sock design tutorials make me wish I had a design process even remotely as well thought out and put-together. I always want to just sit down with Maia over a cuppa java and pick her brain.

And I know that I’m now supposed to pick five other rockin’ girl bloggers. And I’m going to totally wimp out on that. Because how can I possibly pick only 5 (or 7 or 10 or 50) out of all of the wonderful blogs that I read every day? I’m terrible at making that kind of decision. I often can’t even choose between yarns (thus my stash size)!

So… my head is bloody, but unbowed. Since Maia’s reward to me came at the end of such a sucky week (my previous post only scratched the surface), I think I will reserve my 5 picks and bestow them at times when a rockin’ girl is having a not-very-fun time of it and maybe needs a bit of a boost. So stay tuned.

Not much knitting this week, due to previously mentioned suck-ness. I finished one repeat on the dragon skin, snake scale, whatever-they-want-to-be-named socks. And I’m ready to start knitting away on the fish part of the Great Green Glob. Progress is being made in tiny increments.

There’s an interesting discussion on Ravelry (get in line for an invitation if you haven’t already!) right now about use of the term Muggles to refer to non-knitters. There are those who don’t see any harm in it, and others who find it offensive and demeaning.

I’ve use the term a time or two, in what I hope came across as a rather fond way. There are people to understand the love of fiber and there are people who just don’t. I don’t think that makes me better or them less, it’s just a different point of view. There are many people who think whacking away at tiny little balls with big sticks while strolling around on a very big lawn is just the best thing since sliced bread. I, however, do not see the attraction. Before I get a lot of nasty emails from golfers, I say if that’s your passion, go for it. Just don’t ask me to whack along with you. Would I be offended if a group of golfers referred to non-golfers as muggles. I don’t think so. I’m pretty secure in my non-golf-ness. I’m also pretty certain that if I picked up golf equipment and asked for a little help (not going to really happen, OK?), my former non-golfing status would be quickly forgotten and I’d be right in with the golfing crowd (except maybe the exclusive clubs, but I digress).

As humans, we have a tendency to split the world up into me and not-me, like-me and not-like-me. So… knitter and… what? Non-knitter? Person-who-doesn’t-get-knitting? Person-who-doesn’t-like-fiber? Non-fiber-enthusiast? Non-pointy-stick-wielder? Muggle? We will always find some term refer to other. That’s not to say that knitters as a whole are not an inclusive group. If a person-who-doesn’t-knit picked up pointy sticks and some string, most knitters would be happy to help them learn. I see this happen all the time in the LYS.

Some people also object to the label muggle simply because it originated in the Harry Potter books as a term for people who don’t do magic and don’t even realize magic exists.

What do you think, gentle reader? How do you refer to not-like-me?

a mysterious box

Look what I found in my mailbox!

A mysterious and intriguing box that came from California.

Could this be from my Sockapalooza pal?

What could be inside?

little packages
This looks fun!

Little brightly-wrapped packages and a card with my name on it.

What can it all be?

instructions
There are instructions for opening.

OK. I will be good.

But you have to know it was tough!

Moo wants to help
Moo Cow: Can I open this one, Mommy? I like bows!

Mom: NO! Besides, you eat bows. That’s not what they were intended for.

Moo Cow: OK. I will let you open it. If you insist.

oooo…. cool things!
Look at all that was inside!

Little packages of Soak.

Highlighting tape for use with lace charts.

Scharffen Berger Chocolate — my favorite!

A picture of a whale (opened last, per instructions!).

And a wonderful pair of green and yellow Monkeys. They were wrapped in a really cool official Sockapalooza sock band that you can just see peeking out from under the socks on the far right.

You can see the socks packaged with the band right here. But I, in a frenzy of opening, missed that picture.

happy feet
And now my feet are happy! I can’t wait for it to be wool-sock-wearing weather.

Thanks, Marie! I love everything, and the socks fit perfectly. 😀 What a great Sockapalooza Pal you are!

ah… that’s better

I decided that trying to make diagonal heels was an exercise in futility. There’s probably a reason that many knitters smarter than myself have been knitting heels the way they are usually knit for probably thousands of years. D’ya think? Sometimes goofs end up producing something interesting and usable. Sometimes they don’t. That’s the way the stitch drops.

So… I knit the heels again using plain, old heel stitch. I did one modification to fit the pattern: The scale on the back of the heel matches the scale on the front of the leg. I also continued the heel stitch up the leg until the side scale met the back scale. I think an abrupt transition to plain stockinette would have been too jarring.

I’m really happy with the way that these heels turned out. So far the socks fit well and I love the color. But every time I knit on them, the same song starts running through my head: The George Thorogood and the Destroyers version of Who Do You Love:

Snake skin shoes baby put them on your feet
Got the goodtime music and the Bo Diddley beat
Who do you love?

I’m afraid these socks have been posing with pretensions of dragonhood and are fated to be named something rather snake-ish. I’m OK with that. I like snakes. Very interesting and often beautiful critters.

I’d also like to clear up something that may have been misunderstood. I receive no monetary compensation from the sale of Cat Bordhi’s new book. I honestly think it’s a gorgeous book or I wouldn’t mention it — my name in it or not.

In fact, I receive no compensation from anything on this blog with one exception: If you follow one of the Amazon links, like the one above for George Thorogood, and then actually buy something, I get few pennies. In all of the time I’ve blogged, I’ve managed to amass enough filthy lucre to get two free books. We ain’t gettin’ rich from blogging over here at chez PI. And I’m OK with that, too. That’s not why I’m here.