An Adventure in Bear Booties - Part 3

In case you were wondering where I've been, I've been pondering.

But I think I've got it figured out, so here goes.

The last row was a purl row. Turn, but use the cable cast on to loosely add 10 stitches.

(The cable cast on is like knitting on, but instead of knitting into the stitch, you knit between the stitches.)

Row 44: Slip 1, knit 53

Turn, and use a purl version of the cable cast on to loosely add another 10 stitches.

Row 45: slip 1, purl 63

skp = slip 1, knit 1, pass slipped stitch over.

Row 46: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 42, k2tog, knit9
Row 47: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 61 stitches
Row 48: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 40, k2tog, knit9
Row 49: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 59 stitches
Row 50: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 38, k2tog, knit9
Row 51: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 57 stitches
Row 52: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 36, k2tog, knit9
Row 53: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 55 stitches
Row 54: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 34, k2tog, knit9
Row 55: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 53 stitches
Row 56: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 32, k2tog, knit9
Row 57: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 51 stitches
Row 58: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 30, k2tog, knit9
Row 59: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 49 stitches
Row 60: Turn, slip 1, knit 8, skp, knit 28, k2tog, knit9
Row 61: Turn, slip 1, purl remaining 47 stitches

Ok. Time for another fitting.

An adventure in Bear Booties - Part 2

I think this is going to work. As far as I've gotten, I've gotten over the claw.

It was a little surprising to find that our stuffed bear has really long claws, since they're completely obscured by his fur.

This is obviously not a teddy bear!

So, continuing on from where we left off, we are now technically about to start Round 16. For this foot, this will be the last round we knit.

Round 16: Knit 14, cast of 20, knit to end of row (which will be the remaining 14 from this round, plus the 14 we just knit in this round.

Always slip the stitch as if to purl.

Row 17: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end. (Total number of stitches = 28)
Row 18: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 19: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 20: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 21: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 22: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 23: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 24: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 25: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.
Row 26: Turn, slip first stitch and knit to end.
Row 27: Turn, slip first stitch and purl to end.

In the next section I use an increase called a make one. If you're unfamiliar with make one left and make one right, this video shows how to make it and what it's good for.

Row 28: Turn, slip first stitch, knit1 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit2.
Row 29: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (30 stitches).
Row 30: Turn, slip first stitch, knit2 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit3.
Row 31: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (32 stitches).
Row 32: Turn, slip first stitch, knit3 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit4.
Row 33: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (34 stitches).
Row 34: Turn, slip first stitch, knit4 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit5.
Row 35: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (36 stitches).
Row 36: Turn, slip first stitch, knit5 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit6.
Row 37: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (38 stitches).
Row 38: Turn, slip first stitch, knit6 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit7.
Row 39: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (40 stitches).
Row 40: Turn, slip first stitch, knit7 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit8.
Row 41: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (42 stitches).
Row 42: Turn, slip first stitch, knit8 make1(left) knit 24 make1(right) knit9.
Row 43: Turn, slip first stitch, purl to end (44 stitches).

Tomorrow, Bear gets another fitting.

An adventure in Bear Booties.

I haven't said anything here in ages. I'm inventing a pair of booties for a stuffed bear who has one foot firmly glued to a stand.

I figure I might as well blog my attempt.

Foot circumference: 13 1/2" (converts to a diameter or approx 4 1/3")
Foot length: 9"
Heel height: 4"
Cuff height: 3"

measurements forgotten - length of foot before leg, circumference of leg.

Materials: Red Heart Worsted, size 10 circular knitting needles.

kfb = knit in the front and the back of the loop.

I use the magic loop method for this. (If you're a visual learner, like I am, turn the sound down and start at the 45 second mark.)

Starting at the toe:
Cast on 4 stitches - 2 on each needle. This is a good way to do it, even though that's a painfully slow video.

Round 1: kfb in each stitch (4x total. 8 stitches total. 4 per needle)
Round 2: kfb, k1 four times (12 stitches total, 6 per needle)
Round 3: kfb, k2 four times (16 sts total, 8 per needle)
Round 4: kfb, k3 four times (20 sts total, 10 per needle)
Round 5: kfb, k4 four times (24 sts total, 12 per needle)
Round 6: kfb, k5 four times (28 sts total, 14 per needle)
Round 7: kfb, k6 four times (32 sts total, 16 per needle)
Round 8: kfb, k7 four times (26 sts total, 18 per needle)
Round 9: kfb, k8 four times (40 sts total, 20 per needle)
Round 10: kfb, k9 four times (44 sts total, 22 per needle)
Round 11: kfb, k10 four times (48 sts total, 24 per needle)

At this point, my toe measures something less than 4" across all scrunched up, and I can stretch it out a lot.

Knit 4 rows around. Stop until I can try this on the glued-down foot.

Happy Knitting!

Unfortunate Knitting Content

I am having a great time here at YAPC. I'm learning quite a bit (that I don't have anyplace to implement, of course) and I'm getting insights to ways to solve problems - mostly because my brain is in neutral with regards to my work, so answers to existing problems are just presenting themselves as people show models that solve vaguely similar but totally unrelated problems.

But I'm falling asleep.

This is, of course, because I got a cold. I'm not sure if I picked it up last week-end in DC, or if I got it from my sweetheart, who seems to have blown through a very similar cold in two days just before I started displaying symptoms. But between the after-lunch sleepiness and the cold, I've been nodding off in the middle of sessions.

Except when I've been knitting.

Which is unfortunate, because when I knit enough to stay awake, I pay attention enough to the presenters to screw up my knitting. I have managed so far to knit my two socks together once, and have had to tink back several rows three times so far.

And I got to lunch with a knitter today. One of the things we discussed was Rails vs Catalyst. Why would I mention that here? She explained to me that Rails is behind Ravelry. Catalyst is marketed as an alternative to Rails, and I'm here to learn about Catalyst.

Not that I'll probably have any use for it. Right now I'm trying to learn Zope and Plone in my spare time. But instead of learning, I seem to be sleeping. When I'm not knitting.

Very unfortunate.

Yes, I'm Alive and Knitting, Sort Of

My health problem has been pretty much resolved. I'm not quite back to normal, but I'm feeling much, much better. I also managed to lose the 5 pounds I put on over the holiday season. Maybe a little more. I do not recommend being ill as a way to lose weight, even though it has been quite successful for me twice now.

The problem is, being ill is bad for my brain. Last week I discovered the back of a sweater that I think I had started to work on in the beginning of January. I had completely forgotten all about it. I had gotten to the armpits and just completely forgotten about it.

I've also caved and started another pair of socks. I can't seem to help myself - they're brainless knitting.

In other brainless knitting, I'm knitting a scarf. I'm going to have to give this one away. The yarn doesn't suit me and I didn't feel like coming up with anything special to do with it - I wanted some ultra-mindless knitting. It's been that kind of month.

I finished a pair of fingerless gloves as a gift, except I've got to weave the ends in on one of them. I keep telling myself it's too late to give them, but I know that's not true. My friend is going to have really cold hands in the air conditioning this summer. I need to just finish these up and give them to her. After I take pictures of them for you.

I've gotten rather distressed about my sweater. I'm talking about the one that started out as a skirt. I think I've decided that I'm going to sew the sleeves in with a sewing machine. I know how to set and sew sleeves with a machine. In any event, I'm still having a hard time with the sleeves.

Spring is here. Time to kill some perfectly innocent plants.

I Won't Knit Socks This Cheap....

Occasionally someone sees me knitting socks and suggests that I could make some money doing this on the side. Of course, nobody would pay me a "living wage" for a pair of hand knit socks.

But this site charges less than half of what I would, if I were going to go into business knitting custom socks!

Unplanned Post

Well, I hadn't planned to do this. But why not? I'm not spending much time playing with this, but I'm playing with a WordPress blog here, and the content is the emails my sweetheart sends me entitled "today's news." He sends me a list of links with comments. Some are in-jokes or make more sense if you're a little familiar with Endland. Most of the links are to the BBC.

I've also been playing around with aggregators. Specifically, Protopage. I've made it a part of my desktop. Very interesting. What I like the best so far is that I can preview email on the page. So I have a gmail address with only one thing subscribed - State of Connecticut road accidents. This is working very well for me at the moment. We'll see how long I bother with it.

In knitting, I've decided that I must make Bloody Stupid Johnson. Just not right now.

The Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire

You know, I'm really surprised at how much I've been looking forward to this sock swap. I enjoyed the Harry Potter books and movies quite a bit. And the knitted garments in the movies were strikingly, well, perfect. But, you know, I have actively resisted becoming a Harry Potter groupie. Mostly. Well, maybe not particularly successfully!

And my answers to the Hogwarts Sock Swap Questionnaire are...

1. What Hogwarts house have you been sorted into?

Hufflepuff

2. Shoe size?

U.S. Women's size 8 1/2 Medium. I bet I'm really an 8 wide.

3. Foot Length?

9 inches

4. Foot Circumference?

9 inches (call me square).

5. List your three favorite double-point needle brands, including size and length.

Well, I've got some Susan Bates metal dpns that I'm not too fond of.

I've been doing the magic-loop technique exclusively since I first managed to actually get around the foot. I really love my Knitpicks size 1, 32" circulars - they've got a nice long point. I used to use only Addi Turbos, and I still use them sometimes, but the points are too dull for me, and I'm not about to spring for a set of Addi lace needles when I've got four sets of the regulars. The Addis I use are 40" and 60". And since my gauge is approximately 8 sts/inch on size 1 needles on most sock yarns, I don't have plans to knit with a larger or smaller needle any time soon.

6. Would you like to try a new brand needle? If so, which brand? Size? Length?

You know, even though I specifically have stuck with the magic loop technique because I have been known to pull the wrong needle out of my hand when starting the next needle (leaving a bunch of stitches flapping in the breeze, yes, I know I'm an idiot), I have been thinking that I would really like to try dpns again. I'd need a five-needle set - I just can't be bothered to figure the stitches for thirds. And I'd like something that's not metal and with a decent point. In size 1, about 7" long, perhaps?


7. If you are a RAVENCLAW, do you prefer the colors in the film or the book? Do you have a strong preference?

not applicable

8. Are you willing to have an international Hogwarts Sock Pal?

Yes, I most certainly would.

This just tickles my fancy

This blog is called Running from Camera. "The rules are simple: I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can." I love these pictures!

And Cathy who sent the most amazing stuff in the swap package she sent me has made a lovely felted bag after worrying that the yarn wouldn't felt.

Meanwhile, I've been on a texture kick. I think maybe this will be a small bag. Maybe it will be a pair of trivets. I really haven't decided.

I promised you a picture

After deciding that absolutely under no circumstances would I ever want a pair of fingerless gloves, I concluded I just couldn't live without them and made these. I designed them myself, and the hardest part of them was that I couldn't knit them both at the same time. Well, I could have, but I didn't realize that when I started, so I didn't.

They're mirror images of each other - one pattern is a right-twist cable and the other is a left-twist cable. And the yarn was a hand-dyed camel (no, I don't know if it's the one-hump or two kind) blend clearance item off ebay from the Motomo gallery.

These are lovely and now I can keep them at work where I need them, because I don't have to remember to bring them home so I can photograph them!

This is Good

I've actually got stuff to show. I've got photos on my computer to be uploaded. I just...am not up to it right now. I actually feel like I'm coming down with something nasty.

But this is important. I really don't want to lose this link. This is a really, really great video of continental knitting technique. If you knit continental and would be impressed at an opportunity to refine your technique, or just want to understand how continental knitting works and what could possibly make it particularly efficient, this is for you. This is a continental knitting demo. (Both links go to the same place.)

I'll get the thing in my sidebar under important stuff, eventually.

Thank You, Correction and Answer

My first order of business is a belated public thank you to my SP9. I made sure to send off a thank you as soon as I got the package, but I didn't get the photos out of my camera until just now. My pal was Beth, and she really, really put a LOT of effort into paying close attention to my wish list and likes. She also must be psychic ... I've been meaning to get myself a stack of little sticky notes forever, and I never seem to get around to it, so here they are and my problem is solved. She got me the Arrogant Worms' album Dirt, she got me the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules, and even got me the only non-chocolate candy I can't resist, SweeTarts. And she got them in heart shapes! I didn't even know they came like that.
Plus, she got me a bar of lavender soap - mmmm! A really nice ornament, the fun light-up knitting needles (they're really neat...I just love gadgets!). Plus she got me some lemon hand soap from Trader Joe's especially for kitchen use. Did she know we had just run out of soap in the kitchen? Did she know I've never been in a Trader Joe's? AND she MADE me a dishcloth. I love dishcloths, and can barely stand to knit them myself, because I don't really enjoy knitting with cotton. And finally, she got me a wonderful dragonfly card. I adore dragonflies.

Then there's this:
I just finished knitting the pair of socks I started with the yarn she sent me in the first package. That's right, I didn't even take a picture before putting them on. They are soooooooo soft. Ultramerino 4. Mmmmm. I feel SO spoiled. THANK YOU!!!

Now, for the the correction. In an earlier post I had incorrectly identified the pattern I was making above. It's the "Fancy Silk Sock" from the Nancy Bush book, Knitting Vintage Socks.

And finally, to answer Beth's question to my last post, these squares are between 4 1/2 and 5 inches. It's not that I'm a saint and will put them all together at once, though. I suspect I'll make a scarf first and then maybe expand on it over time. I've only made a little more than a dozen pairs of socks, so I'll surely be without enough yarn to actually make anything for a very long time. And I'm going to have to sew them together as I go, or I'll lose them, just like I've managed to mis-place about half my leftover sock yarn already!

Now one thing I did was figure out how to make this pattern in a diamond pattern. I took a picture before ripping it out and going back to squares. But I really enjoyed figuring this out.

Right now I find myself itching to try out new textures. I'm having a good time with it, and as you can see, I actually do finish something once in a while!