Progress on hose

**Distaff** · 29th September 23, 07:53 PM

After a third start, finally got going for real on the hose. Have 130 rows of the leg knitted (plus 30-something in the cuff). Have about 1 1/2 inches more to knit before starting the heel. A six stitch rope cable flanks each side of a central diamond. Ribbing around the rest of the leg. Simple, but effective. Easy to keep track of on graph paper, and also to "read" in the knitting. Fit around leg is good.

Am running low on yarn on this cone (was SURE I had more than enough). Hoping the yarn store in Alaska that sold it to me is still in business, post Covid - "Cordova" was their exclusive color. Will switch to another color cone if necessary. These socks are for hiking. The wildlife won't care, and all I really care about is that the construction is correct.

Ordered BT's book on kiltmaking. Will be here next week.

Cheers.

**Pleater** · 30th September 23, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by Distaff

After a third start, finally got going for real on the hose. Have 130 rows of the leg knitted (plus 30-something in the cuff). Have about 1 1/2 inches more to knit before starting the heel. A six stitch rope cable flanks each side of a central diamond. Ribbing around the rest of the leg. Simple, but effective. Easy to keep track of on graph paper, and also to "read" in the knitting. Fit around leg is good.

Am running low on yarn on this cone (was SURE I had more than enough). Hoping the yarn store in Alaska that sold it to me is still in business, post Covid - "Cordova" was their exclusive color. Will switch to another color cone if necessary. These socks are for hiking. The wildlife won't care, and all I really care about is that the construction is correct.

Ordered BT's book on kiltmaking. Will be here next week.

Cheers.

Maybe stop at the ankle and knit the other leg, then you can make different colour feet if necessary.
If you put the stitches onto a bit of spare yarn you can weigh the knitting so far and then check the cone to see if you have enough - if it is really close you can slide the centre out of the cone to check how the knitting and the yarn still left compare. You can start to knit from the inside of the cone then, if you handle the yarn carefully.
I usually knit toe up and have underestimated a yarn with cotton in the mix, which makes the yarn denser and therefor shorter, so I made the cuffs in a different colour with a bit of colourwork which toned in with both main colours - and then I realised I had used the wrong yarn and would have had more than enough if I'd looked in the other bag on the shelf.....

One of the dangers of liking blue, buying lots of blue yarn for decades and putting it in opaque bags to keep it from fading in storage.

Anne the Pleater

**Distaff** · 30th September 23, 12:18 PM

Yes. Other leg is already started. I knit the cuff, and a few rows into the pattern while it was still fresh, so the two stockings would be identical. Getting a good start is the hardest part. Even though I chart everything, and check off each round as it is completed, I don't like to rely on notes (or memory) when making the second sock.

As soon as I get down to the start of the heel flap on the current sock, I'll catch up on the knitting with the other. Will alternate the two as I work the heel, foot, and toe.

I have an otherwise completed gansey that has been suffering from "second sleeve syndrome" for about three years. No need to make that error again.

**Tobus** · 2nd October 23, 03:54 AM

I should probably be doing that as well: knitting both at the same time. I've learned the hard way that I need to take good notes on the first one so I can remember all the little things I did along the way. I use my "projects" page on Ravelry for that. It makes it easy to just pick up my phone and pull up that project from the website and refer to my notes, rather than having to use pen and paper that clutters up my side table next to my sofa where I knit.

And I do tend to suffer from second-sock syndrome. I'm so eager to get the first one done and admire it, but the second sock is just drudgery. Doing two at a time would help with that, but would also frustrate me with the slower progress.

**Distaff** · 2nd October 23, 05:51 AM

I haven't followed his work in years, but the Sockmatician made art socks, and one would in some way compliment the other. The variation would keep the mind fresh and engaged on the second one, too.

Although, that might make it MORE important to knit both at once - his knitting ventured into uncharted territory - I'm not even sure you could chart it.