Socks!

A confession - I have not been working on my lever knitting as I had planned. Although I originally stuck with it, I was having a very hard time with the tensioning. I cannot seem to get used to having yarn wrapped around one of my fingers. The yarn becomes too tight around my finger, it doesn't glide, my knitting is too tight, and I am constantly fussing with the yarn, ultimately slowing me down. I am playing with other methods of tensioning, but haven't had too much time to play with lever knitting. Since October, I have been frantically knitting Christmas presents, and have reverted back to throwing so that I can get it all done on time. So far, two sets of mittens and three hats are done... Now just two pairs of socks to get done in the next month. Hopefully, once the season is over, I can revisit lever knitting and really get better at it.

But speaking of socks, I will make another confession. I love sock knitting, even though I haven't made all that many yet. I have made three pairs, only two of which are wearable, although I have also helped my little sister make a couple pairs too. I was therefore beyond thrilled when back in September I got into the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl-McFee)'s "Grok the Sock" workshop at the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival. The whole workshop was dedicated to learning the basics of sock construction. I won't go into specifics because I don't want to ruin it for anyone who hasn't gotten to take a class with her, but I will say that she does an amazing job teaching. I feel fairly confident that I can now knit a basic sock without a pattern. I'd like to think that one day I could design my own socks, but I'm not certain I'll ever have the confidence for that.

In addition to learning the basic rules of sock construction, though, I have been left convinced that top-down socks really are the way to go. I figure if Cookie A, the Yarn Harlot, and numerous other sock designers and fiber celebrities have a preference for top-down socks, there must be good reason. 

The Yarn Harlot said that the true weaknesses of toe-up socks are that they suffer from a lack of customization and the heels are not as strong as a heel flap. The advantages, however, are that toe-up socks use less yarn, are quicker, and do not affect the pattern of self-striping yarn. Another advantage for toe-up socks identified by the Harlot was that you can use a contrasting yarn color for the heels, but I have found on Ravelry pictures of socks made by people who used a contrasting color with heel flaps as well, so I am not convinced that this is necessarily a good reason for going toe-up. My reasons for also preferring top-down are that I have found it is easier to do pretty yet stretchy cast-ons over bind-offs (if anyone knows of some pretty bind-offs, though, please feel free to comment!) and I really just like the appearance of heel flaps. I also don't like wrapping, turning, and picking up the wraps - I would much rather pick up stitches and make a gusset.

Besides, as I mentioned, almost every sock pattern I love and want to make are top-down, which means I will likely have little reason to make a toe-up sock. The three books I am currently dedicated to knitting my way through are Sock Innovation (Cookie A), Knit. Sock. Love. (Cookie A), and Socktopus (Alice Yu), as well as hopefully getting to join the 2014 Cookie A Sock Club. So far, I have only completed Eunice and Wanida from Sock Innovation, and one of my current WIP is Pointelle from Knit. Sock. Love. I don't have any pictures of the Wanida socks, but below are Eunice. I'll be sure to share Pointelle when they are done. 

Eunice (Sock Innovation, Cookie A)

Eunice (Sock Innovation, Cookie A)

Eunice (Sock Innovation, Cookie A)

New Tricks

The 2013 Finger Lakes Fiber Festival was the weekend of September 21st and 22nd. It was an amazing weekend - I expanded my stash!

Yarn!

Fiber!

Pretty ceramic buttons!

But not only was the festival amazing because of the great stuff you can buy there, but because the Festival was lucky enough to host Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, the Yarn Harlot (http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/). I was even more lucky because I had the opportunity to take two workshops with the Harlot - Grok the Sock and Knitting for Speed and Efficiency.

First, I am going to tackle discussing my experience at the second of the two workshops I took - Knitting for Speed and Efficiency. Like perhaps many knitters, I had thought there were two ways to knit - picking (also known as Continental) and throwing (also known as English or American). I had never heard of a third option - Lever. The technique involves holding one needle against your body, relieving your right hand of the obligation to support the needle AND work the yarn. Instead, your left hand brings the left needle to the right needle while your right hand poises itself along the right needle, without holding it, and pivots to wrap the yarn around the needle. You can see a video of the technique on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kArQ2jpaKw. A variation on the technique can also be used for double-pointed needles and circular needles, where the needle is instead balanced between your thumb and index finger on your right hand, similar to a pencil grip.

Its quite an interesting method. It certainly has efficiency on its side. During the workshop, we saw an interesting video of a speed knitting contest. The two fastest on the panel included a picker and a lever knitter. The picker's hands looked almost frenzied, while the lever knitter looked like she was barely moving. You can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykFdl7qi6FU. 

Despite this initial, and very convincing, introduction to the method, the Harlot warned us that the stages of change are much like the stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, acceptance, and (30 days later) change. 

I began with what I would categorize as an initial stage of admiration. Sitting there, I could admire the efficiency and speed of the method, and actually found it to be quite pretty and elegant. I'm not certain I ever went through denial... I instead jumped straight after admiration to anger. I have never knit so tight in my life. I could not get my stitches to move. And it felt so SLOW... Where's the speed and efficiency??? 

Even now, a week later, I think, to a certain degree, I am in the bargaining stage. I accept that the method has efficiencies, but I am not entirely convinced that it will ultimately be more efficient for me. At the same time, another part of me accepts that if I truly ever want to be as proficient a knitter as I would like to be, I need to learn this method and increase my speed.

Right now, I am 7 days into learning this new method. To consider myself as having successfully learned this method, I think it is fair to say that after 30 days, I should be approximately as fast at this as I am at my usual technique (left-handed throwing) - or 29 stitches per minute. Timing myself over a three minute period to get an average, I currently am at 12 stitches per minute using the lever knitting method. I am considering this a fairly low bar as, for example, the knitter in the speed knitting contest averaged 122 stitches per minute and Pearl-McPhee said she cruises along at about 70 stitches per minute. 

I am therefore planning to document my progress in learning this new method, and see if I ever can fully embrace change. I feel the need to document this, if for no other reason then it will make me hold myself accountable. I'll check in next week.

How Time Flies and Things Change

August 8, 2011... A lot has changed in my life in the over two years since I last posted! In a nutshell, I graduated from library school, I got a job with Thomson Reuters as an attorney editor, and moved across the state to Rochester, New York.

Upon starting my new job, I was assigned a trainer. First thing I noticed upon entering her office, nestled amongst some of the most hideous looking books on tax law you might ever see, was a pair of blue knitting needles sitting on one of her bookshelves and this pretty ball of orange yarn with some blue and pink streaked through. I casually asked if she were a knitter, mentioning that I was one as well. Little did I know what I was starting.

Liz was not only a knitter. She is a dyer, handspinner, soap-maker... Not content with all of that, in the time since I first met her, she also learned how to weave, became a bee-keeper, and is now in the process of opening her own store, the Honeoye Craft Lab (www.honeoyecraftlab.com). She makes some of the prettiest yarn, has a real eye for color, and has some of the most fabulous soaps, lip balm, and candles you can find (you can find her wares at www.the-fuzzybunny.com).

It wasn't too long before Liz introduced me to the great fiber community here in the Finger Lakes. It began first with the Rochester Knitting Guild (http://www.rochesterknitting.org/). Then I got introduced to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival (http://www.gvhg.org/fiber-fest). Next, largely due to the beautiful hand-spun yarns I fell in love with at the Fiber Festival, I became convinced that I absolutely must learn to spin my own yarn and bought my first wheel (an Ashford Traditional). Then I joined the Genesee Valley Handspinners Guild (http://www.gvhg.org/). I am now beginning to experiment a little with dyeing my own fiber. I have thrown myself fully and completely into learning and doing whatever I can where it comes to yarn.

My first wheel - an Ashford Traditional, dating between 1975 and 1982.

My knitting has expanded a lot. While before I was comfortable expanding into different techniques - cables, color stranding, fair isle, entrelac - I would only do these things with flat items, like scarves and blankets. I have now learned to have a healthy appreciation of double-pointed needles, and have expanded my projects to include hats, mittens, socks (I am, I must confess, slightly addicted to socks and sock yarn), and sweaters. I still have yet to tackle my first shawl, but am planning to get to that as soon as I finish everything currently on my plate.