I Did It - Again

I did it - again ... I managed to break another needle. 😫  I was working on my giri no haha no Tabi and my sweater project simultaneously and I thought I'd try a larger needle (a 2.5MM (US 1.5)) on my giri no haha no tabi.  I was using the same size for my sweater project.  I took out my 5" version, put it on a 22" cable and proceeded to give it a whirl.  When I had put the needle on, it went in a bit roughly but I didn't think much of it - that is until I tried to take it off ... It wouldn't come off the cable because it wasn't quite flush when it went on the cable.  Here's what it looked like when Hubby tried to help take it off:

The tip of the needle was trapped in the connector.  There was no saving either object. 😣😫

So, I contacted one of my favorite yarn stores to see of they could help me get a replacement.  Plus, I realized that I should get another 22" cable and more mini connectors (in light of my sweater project, I realized how handy it was to have LOTS of spare cables (for lots of lifelines) which required LOTS of cable connectors).  Thankfully, I was able to get a replacement and  pick up the extra cable and connectors:

Now, all I need to do is to make sure all my needles go in properly so I don't break anymore needles! 😱😵😜

Form Follows Function

I had some time to do a quick project in between finishing up an old project and starting my sweater project so, I thought it was time to whip out a hand towel for Hubby's bathroom (yes, we each have our own bathrooms - it's a luxury! 😊).  If you recall from my other hand towel projects ((1) & (2)), it was important to me that the hand towel actually absorbed water and dried our hands so, I splurged and purchased two (2) skeins of Plymouth Yarn Fantasy Naturale Multi in Blue Twist and using my Denise US8 needles, here's what I did:

1. Casted on 48 sts
2. Used the Seersucker Stitch pattern for 22.5 repeats.
3. Then bound off in pattern following Row 1 of the Seersucker Stitch.

Here's what my finished product looks like:

It came out to 30cm x 72.5 cm (11 13/16” x 28 13/16”).

The cotton was a dream to work with - so smooth and it didn't shed at all! This is what people meant when they talked about knitting with quality cotton yarn. Hopefully, my splurge on this expensive cotton yarn will yield a very absorbent hand towel (and hopefully, it won't take forever to dry in my dryer!). 😉

Giri no Haha no Tabi (義理 の 母 の 足袋)

It was time to stretch my sock making skills by seeing if I could make a pair of socks without a live subject living with me and having that person constantly trying my socks on.  So, my mother-in-law became my next test subject as she's often cold and wears socks to sleep at night - a perfect match, right?  I measured her feet, took some measurements and tried making a pair of socks solely with these measurements.  So, with my interchangeable Chiaogoo US 0 Needles and a special Noro Taiyo Sock Yarn skein that I specifically bought for her, here's what I did:

1. I started with a Provisional cast on with a total of 40 sts.
2. K 1 straight row on each side, then connected in the round.
3. Started the foot portion: K 16 rows in the round as part of the foot portion.
4. Then I started the toes: with 20 sts on each side, splitting it up for 8 sts for big toe, 12 sts for remaining toes.
5. Big toe:
• Row 1: k for a total of 16 sts
• Row 2-11 (10 rows): k
• Row 12: k, pick up 1 st from below, k6, pick up 1 st from below, k2, pick up 1 st from below, k6, pick up 1 st from below, k2 for a total of 20 sts
• Row 13-29 (17 rows): k
• Row 30:
• Front: k, k2tog tbl, k to last the last 3 sts, k2tog tbl, k, total of 8 sts
• Back: k, k2tog tbl, k to the last 3 sts, k2tog tbl, k, total of 8 sts
• Row 31:
• Front: k to the last 3 sts, k2tog tbl, k, total of 7 sts
• Back: k, k2tog tbl, k to the last st, total of 7 sts
• Row 32: k, k2tog tbl, k, k2tog tbl, k, for a total of 5 sts on each side
• Bound off using the Kitchener stitch.
• The big toe came out to 5.5 cm (2 1/8 in).
6. The rest of the toes:
• Row 1: k, picking up 3 sts on each side, for a total of 15 sts
• Row 2: k
• Row 3:
• Front: k, k2tog tbl, k to the end for a total of 14 sts
• Back: k to the last 3 sts, k2tog tbl, k for a total of 14 sts
• Row 4:
• Front: k to the last 3 sts, k2tog tbl, k, for a total of 13 sts
• Back: k. k2tog tbl. k to the end, for a total of 13 sts
• Row 5:
• Front: k2tog tbl, k to the last st,  for a total of 12 sts
• Back: k to the last 2 sts, k2tog tbl, for a total of 12 sts
• Row 6-12 (6 rows): k
• Row 13:
• Front: k2tog tbl, k to the end, for a total of 11 sts
• Back: k to the last 4 sts, k2tog tbl, for a total of 11 sts
• Row 14:
• Front: k2tog tbl, k to the end, for a total of 10 sts
• Back: k to the last 2 sts, k2tog tbl, for a total of 10 sts
• Row 15: same as Row 14, continuing to decrease 1 st, for 9 sts on each side
• Row 16-17 (2 rows): k
• Row 18: same as Row 15, continuing to decrease in 1 st, for a total of 8 sts on each side
• Row 19: same as Row 18, continuing to decrease 1 st, for a total of 7 sts on each side
• Row 20: same as Row 19, continuing to decrease 1 st, for a total of 6 sts on each side
• Row 21:  
• Front: k2tog tbl, k to the second to the last st, k2 I tbl, for a total of 4 sts
• Back: k2tog tbl, k to the last 2 sts, k2tog tbl, for a total of 4 sts
• Row 22: k
• Bound off using the Kitchener stitch.
• The rest of the toe came out to 5 cm (2 in).
7. Then I went back to the bottom of the provisional cast on and picked up the stitches to start the toes:
• Row 17: k to the end then pick up a st for 2 sts on each side for a total of 21 start on each side
• Row 18: move 1 st from the “back” side and k2tog tbl, k to the last 2 sts, k2tog for a total of 20 sts on each side
• Row 19-40 (23 rows): k, maintaining 20 sts on each side for right side
• Row 41-57 (15 rows): k, picking up 5 sts (2 on each end and 1 in the middle), maintaining 25 sts on each side for right side
• Row 57-107 (50 rows): k, picking up 1 st below, k to the last 2 sts, picking up 1 st below for a total of 27 sts, maintaining 27 sts on each side for right side
• Including the initial 15 rows, this came out for a total of 22.5 cm (8 7/8 in)
8. With the foot done, I started on the heel portion using the German short row method.  Depending on which side (left or right) I was working on will determine if I were ktbl/p and looking at the back (WS) or front (RS) side.  Reduced the right side back to 27 sts
• Row 108:
• Front: k, for a total of 29 sts (move 2 sts from the back side to the front side
• Back: k/p the first st, pull the working yarn straight up and bring it to the front then to the back (as if to k/p, creating an extra st), then k/p to the end, creating 1 ultimate st and 24 regular sts on the RS (right side (aka the knit/purl side))
• Row 109: turn the sock around so you're looking on the back/front side, slip the first st, pull the working yarn straight up and bring it to the back then to the front (as if to p/k, creating an extra st), then p/ktbl to the second to the last stitch, creating 2nd ultimate st and 23 regular sts on the WS (wrong side (aka the purl/knit side))
• Row 110: slip the second st, pull the working yarn straight up and bring it to the back then to the front (as if to k/p, creating an extra st), creating the 3rd ultimate st on the RS/WS; then continue to ktbl/p to the the 2nd to the last st
• Row 111: slip the second st, pull the working yarn straight up and bring it to the front then to the back (as if to p/k, creating an extra st), creating the 4th ultimate st on the WS/RS; then continue to ktbl/p to the the 2nd to the last st
• Row 112-124 (12 rows): continue to follow either Row 110 or 111 until you have 8 ultimate sts on each side and 13 regular sts
• This came out to 3 cm (1 1/4 in).
• Row 125-126: p the first wrapped st (aka the 6th ultimate st), (if need be, pick up a st or two), p/ktbl or p2tog/k2tog tbl the picked up st(s), p/k the second wrapped stitch (aka the 5th ultimate st on the WS) then turned my work around (so that I am now on the RS/WS); slip the first st (aka the 5th ultimate st) and pull up the working yarn (to re-create the 5th ultimate st), (if you picked up a st, k2tog tbl/p2tog (k/p the wrapped and picked up st together)) and k tbl/p to the left side
• Row 127-128: ktbl/p the next wrapped stitch (aka the 6th ultimate st on the RS/WS), (if need be, pick up a st or two, ktbl/p or k2tog tbl/p2tog the picked up st(s)), ktbl/p the next wrapped st (aka the 5th wrapped st), then turned my work around so that I'm now on the WS/RS; pull up the working yarn to re-create the 5th wrapped st then if need be, p2tog/k2tog tbl (the 5th wrapped and picked up st together) and p/ktbl to the right side.
• Row 129-140 (12 rows): continue to follow Rows 125-126 or 127-128 until all the wrapped stitches were done; picked up sts as needed (anywhere between 2-3 sts) and either k2tog tbl or p2tog as needed to maintain a total of 25 sts (aka the goal is to get back to the original number of sts before starting the heel)
• This came out perfect! :) *yay* :)
• It came out perfect! :) *yay( It was 5 cm deep

9. With the heel done, I finished off the leg:
• Row 141: picked up 2-3 sts on each side, k in the round for a total of 31/32 sts for each side
• Row 142: k2tog on each side, k in the round for a total of 29 sts for each side
• Row 143-145 (5 rows): k in the round, maintaining a total of 29 sts on each side
• Total length of the leg was 4.5 cm (1 3/4 in)
10. With the leg done, it was time to actually finish off the sock with a very short cuff; Mom said she wanted super short socks (*yay* homestretch!):
• Row 146-180 (35 rows): picking up a st from the first st & the last st for a total of 28 start on each side, complete cuff using 1x1 ribbing, for a total of 9.5 cm (3 1/2 in) of ribbing
• Bound off using a variation of the Estonian bind off, in which I picked up a stitch from the row below then used the Estonian bind off technique. :)  
• The total length of the leg and cuff was 10 cm (4 in)

Look! Finally, a finished pair! *Yay*! :)

This sock took me ages to do; partially because other smaller/-ish projects took over (and were soooo much easier to do) but also because I hated working with the yarn (despite working with the Noro Taiyo Aran yarn on a previous project).  I don't know if it was really the yarn itself (like the make-up of the yarn or how it was twisted (as it was kinda splitty) or (really) the fact that I'm spoiled about having a model living with me (for me to torture (daily) to try on his socks) that took me so long to complete this.  I simply always found something else to work on rather than this (simple generic) pair socks.  I think that with this project, I just dragged my feet on it because I wanted it to fit her perfectly.  It took me nearly one (1) year and nearly six (6) months to finish this pair (when it normally takes me no more than two (2) months at the most to finish a pair)! :(  

I learned a good lesson though from this project: when it comes to socks, I think I'm just going to stick to making them for Hubby and myself.  Frankly, I didn't I enjoyed making this pair nearly as much as I normally do when making socks for Hubby or myself. :(  I discovered that I enjoy making other types of knitted items for other people (like cowls, scarves/wraps, hats, fingerless mitts, skirts, or ponchos) rather than socks (mostly because these types of items are generally "quick" knits and it doesn't require exact fitting).