Di's Surprise (aka Tabi Monogatari v33)

In a previous post, I mentioned that I had (tortured) one of my friends to get her foot size to gauge the foot size of my SIL (they have the same sized feet).  To thank her, I made (also) made her a surprise pair of ankle socks.  Thinking she would like my Knitting Fever Painted Desert Egyptian Prince colourway and using my US 0 needles, here's how her socks turned out:

1. With a Provisional cast-on, cast-on on 64 sts.
2. K 1 straight row on eash side, then connected in the round.

3. Started the foot portion: K 15 rows in the round as part of the foot portion.

4. Then for the toes, I decided to do a sideways toe (base on the book: Sock Architecture) and here's how it went:

K9, k2tog, K10. ssk, K9 

K  (every other row)

K9, k2tog, K8, ssk, K9 

K8, k2tog, K8, ssk, K8 

K7, k2tog, K8, ssk, K7 

K6, k2tog, K8, ssk, K6 

K6, k2tog, K6, ssk, K6 

K5, k2tog, K6, ssk, K5 

K5, k2tog, K4, ssk, K5 

K4, k2tog, K4, ssk, K4 

K3, k2tog, K4, ask, K3 

K3, k2tog, K2, ssk, K3 

K2, k2tog, K2, ssk, K2 

K2, k2tog, ssk, k2 

Bind off

5. Then I went back to the bottom of the provisional cast on and picked up the stitches to start the toes:

• Row 17: pick up a st in the front and in the back, k2tog on the first and last sts, maintaining a total of 32 sts on each side 
• Row 18-64 (47 rows): k
• Including the initial 15 rows, this came out for a total of 19 cm (7 1/2 in)

6. Rows 65-121 (37 rows): With the foot done, I started on the heel portion using the Fishlips Kiss heel with 11 TWS & 10 regular stitches and a mini heel flap.

7. With the heel done, I finished off the leg:

• Row 122-131 (10 rows): k, maintaining a total of 32 sts on each side
• Total length of the leg was 1.9 cm (5/8 in)

8. With the leg done, it was time to actually finish off the sock with a very short cuff; Di's hubby did some sock sleuthing for me said she typically wears ankle socks (*yay* homestretch!):

• Row 142-146 (5 rows): complete cuff using 1x1 ribbing, maintaining 32 sts, for a total of 2 cm (3/4 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 3.8 cm (1 1/8 in)

Look! A finished pair! *Yay*! 🙂 I hope she likes it!🤞

Up-date:  Di finally got her socks and ... she L-O-V-E-S it! 😍🎊🎉🙌   It seems to fit really well and she's going to give me a full critique the first chance she has to really put it through its paces.  

Custom Knit Phillips Dreamwear Headgear v4.0

My poor Hubby ... while the headgear that I've been making for him works, it's just not ... perfect.😳😒  The headgear (v3.0) was just too big and floppy and wasn't that useful - it kept slipping out of the toggle we were using to cinch the back.  And the pad (v2.0) was alright but ... the top was still pressing against the top of his head and causing some pain.😭

So, it was back to the drawing board.  He had received a new kind of headgear in which it hooked into the frame which he likes much better.  Unfortunately, where it hooked into the frame, it would catch on his hair!😭😱😳😒  So, he searched the web to see how other people were using their CPAP headgears and one thing that kept coming up was that people were using caps.  He's been testing this concept out using his Jacques Cousteau hat and he was now ready for me to make him a silk version of it.  So, with my Chiaogoo Spin 4.0mm (US6) needles, here's what I did:

Cast on 140 sts and followed the pattern for 13 rows.  Oddly, casting on all those sts were quite difficult for me; it took me 5 or 6 times to get the cast on right.🤦

Then, it was time for a fitting as it seemed like the hat was just getting so big!  Low and behold, it was huge and way too loose.  Demolishing the whole rim was required.  It looked like it was at least 30 sts too big and the sts were definitely too loose.

So, I casted on again, this time using my US 4 needles and tried again.  After 31 rows, I started the decreasing to the last 12 sts.  Then I used the Kitchener st to bind off.

Here's how it turned out:

Front

Side

Back

Hub's seems to like it so far but only time will tell.🤞🙏😉

UP-DATE:  The hat was too big so, I had to rip it out and cast on 100 sts instead so here's how it looks now:

Back

Side

Front

Now, Hubs said that it fits much better. 🙌👍🎉