Blimey

Why do I keep forgetting that one skein of Glacier is not enough to knit a pair of men's socks?


Oh well. It's my last skein of the stuff. I won't have this particular problem again.

I made these using the heel method from Fleegle's pattern. I love this heel. It's beautiful and it's easy. I want to experiment to see if the fit is ruined by making the heel base a tad wider -- it's a little too pointy for my taste, but that's a minor quibble.

Not professional

Got very helpful response from XRX. They understand that it's a fuzzy definition and people can be confused. And they drew what is, in my opinion, a very clear and reasonable line:

A simple rule (that we think is fair) is that if you haven’t made more than $500 (a prize amount for aspecific amateur category in the Think Outside The SOX contest) then you are still an amateur. If you teach the occasional class here and there, you may or may not be considered an amateur – but that would really depend on how much you teach and how much money you've made from teaching. In most cases, we find that knitting and crochet instructors – paid to teach others – really are professionals; at least in the eyes of their students. Again… we try to use the $500 rule here as well.

I haven't made anywhere near $500. So I'm free to enter as an amateur.

Soon you will all tremble before the awesome spectacle of my evil sock designs.

Professional?

XRX is having a sock design context, Think Outside the SOX. I'm intrigued by a couple of the contest categories: Bearfoot's "Not Cuff Down," and Universal Yarn's "Most Masculine." (Shut up. My knitting is very butch.)

The hitch is that it's an amateur contest. The rules say, "If you are paid to knit or crochet, teach knitting or crochet, design knit or crochet garments, or sell yarn, you are defined as a professional." While I can't get into TNNA because I've never published a design, and in most cases I haven't earned enough money to pay for the gas I use driving to class, the truth is I have been paid to teach.

At the risk of sounding Clintonian, whether I'm a professional might depend on what your definitions of "are" are. On occasion, I have been paid to teach knitting, but this is an irregular thing; I do not think that I am paid to teach knitting.

What do you think? I accept that I'm an evil sock genius, but am I a professional evil sock genius?

Memed

Cat tagged me; I'm It.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

In 1998, my Ph.D. exams expired, and even if I'd wanted to write my dissertation, I would have had to retake the exams. I was even now on my second job since abandoning academia, working as the GHPL Technology Coordinator. It was the first summer reading club since 1992 that I hadn't created. Ten years ago this month Mike and I moved into our current place.

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

• Take webinar on library uses for Flickr and Twitter
• Meet with Friends of the Library about book sale planning
• Be Dewey D. Chipmunk at summer reading kick-off in Powell
• Print syllabus for sock class that starts tomorrow
• Finish this model sock

3. Snacks I enjoy:

• Wavy Lays
• Pretzel Nuggets
• Ice Cream
• Popcorn with Parmesan cheese
  

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

• Hire staff, especially financial manager
• Erase all debt in family (family defined broadly)
• Buy a home. Or two. A place in Manhattan, perhaps.
• Probably what others say they would do: establish foundation
  

5. Places I have lived:

• Ohio (Mt. Vernon, Kent, Columbus, Upper Arlington)
• Mérida

6. Peeps I want to know more about:

Sorry, this seed fell upon the rock, sprung up, and withered away because it has no moisture. But if the wind picks it up and finds root in your good ground, have at it.

Center-pull Ball Holder

I decided that I better work both sleeves of the Wash Sweater at once. That way, if I stall out again, I won't have to figure out how to make the second sleeve match the first: each decision I make I will make for both sleeves simultaneously so they'll match without any extra pain and effort.

I also decided to work from the inside and outside of a center-pull ball, so that the inconsistent dye jobs on the yarn will at least match sleeve to sleeve. But my yarn was tangling. After a couple attempts to mangle a wire hanger into shape, I came up with this:

Something heavier would probably work better to keep the whole thing place, but this does seem to be doing the job: the ball doesn't flip around, and I can keep the strands from winding around each other.

Wash Sweater, back on track?

I worked on the Wash Sweater for about a month, then stalled out two months ago, when it came time to plan the sleeves. Not that the sleeves will be hard, but some decisions are required, and whenever I tried to summon up the energy to make these decisions, I was struck by this stark fact:

I don't have enough yarn to finish.

I got the yarn from Mary who was stash-busting. She got it from Handpaintedyarn.com. When I started the project, there was no more to be found in this color ("Sea Foam," which you might
think would be green but actually is the dirty beige color that real sea foam tends to be). I thought I might try to find something close, then dye whole garment when it was finished. But even better: when I went to the site this morning, there were three skeins to be had.

So. Back at it. I've been keeping my planning notes in a Google document, which I just made public today, so you can follow along if you want.

Meanwhile, Dodger reminds me that, if I decide not to finish, he'd be perfectly happy to make use of the work-in-progress.

Andersson Heel

I have revised and moved my bibliography of toe-up sock construction methods, adding some patterns I've run across in the past year. As I was adding the Andersson Heel, I realized that because the instructions are so brief, I need to do some complicated figuring in order to adapt it when I make socks. I would find it easier to work from a chart, and so with Knitman's permission, I offer my version. (BTW: Knitman gave his permission, but not his endorsement. He was unable to make sense of my directions. It's very possible that I've got it wrong. So do check out his instructions here and here.)

Toe-Up Socks using the Andersson Heel

Start the socks using your favorite toe-up starting method, such as my Tornado Toe. Make your toe and begin knitting the foot.

After a few inches, count how many rows (or rounds) work out to an inch. Multiply that by two inches less the length of the foot this sock is meant to fit. Example, if your foot is 9 inches long, then you want 7 inches, and if you're getting 11 rounds per inch, then we're talking 77 rounds. Got it?

Now find your sock's stitch circumference on the chart below (column A). Subtract the number of designated gusset rounds from your total number of rounds (column C is a standard gusset; column D is for a longer, more tapered gusset). You now know how many rounds to knit before starting the gussets.

Sock Circumference (A)	Gusset Stitches (B)	Standard Gusset - increase alternate rounds (C)	Longer Gusset - increase every 3rd round (D)
28	6	12	18
32	6	12	18
36	7	14	21
40	8	16	24
44	8	16	24
48	9	18	27
52	10	20	30
56	10	20	30
60	11	22	33
64	12	24	36
68	12	24	36
72	13	26	38
76	14	28	42
80	14	28	42

Back to the example: if your sock is 60 stitches in circumference, your target is 77 rounds, and you want the longer, more tapered gusset, you would subtract 33 from 77: you'll knit 44 rounds from your cast-on point before starting the gussets.

Decide which side of your sock is the sole and which is the instep or top. When you reach the round where your gussets begin, increase on either side of sole: knit 1, make 1, knit across sole until 1 stitch remains, make 1, knit 1.

Knit one or two plain rounds after the increase round, depending on whether you chose the standard or longer gusset numbers from the chart.

Repeat increase and plain rounds until you have added on each side of the sole the number of gusset stitches designated for your circumference (column B in the chart).

The Heel

Knit across the sole, stopping B+1 stitches before the end. (If you added 11 gusset stitches to each side of the sole, you will knit across the sole until 12 stitches remain). SSK, and turn.

Sl1, then purl across sole until B+1 stitches remain. P2tog. Turn.

Sl1, then knit until 1 stitch before the gap. SSK. Turn.

Sl1, then purl until 1 stitch before the gap. P2tog. Turn.

Repeat these last two rows until 2 stitches remain beyond the gap. After the SSK that leaves one stitch, do not turn. Resume knitting in the round, across the instep. When you return to the sole (now "back of heel") side, K1, K2tog, and resume knitting plain.

Knit the leg using whatever ribbing or pattern you choose, and bind-off loosely at the top.

Yarmando.com debuts

As a Xmas present to myself a while back, I bought yarmando.com. I couldn't find a way to easily make it the home for this blog, so I've just let it be. Until now.

The Evil Genius Sock Pattern is ready to be unleashed on the world. I was going to put the files up where I normally do (the bit of space afforded me by my ISP), but thought I'd have a go at finally putting some content up on my own domain. After a bit of tinkering Monday morning, I had a basic site built (using Google Page Creator) and my new sock pattern uploaded.

I'll gradually add more content, and periodically get inspired to make the whole thing look better. But meanwhile, you're welcome to click on over to Yarmando's Laboratory, Lair of the Evil Sock Genius. And let me know what you think of the Evil Genius Lessons.

Koolhaas for M

A friend has begun losing her hair during chemotherapy, so I decided it was time to put aside my obsession with evil and use my knitting powers for good.

Presenting Jared Flood's Koolhaas Hat in Rowan All Season Cotton. I loved it when I saw it on Jared's blog, but since I'd just knit three things after seeing him knit them first, I decided I needed to stop being a copycat. But when I found out M. needed a hat, this immediately leaped to mind. And it's even library-related, based on the windows at the Seattle Public Library.

Today is Columbus's Komen Race for the Cure. Maybe next year I'll be in shape for it. But meanwhile, I'll make a donation and encourage everyone to do the same.

Random bizarre thought: cancer drug companies should underwrite free mammograms since they create demand for their product.

Evil takes new direction

Big thanks to the underlings who voted in my poll.

• 8% said it was better for smaller socks to be looser, relative to bigger socks
• 16% said the opposite was true, and smaller socks should be relatively tighter.
• 76% picked the obviously correct answer, which is that "tightness" is a variable that doesn't correlate with size.

But while you were distracted with these trivialities, I have put my genius to work and discovered new resources of sock-based evil.

The question, minions, is not how much bigger must you make a sock to accommodate the heel. Imagine that you begin with the knowledge of the circumference of heel and instep, and from there calculate how much smaller the sock should be to fit the foot and toes?

Muwah-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa!

Jane Chord

From Slog, I learned this week about the Jane Chord: combine the first and last words of a book into a two-word sentence which just might reveal something interesting about the book. One description of the method says to skip articles when constructing the chord.

The book I'm currently reading, Declare by Tim Powers: "Young Day." (Or "Telephone River" if you skip the prologue and afterword).

The new Jim Butcher book on my bedside shelf: "Winter too."

Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy: "Socks repertoire."

The Golden Compass: "Lyra sky."

The Great Gatsby: "In past."

Last year, I noticed a trend among librarians to designate in their email signatures what they're currently reading. I've started doing that in my work account. I've noticed that it causes me to leave my signature block in place, rather than deleting it and signing with my initials, as I normally do for internal/informal mail. Give it a try. And go read this inspiring, passionate essay about the wonders and importance of reading.

Design opinions needed

The Evil Sock Genius pattern is nearly complete. (They all laughed at me, but soon...soon...I will have my revenge).

I need one more element before I begin to unleash my weapon on an unsuspecting world: the world's opinion. So I've put a poll up on the blog -------------------------------->

It's really all about stitch circumference. Do you think it's better for socks with a smaller stitch circumference to be a bit looser or a bit tighter, relative to socks with a larger stitch circumference?

My general rule is that all socks should err on the side of "tighter." But see, I'm building a reference chart that is the base of my pattern, and the references I'm consulting -- while they agree on the fit of socks in the mid-range (48 - 60 stitches around), one reference makes socks with less than 48 stitches slightly looser, and one makes it slightly tighter.

Which do you think is best? Take my poll. (And seal your doom).

It's like my body is crying

Because I worked a 13-hour day yesterday and have a program tonight, I took this morning off. I decided a little exercise would make me feel better about myself. (I saw myself on TV last week. The camera adds 15 pounds. Being next to Anietra Hamper adds at least another 15). I have a DVD from Netflix of 10-minute fitness ball workouts, so I thought I'd give one of those a try.

Pathetic.

Back at the computer, I ran across today's Penny Arcade cartoon which was funny and timely.

Evil Sock Genius at work; updates later

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. I've got a huge thing gearing up at work. When I'm not at work, I'm striving to make the rest of my life as relaxing and uninteresting as possible.

Not much blog-worthy going on with the knitting. Working on an adorable pair of socks, but I can't post a photo because it's a gift. In fact, I've entered Spring Birthday Season, so there are a couple gift socks in progress. Still in search of the Perfect Sock Pattern, I bought a copy of Stitch Stud's Design Your Own Toe Up Sock tutorial. It involves a lot of math up front to determine circumference, gusset increases, heel base, ankle panels, etc. I'm eager to see if it works.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a new pattern of my own: the Evil Genius Socks. It's the next evolutionary stage of the Yarmando Mash-Up Sock, incorporating the Just Start Knitting toe, the improved You're Putting Me On heel, and some intriguing ideas about calculating the sock length.

Finally, the Wash Sweater is languishing at the point that all my sweaters get stuck at: the body is finished up to the armpits, and it's time to start the sleeves. I hate knitting sleeves. It's like you're knitting socks but without the interesting parts.

Green for St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! In celebration, I'm wearing the Enormous Green Thing to work (with a baseball jersey underneath, because the Green Thing is itchy).

I am a leaf on the wind

There's a Ravelry group for Firefly/Serenity fans, and of course I belong to it. It's longest thread is "The real Firefly knitting challenge," a discussion about a particular Aran sweater worn by my favorite character in a couple episodes.

Ravelers KnottyLa and Maggs have done some amazing pioneering work to replicate the cables. I was dying to get started on this, especially now that the tweed pullover is done, so I grabbed yarn and needles and tried my hand at cable design.

This was some serious fun. I love cables. Mom taught me how to cross stitches for a cable before she taught me how to purl.

I've done lots of cables, but I'd never tried to replicate something from pictures, building the design stitch-by-stitch, row-by-row. I was pretty proud of myself, then Maggs put out her charts, and I realized that I'd made the cables too thin -- they should be three stitches wide instead of the two I used.

I decided it was time to jump in. I've got gauge (4 sts/in) and I've got a general idea where I'm going. So I cast-on and started the ribbing.

And because the outside looks like this today, I've got plenty of time to make some progress.

(Note: ordinarily, there would be a street in this picture).

Tweed Pullover

I finished the tweed pullover.

The bottom is a little wrinkly from the drive to where the photoshoot took place. Special thanks to JKLsemi for the pictures. (Portraits aren't really her thing; check out the pictures she took today that are more typical of her work).

I want to reblock the sweater. As expected, the ribbing pulled it in pretty snuggly, so I had to stretch it out, but now the bottom flairs more than I'd like. It's also just a tad too short. But I'm picking at it; friends have told me they think it's the best I've done so far.

I bought feet

In the excitement of all the cleaning, I forgot to mention these:


Yep, I bought feet. Lately, all the socks I've been making have looked misshapen when photographed on flat sock blockers, so I decided I needed a mannequin foot. Eventually, I discovered that the correct term is "hosiery form," and I found an eBay store that carried them. I bought the women's form (on the left) first, and then decided to get I needed the men's form as well.

Here's the form in action, displaying my current sock in progress: "Fountain Foxglove" from New Pathways, with an eye-of-partridge heel.

These were promised to my boss at Christmas, so I need to get cranking on them. But I've been distracted by progress on the tweed pullover. I finished the second sleeve and connected the sleeves to the body yesterday.

My plan is to continue that stripe of ribbing up the sleeves and over the shoulder. I'm pretty sure I'll have to block the ribbing out flat or the sweater will be too tight, but it's going to be sharp when it's done.

February New Gadget Lust

There seems to be something about this season that makes me want new electronics. I'm guessing it has something to do with Christmas toys losing their shininess, and with income tax refunds waiving at me from my checking account.

I should be focused on buying a schmancy TV and an up-converting DVD player, but what I really want is a new phone. I want something iPhone-like, perhaps even an actual iPhone.

I want ubiquitous, convenient, handheld web access. I want to check my email from my phone; in particular, I would like to be able to use mobile Gmail, but the app doesn't run on Verizon devices. That just makes me want to abandon Verizon, but to do that, I would also have to move Mike and Nancy.

Someone send me the answer, please. Thanks.

Cleaning Sabbatical - The Wrap Up

"Sabbatical" implies rest, a sabbath. Clearly, last week wasn't restful. I thought of it more like the sabbaticals afforded to professors: a break from the usual work to work on something else.

Though not restful, my cleaning sabbatical was satisfying. The study and basement in particular feel less oppressive now that floor space has been cleared of junk.

The cleaning project really isn't finished, but I think I managed to start something and get some momentum that will carry us through what is usually called "spring cleaning." I intend to keep a bookcase devoted to discards; I am fond of systematic approaches to problems, and while there are systems in place for getting books and media into our home, we haven't to this point had a systematic way of getting them out.

So, to my readers, thanks for putting up with the tiresome details of this little adventure. And thanks especially to Mike, who only got visibly cranky with me twice during all of this. That's monumental. The first time he was ever really mad at me was when I moved his stuff, and I expected this last week to be a living hell of domestic strife. But I worked hard to keep the disruption to a minimum : every day, an hour before Mike got off work, I stopped what I was doing and began putting things away. Mike put up with it all, and I'm grateful.

Now, honey, could you sort through the remaining video cassettes and clean out the mess under your side of the desk?