Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Well, Poo

The Socks That Rock sock was feeling pretty heavy, and it occurred to me that all those yarn-overs might be eating up yarn. So I went to my kitchen scale and weighed the remaining ball of yarn. It weighed about 60 grams. No problem! I thought. If the skein was 100g, then I’m nearly half through, and I’m about half done with the foot. No problem!

Unfortunately, the original skein was 120 grams. I am half-way through a ball of sock yarn,

But I'm not half-way to a pair of socks.

What should I do? What should I do?

Options (any or all):
1. I did the ribbing on more stitches than the leg. I could not do that.

2. The leg is worked over 80 stitches. I could use 76.

3. I did the heel over 60% of the stitches because 50% was too few, and actually, it's a little big now. I could use 55% or so.

4. I could shorten the leg a bit. (I've already expressed how I don't really need tall socks in a past entry.)

5. I am using size US1 needles. I could use US1.5 or US2s. The gauge as it stands is 8 sts and 13 rounds/inch. It could be looser, I think.

6. I could leave the pattern off the foot, and just knit it in stockinette. I am not fond of this look, however.

7. I could use a different stitch pattern that uses less yarn and save the YoYo Socks for another yarn with better yardage.

I think if I do 1 - 4 I'll be ok. I'm concerned about #5, because socks are best done tightly, but the row gauge is pretty tight. I think using a 1.5 wouldn't be a big deal.

3 comments:

Miss Amy said...

I love the sock as is but if there isn't enought to make the mate...if it were me, I'd use as US2 and decrease to the 76 sts instead of the 80 since it is a slightly bigger stitch but barely enough to recognize. I too like the US1's because the stitches look awesome when they are tight but sometimes we just gotta give into the yarn.

Anonymous said...

I agree about 1 - 4. Would it help if you did the patterning on the top of the foot using less stitches? Like 40% of the foot instead of 50%? Also you could use US2 on the top of the foot and US1 on the sole. But that might make you bonkers trying to keep track of it.

All in all, an excellent case for doing socks toe-up! Also, when I have one skein, I wind it twice. Once to get it into a ball. Then I put it on the kitchen scale and wind it again until the original is half the weight. Then you have two balls approximately same weight. Good idea for next time, maybe?

Will Pillage For Yarn said...

I use #2's generally with the STR yarn. 1's are too tight, I've found, at least for the way I knit.

I love the colorway, is that Ruby Tuesday?