Friday, January 23, 2009

No cankles here


A few days ago, I was doing the toe decreases on my first Alternating Rib sock, and I realized it was time to stop and face facts. Every time I'd tried on the sock-in-progress, I could see what was happening, and I could ignore it no longer: I was knitting what would become, after about five minutes of wearing, a slouch sock. And since I haven't actively sought out a pair of slouch socks since about 1985, I knew what I had to do.

Rrrrrrrripppp!

I ripped the sock back to about 5 inches of leg and started doing paired decreases (every 5 or 6 rounds) at what would be the back of the sock, so that by the time I got to where I wanted to start the heel flap I had 8 fewer stitches than before. And it was So Worth It. The sock fits better, and the stitch pattern looks better. I think I could have maybe tried harder to make the decreases look better in the back, but I'm happy enough.


I'm not advocating perfection; I'm just saying that sometimes you know you have to rip. And you should. It's only knitting. It's like hair -- it grows back.

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More from the "We like free" Department: In case you don't know, the Canadian Living site is a good source of free patterns. At the moment, you can find the Mason-Dixon hand towel pattern (Ravelry link) and a pattern for crocheting a tote bag from old plastic grocery bags. Plus the site archives its patterns -- both patterns that were published in the magazine and those excerpted from books (e.g., the Bountiful Bohus cardigan pattern [Rav link] from More Big Girl Knits).

OK, we're off dark and early tomorrow morning on our holiday to Cuba! See you in a week or so!

15 comments:

knithound brooklyn said...

You are so right. Sometimes the only solution is a good rip. You made a vast improvement by doing this.

Sarah A. said...

I like the decreases. It's like some shrubbery growing up the back of your leg.

Kristin said...

"It's like hair -- it grows back." I love it!

Anonymous said...

I liked the sock decreases - well done!

Thanks for the Canadian Living site link. It's new to me, and seems like a real winner.

Have a wonderful trip! We'll miss you, but look forward to hearing about your adventures.

miss ewe said...

Snarf... it's like hair, it grows back... You're hilarious!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link to CL. I - a Canadian - didn't know about it!

Steph VW said...

Yup. You're right. No cankles there.

spajonas said...

nope, no cankles! not worth it :)

ingrid said...

Nice decreases! I guess you're called brainylady for a reason.

Kristine said...

These socks look very comfy and they're such a pretty shade! Have fun in Cuba!

Ellen said...

Oh, Alison, I do honor you for your do-over. Since we hardly ever knit out of necesity, there is no reason not to get it right. I hope your trip is wonderful, and I envy your freedom to visit Cuba.

Anonymous said...

"I'm just saying that sometimes you know you have to rip. And you should. It's only knitting. It's like hair -- it grows back."

So true. i just had to rip recently and was thinking about how a couple of years ago I would have just plowed ahead, not being able to rip back. But now, I will. Because whats the point of having socks (or whatever it is) if they aren't right and you never wear them?!

Have fun in Cuba :)

Alison said...

Thanks for sharing that link to the hand towel! I requested that book (primarily for that pattern) through ILL a couple of weeks ago but it's slow to arrive. Now I don't have to wait!

Unknown said...

Much better! No slouchy socks!!!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the info about the decreases! I'm a beginning sock knitter. I was having limited success in changing needle sizes when I got down to that portion of the leg (and I wasn't brave enough to try the decreasing). Thank you! You should get lots of Positive Knitting Karma for this post. :)