now that my blaggity blog is back up and running I can show you my first pair of finished socks for myself: Self Spiraling RPM’s. the pattern on the left foot spirals up and to the left, and the pattern on the right foot spirals up and to the right. in the original pattern on knitty, there is this caveat:

Note: The spiral pattern will appear slightly imperfect at the end of the round; as the next round of the stitch pattern begins, there will be 7 k sts or 4 p sts in a row.

me being the ever pragmatic math geek that i am decided i would figure out a way to get around that imperfection at the end of each round. it’s not that hard actually, when you knit in the round, you are making spirals already. i decided to knit these toe-up so my spiraled knitting is already going up and to the left. to achieve an auto up-and-to-the-left-spiral when knitting toe-up you only need to have the number of stitches all the way around minus one to allow the pattern to auto spiral up and to the left by one stitch. so basically, my pattern for the ankle of the left sock turns into:

step 1: start with a multiple of 9 minus 1 (in my case 63-1 = 62)

step 2: there is no step 2

step 3: p3, k6 until you are done

the right sock is therefore:

start with a multiple of 9 plus 1 (in my case 63+1 = 64)

p3, k6 until you are done

voila! auto-spiraling achieved. if you were to concoct a new pattern where the offset in your spiral was more than one stitch, you would just use:

start with (multiple of x) stitches

subtract y to spiral up and to the left

or add y to spiral up and to the right

where x = multiple of stitches in pattern

and y = number of stitches offset in spiral

the toe-up magic cast on toe in a smooth arc is another issue entirely. i really don’t like pointy or sharply angled toes on socks. toe up is fun, but i wanted the arc of the increases to be elliptical in nature so here is what i did for each foot (note: the increases are make ones that are located on the edge of the sock and are distributed as evenly as possible on the two sides of the sock):

cast on 30 stitches with magic cast on (15 on each needle of a circular needle)

round 1: increase by 6 stitches to 36

round 2: increase by 6 stitches to 42

round 3: increase by 5 stitches to 47

round 4: increase by 4 stitches to 51

round 5: increase by 3 stitches to 54

round 6: increase by 2 stitches to 56

round 7: knit to end of round, no increase, remain at 56

round 8: increase by 2 stitches to 58

round 9: knit to end of round, no increase, remain at 58

round 10: increase by 2 stitches to 60

round 11: knit to end of round, no increase, remain at 60

round 12: increase by 2 stitches to 62

round 13: knit to end of round, no increase

next round: start desired pattern on foot of sock

a shorthand notation of the left foot is thus:

30 36 42 47 51 54 56 58 58 60 60 62 62

i will let the reader extrapolate the right foot with the following numbers that represent the total number of stitches at the end of each round:

30 36 42 48 52 56 58 60 60 62 62 64 64

some final notes about these socks:

Yarn: incredibly gorgeous Rohrspatz und Wollmeise superwash sock yarn in colorway “Am kalten Polar” in medium-deep

Pattern: RPM from knitty

Needles: Addi double pointed 2.0mm (US size 0)

Modifications: Pretty much everything was modified. Knit toe up using magic cast on, increases were made so the toe sloped gently, stitch count was a multiple of 9 minus 1 for the left foot, multiple of 9 plus 1 for the right foot to allow for auto spiraling, short row heel with double wraps, knit one purl one sewn bind-off from Vogue Knitting.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Well I’ve just gotten back into knitting after a two year hiatus, and I have fallen in love with sock yarn, superwash notably and anything
sportweight superwash. I love Wollmeise yarn and etsy hand-dyed yarn.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

A ratty plastic bag with all my yarn stash and a cleaned out olive tin
on my desk for double pointeds.

3. How long have you been knitting and how did you learn? Would you
consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I have been knitting since I was about 8 I believe, I learned from my
mom with a really crazy purple and yellow garter stitch monstrosity.
Shortly after that I fell in love with knitting pattern books and made
an intarsia bumble bee (pictured above, I must have been about 10 when I made it) and then I forgot for a long while. Much later I got on a scarf kick with really huge needles and
luscious mohair from La Droguerie in Paris, I made a ton and gave them away. Now I guess I’m a beginner that likes to tackle tough projects.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I have an Amazon list that is up to date.

5. What’s your favorite scent?

Max Mara perfume.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Yes, but I can’t eat milk products even in trace amounts nor gelatin so
I tend to make my own desserts.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do
you like to do? Do you
spin?

I am building my own bed frame from scratch, so woodworking. I sew with
my refurbished vintage Singer featherweight 222K, and I make hardware
circuits and hardware embedded in clothing. I don’t spin.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s?
(if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

My music tastes are fairly varied, I love wazee.org‘s stuff, indie rock
and indie pop and punk. Yes I can play CD’s, mp3s, ogg, anything you throw my
way.

9. What’s your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can’t stand?

I am in my blue period right now and I love black. Teal blue, green, purple, grey and black are always safe bets. I’m not a big fan of
light pink or pastels or yellow by itself or red by itself. That being said, I like something that
packs a punch or has some great contrast.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I live with my significant other and we don’t have any pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I wear all of those except ponchos.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

For the moment, socks and scarves. I would love to get a sweater under
my belt this year.

13. What are you knitting right now?

Baudelaire socks in superwash fingering black, and a secret item in orange not for myself.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Oh yes.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

I just started using aluminum double pointeds a few months ago along
with addi turbo circulars, before that I just used the straights that I
got passed down from my mom + grandmother.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Nope but I’m planning on getting both.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

A few weeks old.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

Halloween.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Vintage electronics, cheap hackable toys with audio, gadgets.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get
your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I don’t have any knitting books besides one: the hardback of Vogue Knitting
and I do not have any subscriptions. I am hankering after some of the designer
books coming out this year: Runway Knits, Twinkle’s Big City Knits, etc.
I love following the ready to wear fashion shows and the couture ones too.

21. Are there any new techniques you’d like to learn?

Oh yes, stranded color knitting for an overly ambitious sock project is
next and I’ve started learning lace work pattern reading.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

Yes I am a newly-addicted-to-sock-knitting fiend. My left foot is a US
women’s 8.5, my right foot is almost a 9.

23. When is your birthday?

Just ask.

i finished the second TechGuy sock today. w00t! my s.o. has quite long feet, so it was no easy feat (har har). if i make him socks again, they will be with a thicker weight yarn to obtain a less stitch-intensive gauge. if you are yearning to knit your first pair of socks, and you’ve never knit in the round, i would recommend grabbing a book or two from your local library before attempting this. i managed to figure it out, but i did undo the first heel three times. now i’m inspired: the next pair will be for myself. i’m thinking i will try toe-up construction to obtain the longest sock possible out of the yarn on hand and may include some fancier stitches to keep myself from getting bored.

We be wrappin’
Don’t ya like it when the girls
shape somefin’?
Knitta don’t pull nothin’ (That’s right)
We ain’t froggin’
We just perlin’ an’ knittin’
like it ain’t nothing wrong
Get ya sock on (we be turnin’)
Ah, we be wrappin’ (we be knittin’)
Yeah ya (we be wrappin’ we be knittin’)

[rare extra chorus to Ice Cube’s We Be Clubbin’]

I turned my first sock heel! I did rip it out three times before making it relatively free of holes in the heel. These are knit top down in what I figured out is a fingering weight german sock yarn by Regia (much smaller than what is detailed for the Tech Guy Socks pattern I semi-followed). I ended up following the wrapping technique detailed in Vogue Knitting on page 186 and not the PGR yarnover method. I don’t own that book by PGR, nor have I ever knit socks, and I must say that without the incredible tutorial on misocrafty, I wouldn’t have had the faintest idea how to turn the heel. I recommend arming yourself with both the Vogue book and the misocrafty tutorial before commencing. If I do attempt the PGR method, I will use this other tutorial with photos for turning a heel. As I mentioned, the weight of the yarn is very very fine and I would recommend using sport weight sock yarn for the Tech Guy Socks pattern, not fingering as I did. I cast on 60 stitches on metric size 3.0 mm (U.S. size 2) double pointed aluminum needles, but the sock barely fits my S.O., 64 stitches would have been better with this extremely fine yarn.

In celebration of my successful wrappin’ and heel turnin’, I joined a KAL (for those of you geeks reading my blog, KAL == KnitALong) where each member knits one pair of socks a month for six months and blogs about it. The KAL, SAM3 (SAM == Sock A Month), is located here. I even grabbed some superwash hand-dyed sock yarn from fearless fibers for the next three pairs. Oh, and I bet you didn’t know Ice Cube was into fiber arts.

i suffered a couple of major setbacks in my mission to make some pairs of socks (cursedly inspired by the seemingly simple TechGuy socks). the knitting stores conspiratorially closed early today so i sprinted and managed to grab both the yarn and the double pointed needles required to make socks.

my first mistake was losing one of the five double pointed needles from my smallest set five minutes after opening the package causing me to curse and rummage around the house only to find the missing needle a half hour later nestled in my g4 keyboard right in front of my face. the second mistake was thinking that i should force myself to switch over to continental knitting with this piece instead of my usual gimpy style. thirdly i picked out aluminum double pointeds which apparently are not recommended for lam3rz like me. the aching in my hands is a testament to the pain of knitting in a new way with tiny gage thread on slippery needles, not to mention sharp double pointed knitting in the round.

at least i have the satisfaction of knowing that i may move beyond my huge collection of scarves to something a little less beginner. i’m embarrassed each time someone brags about a scarf i made them, because frankly before today i didn’t have the faintest idea how to read a knitting pattern. you hear that scarves? you have been demoted.