All Buttoned Up

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It seems as though people are pretty evenly split with the whole “what should I design for you as a series of tutorials” with a lot of people being intrigued by the quilt-inspired scarf.. and socks.

Now… If I’m going to do socks, that’s going to be a big, long process because at the same time, I’m going to include excel tutorials for those wanting to write their own sock patterns.  Yea.  I’m probably too ambitious.  But what can you do?

So… since the sock will be a series of posts… that may infact stretch a few weeks, I think I’ll do the scarf along the way (I think I too am intrigued by this idea).

But first…

I need to know what kind of socks you want me to design.

So… leave a comment…

Do you want: Colorwork?  Lace?  Or textural?  Let me know and I’ll do some swatching over the holiday.

If you’ll remember, back when I finished my Bird in Hand Mittens, I promised a couple of posts that would helpful for others working on the pattern. The first of this was the quick, easy, seamless Estonian braid. The other thing I wanted to share was how I catch my floats.

When I was sharing my mitts with my knitting group we started to talk about how we catch our floats. I showed everyone who I caught my floats and got some intrigued looks. I think that the way that I catch the main color (held in my right hand) is a little different than the way some people do it. You can see after the part about how I wrap the contrasting color (held in my left hand), which is probably the way most people do it.

Um. So I hope this is helpful - and just so you know, all the videos I’ve made/will make are also up on the helpful videos tab.

So, I just made the fabulous Bird-in-Hand Mittens. I loved this pattern and after I finished the first one, I wanted the second one immediately. However, once I cast-on for the second mitten, it lagged at only an inch long for like 3 days. Why you ask?

The knitted braid! On the first mitten, I did the braid twice and when I reached the third braid, I ended up doing a purl round instead. It’s just that every time I went do do one of those braids, it took me like an hour to make it around. Definitely fidly knitting.

So. There I was on my second mitten, contemplating how I can make the mittens match but get to the “fun” fair-isle parts of the mitten faster. Suddenly, I had it! A slipped line of crochet stitches. The best part is that you can join the braid seamlessly!

Here’s a tutorial:

First, you’ll want to have the line of stitches that you want your braid to be on top of. I marked that in my mittens with this little green string like this:

First, insert a crochet hook into the side of a stitch and pull up a loop. You’ll have one loop on your crochet hook.

Next, staying on the same LINE of stitches, insert your crochet hook through the fabric, one stitch over from where your current loop is coming from. Remember that one stitch has two legs to it.

Behind/underneath the fabric, hook the yarn.

Pull the yarn up through the fabric. You’ll have two loops on your crochet hook.

Lift the right most stitch over the stitch you just pulled up, and off the crochet hook (much like if you were binding off). It looks just like the braid does! And it’s so much quicker, especially once you get a rhythm going!

So how do you do the seamless join?

Well, once you get around, you’ll have one loop, right at the base of where you started.

Insert the tip of the crochet hook right into the heart of the first stitch that you made (in between the two legs).

Cut the yarn in the back (with about 6 inches left for working with) and pull the string up through the fabric so the end is now on the right side.

Now, you’ll basically be duplicate stitching to create the seamless look. Thread the yarn on a tapestry needle and pull it under the two legs of the stitch directly to the left of the stitch though which you pulled the yarn through the heart of.

Finally, put the yarn back through the “heart” that you pulled the working yarn up through.

Weave in the end and push and pull the yarn as necessary to even out your tension.

Voila! You have a seamless braid!

I hope this was helpful!

I loved the slippers I made (Pattern: Felted Clogs by Fiber Trends) the other day - they are nice and toasty and I see myself wearing them a lot. I was worried, however, of wearing through them too quickly. Mostly, however, I needed the bottoms to be waterproofed. I plan to wear these slippers on late-night emergencies that my job may have me responding to. And, sad as it is, there is more than a tiny chance that I may accidentally step in vomit. Naturally, I want to protect the bottom of my slippers from such a sad fate. In case you want to do the same, here’s how I did it:

First, you’ll need to gather your supplies:

You’ll need:

1. Slippers (or whatever it is you want to make non-slip)
2. Silicone Caulking stuff. You can get this at any hardware store. Pick a better color than clear - it didn’t turn real clear for me (you’ll see in the photos later) - there’s a good selection of colors - black, white, brown and I think some other colors too… a good variety. Whatever you pick, however, you’ll probably be able to get at least 3 pairs worth of non-slip out of it - so keep that in mind when you buy your stuff (that was why I chose clear). Also - someone advised me to NOT get the cheap kind (which may peel off in layers) - so I splurged and bought the 7$ bottle. I’m not really sure if I succumbed to peer pressure for any legitimate reason - but he seemed to know what he was talking about.
3. A caulking gun - borrow this from someone you know - I bet someone you know has one. I had to buy mine because there aren’t many people in the residence halls who have done any sealing (with caulk) recently - not that I actually asked anyone, by the way.
4. Some means of spreading the caulk - you could use an old credit card - or a spreader thing like I did.
5. Newsprint - for protecting your table/surface area.

After you cover your surface with newspaper, you’ll need to prepare your caulk tube. Consult the directions on the tube you bought - I had to cut the top off of mine - and poke a hole like below (I used a knitting needle).

Next up, load the tube into the caulking gun. You’ll have to pull the trigger a few times to get the silicone to the tip. From here, the next step is to squirt the gel onto the sole of your slipper. You’ll need a lot. Squirt like crazy. If your trigger fingers get tired (it’s hard), do 1/2 a sole at a time.

Don’t worry if a string of gel goes off to the side or somewhere that you don’t want it - just let it be and don’t worry about it for now - whatever you do, don’t rub it off and smear it into the slipper. Only smear the gel where you want the gel to be - and definitely smear it - rub it into the fibers.

You can try to add a pattern into the slippers with your scraper if you want - try to come up with some sort of “tread” pattern. You can also skip the idea of a solid covering - and use the nozzle of the tube to write “left” or “right” or “hand wash only” or whatever the heck you want. If you’re going for the full coverage affect, make sure you’re erring on the side of too much silicone vs. not enough.

Make sure you’re careful to get the edges (especially if you’re worried about stepping into something gross). Once you’ve covered both soles, let the silicone “cure” as directed by the package - make sure they stay “sticky side up.” Mine took 24 hours to fully cure to the point where I was comfortable walking in them.

Once the soles are fully cured, you can pull off parts of the silicone that aren’t where you want them - like if one of your squirts went awry - or if you covered too much of an edge - just cut or pull off what you don’t want.  It’ll come off pretty easy.

In the future, if you wear your slippers so much that you begin to wear through the sole - just-reapply with some silicone.  Double (triple) the length of the life of your slippers!

And that’s it - pretty simple.

I’m still chugging along on this blanket. When I was first working on this, I’d thought I’d do 3 blocks across by 4 blocks deep (a block being 4 mitered squares) and had thought that was only 36 miters… but my math was wrong - that would be 48 squares. Since I’m pretty happy with the current size of the blanket, I’m sticking with 36, but obviously, only 3 block by 3 blocks.

I’m knitting this for a baby that is due on the 7th of September and I’ve only got 8 more blocks left.  Now, you should know that the mom said that she doesn’t think he’s going to wait until the 7th.  But 8 blocks isn’t that much.  After that, I’ll only have to seam them and knit the borders.  I’m feeling pretty confident about my ability to finish this.

In a previous post about this blanket, someone left a comment suggesting that I must want to add some blue to the blanket.  And while I’m appreciative of that person’s kidn suggestion, at the same time I don’t intend to add any blue to this blanket for two reasons:

1. I chose a color them of greens and neutrals and adding blue to the mix would kinda mess that up.  And I haven’t done all this work for nothing.
2. I’m a feminist and one of the issues that peeves me the most is gender stereotyping.  I’ve pretty much decided that unless it’s a special request, I’m probably not going to be knitting any pink or blue baby blankets.  *I tried to write a few sentences explaining myself here, but nothing I could come up that was adequate could be said succinctly - so I think that’s going to have to be another post.

In the meantime, I’m going to keep knitting this blanket. And I’ll be sure that I’m going to finish it in about a month, never mind that while I’ll be working on this, I’ll also be doing the following:

• Moving 1/2 way across the country again (see the box in the top photo)
• Unpacking an entire apartment’s worth of stuff
• Ending my summer job
• Completing about 2 weeks of intense training for my new job
• Beginning my new job
• Leading about 2 weeks of intense training for my RAs (by intense, I mean 12 hour day…)
• Completing orientation and registering for graduate school
• Beginning Graduate school

Note:  I think this is going to be the last of the posts about my 9 to 5 socks.  I don’t want to bombard you with tons of posts about this pattern!

I’ve had some questions about modifications to the 9 to 5 socks and I wanted to share my suggestions with you.  What follows is also in a clever and pretty PDF document here, just in case you want to print it out. (Those who’ve surfed here can find the post about this pattern here.)

 For a Smaller Sock or a slightly thicker yarn:
Change the number of stitches you cast on to 60.  Redistribute the stitches so that you have 18 stitches on N1, 12 sts on N2, 18 sts on N3 and 12 sts on N4 and work according to the pattern.  Before you begin the heel flap, move stitches as directed in original pattern so that you have 17 sts on N1, 13 sts on N2, 17 sts on N3 and 13 sts on N4.  When working Row one of the heel flap, work the same, except only work the *K1 Sl 1 wyif* portion only 9 times.  To do the heel turn, work the first row as follows:  Knit 14 sts, ssk, k1 turn. Work the remainder of the heel turn as written.  On the round preceding the gusset, work as written, but only twist the stitches that you picked up from the sides of the heel flap.  Work the rest of the sock as written, shortening the sock as necessary.

For a larger sock:
As written in the pattern, the sock has a lot of stretch to it.  If you feel like you need to make the sock larger, add a pattern repeat to the top of the foot.  Cast on 78 stitches.  Redistribute the stitches so that you have 18 sts on N1, 24 sts on N2, 18 sts on N3, and 18 sts on N4 and work the sock according to the pattern.  Before you begin the heel clap, redistribute the sts so that you have 17 sts on N1, 25 sts on N2, 17 sts of N3 and 19 sts on N4.  Work the heel flap as written, lengthening as necessary, picking up an appropriate number of heel stitches when preparing to work the gusset.  Work the rest of the sock as written, lengthening as necessary.

Other ideas for modification:

Allergic to wool?
The sock is worked in a thinner fingering weight sock yarn and so substitutions should be of a similar weight if you intend to work the original pattern.  You can also use a slightly thicker sock yarn (maybe something like Cascade Fixation) and work the pattern modification for the smaller sock.  Gauge is almost everything here.  If you get gauge and you like the yarn, use it.  Also, this pattern really is VERY stretchy and so it can be very forgiving with sizing issues or problems.

What about those # 1.5 US needles?
If you’re looking for needles of that size, you can find them in most yarn stores that have a wide variety of needles.  Knitpicks.com has also started carrying the size.  I liked them for this pattern because it wasn’t much smaller than the US 2s that I’m used too - but not quite so thin and scary as US 1s.  Remember, needle size is less important than gauge - and again, gauge is only almost everything with this pattern - it’s very forgiving with sizing because of it’s stretch.

What about yarns that aren’t a solid color?  Variegateds and hand-dyes?
Try it!  I used a solid yarn because I knew it would photograph well so that I could properly show off the pattern.  I can imagine that the sock would look amazing in an almost-solid color - something that is kettle-dyed and is subtle tones and shades of the same color.

More questions?
Shoot me an email.  My email address is nicole.hindes@gmail.com . You can also come back to the blog at allbuttonedup.wordpress.com.

Heya! I can’t believe how many of you have downloaded the Nine to Five socks! The number astounds me and goes way higher than I could have predicted!

A few of you are having trouble with the download. If you’re having trouble, my advice is basically to click the link (in the post below) and accept the copyright information and walk away from your computer for a few minutes (more if your computer or connection is slow). The document is 3 pages, so it could take short bit to download.

Also, a few people have asked about the twist stitch described in the pattern. It’s kind of a hard thing to describe with words… so I present to you the following video!! Let me know if you like this and think that this kind of thing would be helpful in the future!

I’ve designed some socks! And, in a bold move… I’m offering them for free!

These socks remind me of how I feel after working from nine in the morning until five at night, sometimes more than just five days a week. I get all wound up! The sock also has a dressier quality to it, so it can be a work sock too.

These socks feature a deceptively simple stitch pattern that looks like it would require a cable needle – but it doesn’t! The heel uses a half-linen stitch that creates a woven look that perfectly compliments the two spirals that continue down each side of the heel flap. This sock also features a special method of picking up the heel stitches – a way which places the column of selvedge stitches on the outside of the sock, creating a decorative braid that further sets off the heel. This sock is very stretchy because of the ribbed nature of the stitch pattern.

I owe a big thanks to Ruth of Ruthless Knitting who did a test-knit for me. In her amazing-ness, she even knit this sock super fast - and was prepared to knit it faster when I was going to try to make a certain deadline. Super kudos to you Ruth!

And, without further ado… the free pattern! (the link is a pdf!)

(ETA - I put together a little video explaining the special twist stitch that the sock requires. Look here.)

You can click on any of the photos to see more photos of the socks (look for the 9 to 5 socks set). Oh, and don’t forget to add this to your ravelry queue (if you’re on ravelry - if not, wait patiently, you will be soon)!

Now, I ain’t one to sit around and bitch. That’s just not my style. Case in point:

The Walker Treasury Project. Yea, yea, the small black and white photos suck. But now, we can all work together and come up with a better solution. It’s teamwork darlins!

But now last night, I was knitting myself a dish towel. Something kitchy, somethin’ so ugly in color choices that only a mother could love ‘er. The stitch pattern that I picked out was from Barbara Walker’s Treasury of Knitting Patterns. It was a good pattern, but it was a 12 row repeat. And the gol’ dang book kept flippin’ flipping closed on me.

Luckily, the pattern was pretty basic and after 2 rows I kinda figured out what I was doin’.

But still, the frustration demanded I do something about it. Behold:

One of those things is not like the other!

What a perfect fix -and why havne’t I seen this before - I’d have done it long ago!

The details:

1. Call up your local copy shop. Mine was in the library of my college. Ask them if they could take a soft cover book and make it spiral bound for you. If they say yes, you’re in luck!
2. Take them your book. Have faith that they are not going to ruin it. That they are professionals. Know that when your book is returned to you, it will be way more useful to you than before.
3. Walk away if you are weak. If you are strong (or curious, like I was) then watch as they chop the spine off the book. Gaze as they drill the holes along the spine (only a few pages at a time here). Look with wonderment as they spin a spiral through the holes - and make your book whole again!
4. Pay. This cost me $3.60 - seriously. I do not know why I didn’t do this sooner.

Next up: My second treasury and my Knitter’s Handbook (which I never use because it never stays open!!!)

Crochet is the bane of my existence as a knitter. While seaming, fair isle and other difficult techniques are no problem for me, crochet makes me want to leap off tall buildings.

For example, I once spent two frustrating hours attempting to crochet a swirl design on a pre-felted bag. Numerous expletives and crochet hooks flew through the air. In the end, I decided that the bag looked perfectly fine as it was, simple and boring.

Many weeks later, I started to hear about needle felting. It was the perfect solution because I was able to embellish the bag that I’d already felted.

In order to needle felt, you’ll need:
A felted piece of wool, fully dried (a bag you felted, or a pair of felted slippers)
A felting needle
100 % wool (not superwash) yarn and/or roving
A piece of Styrofoam

The important thing to realize about felting needles is that they aren’t smooth like the knitting and sewing needles we’re used to. Felting needles are extremely sharp and down the sides, they have little tiny barbs. Jabbing the needle quickly into the wool creates the felt. The friction and heat join the fibers. It’s also important to realize that this process is done without any water. In fact, using wet fibers will cause the felting needle to rust.

Here is a step-by-step process:

1. Prepare the felting surface. Place the Styrofoam under your already felted base piece. (Using a piece of Styrofoam gives the needle something other than your thigh to sink into.) Begin to lay out your design. Realize as you plan your design that since felting causes wool to shrink, your design will pull in a little and you’ll need more fiber to cover the area you’d like to fill. This is especially true if you are using yarn to make lines.

Spread the roving for a transparent effect. Roll it between your hands for a solid, chunky shape. Manipulate it in a way that works for the look you are seeking.

2. Prepare your felting needle according to the package’s directions. My felting needles stick out from a little knob, but yours may be different. If you are going to be felting a large area, and your tools allow it, use more than one felting needle. If you are doing a smaller area, with more detail, use only one at a time for the most control. You’ll probably need to switch from many needles to only one as you need to be more precise.

3. This is the fun and dangerous part. Quickly and repeatedly jab the felting needles into your design, being extremely careful not to poke your fingers, thumbs or any other body parts. You’ll want to make quick, precise jabs that go up and down. You don’t have to sink the entire needle – an inch or so will do just fine. Avoid going in at an angle, or twisting your hand because doing so could stress the needle and possibly cause it to bend. (This might be a good time to pretend you are taking revenge on the the professor who doesn’t know a good paper when it hits her in the head. Go ahead, grit your teeth, mutter angry words.)

Work in one area at a time and as you become satisfied with how felted it is, move to a different section

5. To get a cleaner, less fuzzy edge, get the piece mostly felted, avoiding the very edges. Then, use your fingers to pull the edge fibers toward the center, creating a bit of a fold. Hold your fingers and the fibers in place while you felt just the edges.

6. If you felt some areas more than others, you’ll create a three dimensional appearance. You can also use your felting needle to focus on creating a line to make a clear definition of where an edge should be.

7. To felt a string of yarn, use the same general technique. Just lay the yarn down, and then felt it in the same up and down motions. Just know that when you needle felt yarn, it especially pulls in as it shrinks.

Continue until you are satisfied with how everything looks. Marvel at your brilliance, skill and newfound optimism. Call the piece “complete.”

About what I used in the photos:

My rovings were from Prairie Winds Farm, Lakeville, Indiana. The yarn that I used to write the word “Love” is Knit Picks, Wool of the Andes in Cherry Blossom. The base piece is also KP Wool of the Andes in Hyacinth. My needle felting tool is from the Colonial Needle Co. Fiber Trends also supplies felting needles, as do many others. If your LYS doesn’t carry felting needles or roving, try a local spinning and weaving shop. (And my Styrofoam is from a mini-fridge.)