Short row toe simplified

I'm typing this up as a reminder to myself for the next time I have to do a short row heel or toe.

I kept having difficulty having more stitches than I was supposed to after the toe was I could live with. It wouldn't be 100% perfect, but after a certain point I didn't care. I finally figured out a way to do it that keeps me on track with the needles.

First of all, if you decide to do this and you knit as badly as I do, I highly recommend taking some yarn finer than the yarn you're knitting with in a highly contrasting color and string it through the stitches on the needle. This is called a lifeline, and you should do it at least twice. Once before you start the toe, and again before you start knitting the second half of the short row. This way, if you screw up and have to frog it, you don't have as much stress trying to pick the stitches back up and put them on the needle correctly. Don't take them out until the toe is completely done.

The yarnover increases (circled in yellow) are made of yarn overs at the beginning of each row after the toe is begun.
short row pic

Say you start out with 32 stitches on the needles to make the toe. As you make the first row, you do a yarnover increase at the beginning which makes a doubled-looking stitch on the needle. Count each yarnover doubled stitch as one stitch, and count the stitches in between as you go. These should equal 32 stitches throughout the knitting of the toe.

count stitches pic

The goal of the first half of the short rows is to decrease the stitches down to the number specified in the pattern you're using, usually from 10-14 stitches. The fewer the stitches, the pointier the toe.

1. Do a yarnover increase on the first stitch at the beginning of the row; knit or purl the remaining 31 stitches.

2. Turn work. Do a yarnover increase on the first stitch; knit or purl the next 30 stitches, avoiding working the stitches of the previous yarnover increase.

3. Continue these two steps until you have the required number of stitches in the middle as pictured above.

4. If you're on a knit row, knit together the two stitches of the yarnover increase. If you're on a purl row, purl the two stitches together (do this the same way throughout).
pic 4

5. Pick up the bar closest to the next yarnover increase. Knit or purl it like you did the previous stitch. Turn.

pic 5

6. Knit the picked up stitch and the yarnover increase together to make one stitch. Knit across to the next yarnover.

7. Knit the two stitches of the yarnover together. Pick up and knit the bar closest to the next yarnover stitch. Turn.

Continue steps 4 through 7 until all the yarnover increases have been knit up and you have 32 stitches on the needle. This ends the short row toe or heel with a little pocket. At this point, you can kitchener the toe to the bottom of the foot, or continue the foot part of the sock you're making.

Well, would you look at that?

Unbelievable hats at sockpr0n: Hats made from batting

Dedicating my stash

These are the plans for the yarn in my stash this year.

laceweight yarn from vieuxrouet on Etsy.com:
I plan to make the Bosom Buddy shawl from Carry (web site link). Actually, make that the Short Row Shawlette, which won't take quite as long. I'm making it on really big needles, and it looks like it's going to be very pretty. It should go very well with the black clothes I'm almost always wearing.(Speaking of black clothes, I think I have been wearing black so often that when I try on light-colored clothes, they don't look like they work on me. I'm thinking it's force of habit and personal paranoia.)



laceweight from NoTwoSnowflakes (NTS) on Etsy.com:
Okay, my pictures just don't do this yarn justice. I love it! It reminds me, first and foremost, of all the green and blue ocean pictures you see in photos. It looks like it should smell like the sea. After a week or so, I also thought of mints. I seriously expect a pretty smell whenever I take a sniff of it. I am considering making a lace tank from Interweave Knits (Summer 2004 issue, the same one that the Madli's Shawl and Juliet sweater patterns are in). Or the Radio City Music Hall Scarf NTS created to go with the laceweight.

I got the yarn in the first laceweight yarn club she is offering, and will receive two more shipments, I think. I was so impressed looking at the color changes in this skein. I don't know what I expected when I joined the lace club, but this exceeds my expectations in a big way. After getting such a great skein, in a huge amount of yarn (880 yards), I have absolutely no problem paying $80 for membership. I think I'm getting more than my money's worth! If you can't tell, I'm very pleased.

NTS's plan is to offer the club on a limited basis, at first. The colorways are a surprise, but you do get to choose color families along the lines of jewel, neutral, and other categories. If I can bust my stash far enough, I will join again next year.

This particular club is closed, but there are several skeins of laceweight and other multicolor yarns on NoTwoSnowflakes' Etsy site. I highly recommend you go there and snap some up before it's gone. The pictures of her current offerings are what drew me to the laceweight club in the first place. She also dyes yarn to order.

I've changed my mind several times about what to make with the green stuff since I got the order, because there are a few shawls I want to make as well. Maybe if I don't like knitting on the lace tank all that much, I'll track down the pattern for the swallowtail shawl and make it from that.

Lily Sugar n Cream dishcloth yarn:
I've completed one dishcloth using my own pattern from the peach colored yarn. Actually, I keep calling it peach, but on the label it says the colorway is "daisy" something. Ask me if I care. lol

It took several frog/reknit sessions to get the dishcloth to match on each end, make the lacy holes look like holes instead of a hidden opening, and think of a suitable border. I tried it several times in the blue yarn, then when I thought I had it down, I used the yellow yarn. I still wound up frogging certain parts.

So what does this mean for the blue yarn? My made up pattern is going to be much simpler. Since I like the checkerboard design and the way the three rows of single crochet looked on the finished daisy dishcloth, I'm going to use one big four square checkerboard design edged in several rows of single crochet. The KISS method will be used to full effect.

I'm also going to use a smaller needle and make the dishcloth using fewer stitches. I had comments that the daisy dishcloth was too big, but at this point, I don't care. I am mainly trying to bust my stash and get rid of the dishcloth yarn with a usable object. Maybe this will make two small dishcloths instead of one large one. I don't really want to stretch out the process of getting rid of the Sugar and Cream this way, but I'll do what I have to.

My mom said she wants black and white dishcloths to match her kitchen. I told her that I would teach her how to crochet so she could make her own. I am not volunteering to do any more projects for people unless it's on my own initiative. I am still working on a rug project for her that I started years ago, and I never want to put myself in this position again.

blue jean laceweight yarn:
This yarn from Kindred Spirit's Etsy shop is still waiting to be turned into something beautiful. I have gone back and forth on what I want to do with it several times, choosing a scarf, then remembering that I almost never wear scarves. Then I'll think blouse, which would probably be way too thin for my liking. That said, though, it might make great fingerless gloves as a layer of warmth for the office.

It's 880 yards, so maybe the Print of the Wave stole by Eunny Jang would be a good choice. Or perhaps, if I don't make the Radio City Music Hall Scarf in the green lace, I could make it in this one. The jury's still out on this yarn, really. I do love it, though.

It's a purse! No, it's a tank! No, wait....I bought these two yarns to make a purse designed by Wendy Wannacot.

I love the zigzags on this purse, but my first attempt didn't go very well. I'm going to try it again, but it's going to be a while.

If the second attempt doesn't work out, I'm going to try to use the yarn for the Interweave Confectionary Tank, which uses multiple colorways and would make a great top under a jacket.

I'm seriously considering buying that particular issue (Summer 2008). There's about six projects in there that I would love to have, and don't mind waiting on.



















orchid Shibui Knits sock yarn:
What else, but socks? The plan is to take this yarn and mix it with the Peony colorway to make striped socks. Vertical stripes would be cool.

I love that there's shots of lime green in this yarn, and am looking forward to seeing how it works as a blend.

I love the squooshy, springy feel of this yarn. I think it would make a really nice sweater, top, gloves, etc. And almost all the colorways are a refreshing, bright color. You should see the Midnight colorway. I think I'm going to order some of that, too.

This particular post has gotten kind of long for me. I think I will just continue it in my next post.

Woo Hoo! We have a chick row!

I was worried, really worried. The chicks looked like yellowish, lopsided blobs that were NOT going to work out to be chicks, so I'm really relieved at this point.

Just for a refresher (and since it's going to be a while since I finish), here's a pic of what the dress will look like when done.




My other project, the contour rug, has three rows of green left before I add on the lace border. Even though I am in the June challenge, I just went ahead and bought two more skeins to get me past this and hopefully through the rest of the toilet portions of the project.



The last toilet parts to make are the oval cover for the lid, which has tufts, the cover for the lid of the tank portion, and a cover for the tank.



These are the pieces to make after I'm done with the toilet stuff.

June Destashing Challenge 2008

I didn't get very much accomplished for the May challenge. I actually went up in yardage instead of down, but I got some great yarn in the process (Sonny and Shear was having an economic stimulus sale).

Here are my new favorites.

This laceweight (Mama Llama Jaggerspun) is going to be for a shawl project. I'm afraid I'm going to need another 2 balls of it to make a Forest Path Stole. I may pick a project with smaller yardage.

I love this yarn. I love the way the color runs from the pinkish to another color that's almost cafe au lait. It is beautiful stuff. I wonder how it will look knitted up.





This is a skein of Shibui Knits sock yarn. It's so pretty and springy and cute. I love the way it stretches, and look forward to buying more sometime. They have an awesome Midnight Blue colorway and a few others I'm looking at.

I want to mix a row of multicolor Shibui with a row of coordinating solid color of Shibui to make a sock, with the hope that the solid would mute the wildness of the multicolor, and blend in at the same time. If I'd had more money when I'd placed the order, I would be trying this technique right now.

I also brought these two Cascade Arcadia yarns, in aqua and sprout:

I want to make the Triple Braided Diamond Turtleneck with these, if I can find enough yarn. It's pictured on the cover of a book called The Pleasures of Knitting ($20.40) by Ann McCauley. There are a lot of beautiful sweaters in there, but the cover sweater is the main one that caught my eye. This is one of the first sweater books I've looked through that gave me the Jones to knit a sweater. I think it will go a lot faster than the sock projects, and where it doesn't, I'll have the cables to keep me interested.

I found a copy of it at the library, which shocked me, because they almost never have the books I'm looking for. I'm going to buy it one of these days. It's a lovely book, full of inspiration.

And for even better news:

I have added progress bars to my page! Look at 'em! I found a link to how to make them by doing a search on Google, and I am so very pleased. Now I can list everything I'm working on, and everything I've finished. I'm going to figure out how to add pictures of the projects too, like I've seen on a few other blogs. Yayyy!!!

I'm seriously considering giving away the ball of Lily Sugar and Cream yarn. I don't mind the peachy color, but I really dislike knitting with the stuff. Every time I look at it in my stash, I'm underwhelmed. I should just find a good home for it on Ravelry and call it done.

Oh, one more thing. There's this site online that sells knitting bags for way less than I've been finding on other sites. I will get the link later, but I gotta tell you. I have been balking at paying upwards of $60 and $70 dollars for a tote. The one I have been using is not perfect, but it's not $60 bucks!

The link I found earlier has bags for $9.99 and up, which is way more my speed. There's a lady on Ravelry selling a $50 something dollar one she bought from Knitpicks for $29.95; I have to know what she'd charge in postage before I bought it. I'm even balking at that price, if you can believe it. I'm also not sure where I'm going to put it. It has bars on the outside to keep it standing upright. I don't know how unwieldy that would be.