Speaking of Which….
Since Caet mentioned it:
Here they are!! Ribbons and all, blocked and ready to wear! I have garters to help hold them up, although the ribbons help a lot – and they look good!!
I would love to show you modelled shots, but – well, you don’t need to know me THAT well, do you? I’ll be sure to get our wedding photographer to take some really fantastic shots without getting all icky, and I’ll share those.
Project Stats:
Pattern: Bellocq Stockings by Marnie MacLean for Stitch Diva
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Rose Quartz, two skeins and about a third of a third skein
Needles: Size 1 Crystal Palace DPNs, size 2 Crystal Palace DPNs, and size 2 16″ Addi Turbo circular (which is larger than the CP size 2 DPNs)
Extras: Hanah silk ribons and a pearl for trim
Start Date: March 23, 2007
Finish Date: April 19, 2007 (stocking #1), May 27, 2007 (stocking #2)
Pattern Notes: I knitted the size tall medium. The changes I made to the pattern were negligible; I changed up the thigh shaping a bit to suit my own needs.
I’m so happy to have them done and looking so good. I could have been happier with them if the pooling hadn’t been so bad…but I’ll survive.
And I had to have a little something blue, right? My last order from my favorite stitchmarker Etsy shop included this little barely-blue freshwater pearl marker. She includes a little giftie with the orders, and this was my giftie – as soon as I saw it, I knew I was going to have to include it in the stocking – I slipped it onto the yarn before I did the three needle bind-off. I’m trying to include as many of my favorite artists as I can!
Can’t wait to see everyone else’s finished objects! Loved this pattern!!
–alyson–
Done!
One down!! One down!!! One (blurry) sock completed!(I apologize for all the horribly blurry photos I’m about to hit you with – I don’t have the best lighting in my house. These were taken in our closet.)
Blurry pooling – as you can see, this one will need to be worn on the right leg. The only thing I could/should have done differently is the thigh shaping – but only because it turns out that I didn’t need it. Or I should have gone back down a needle size. Basically, it turns out that my leg is almost the same width from upper calf to upper thigh. Shaping isn’t the most important thing when that’s the case. (Yes, I measured. But.) Still, with the help of garters, no problem. I knitted the border on tightly, decreasing the sock from 112 stitches down to 96 before knitting on the border. I’ll do the second sock the same way, even though it would save me time to just cut out the thigh shaping or change something – I want the socks to match.
Refresher: I’m knitting with Socks that Rock in Rose Quartz. I’ll be buying some Hanah silk ribbons for the border eventually. (If anyone’s not sure where to get them, I know this shop carries a zillion colors. They are really fabulously beautiful, and other ribbons just don’t compare.)
(Now I’m just being silly.)
There’s the leaf lace border, which I attached wrong-side-facing the first time but managed to catch it in a few rows and nailed it almost perfectly the second time.
Look, two socks! Ohhh. No. Still got that other one I have to do, huh?
And this one only took me one day shy of four weeks! (I should be moving so much more quickly on these – but if I did the math right, the thigh alone has almost 9,000 stitches. So I can cut myself a little slack.)
(Posted by Alyson)
Progress
It’s me again. I feel like I’m spamming here. Anyways, I finally got around to trying my sock on. Pics posted.
A Top Down View
Views from the Sides
I’m still not entirely happy with the heel, but if I weren’t the one making the project, I wouldn’t guess it’s a first sock. Overall, I feel good about the whole thing. Except the perfectionist personality who is insisting that I’m bonkers for not trying to get the heel perfect.
Very convinced the heel problem is a twisted stitch, though. Oops.
I’m definitely stopping at a crew sock, though. I don’t like the yarn well enough to keep going. I like the pattern well enough to find a yarn that I like and start again, though, so all is not lost. 
Cheers.
-Caet
Heel Questions
I finally conquered the heel, I think. There’s still a gap between the original lace and the short rows, though. Right now it looks like an extra yo, so I’m leaving it on this sock, but for future reference, is there a way to prevent that gap? I feel like I’m missing something obvious.
For the record, I’m doing the plain heel. I know I asked earlier, but I was at the better of the two LYS’s and I’d forgotten the pattern and didn’t feel like fudging. Therefore, I went with the chart I knew. Apparently the change of venue was what was needed to progress. I feel better now. Still hate the yarn, but now I know I’m dumping it in kool-aid or tea when I’m done knitting. And making certain the yarn is never peach again will be very satisfying.
Cheers.
-Caet
Update, no pics yet
Well, I finally gave up trying to figure out what I was doing wrong on the heel and frogged back and did it over. The second time went much more smoothly, except I then dropped a stitch. I’m not sure if I want to back out and pick it up now or just tie it down and weave it up when I hit that part of the next round. *rolls eyes* I wonder if it would help if I liked the yarn I’m working with? It’s driving me nuts. I’ll find batteries for my camera and take pics of what I have so far, maybe someone else can see the problem.
At the rate this is going, I think I might stop at a crew sock and knit the second as quickly as possible. And probably return the second skein of yarn if I still have the receipt. If I can’t figure this out soon, I might put the whole thing down for a little while in favor of my sweater.
Hopefully everyone else is having a better go of it.
Cheers.
-Caet
Update and Question
Happy Tuesday, everyone.
Alyson, your stocking is gorgeous. I’m thinking when I’m done with this first pair, I’ll have to knit one in a variegated of some sort.
And, Caet, I’m so with you on short rows. I like the way the heel looks now that I’m done, but picking up TWO wraps was often… well, I did a lot of frogging. And there are these fuzzy little loops where I split stitches. Now, I went back and un-split the stitches, but the yarn was still frazzled in the process. It doesn’t look bad, it’s just evidence of the struggle.
This is a real education. I’ve never done toe-up socks, I’ve never done socks that required shaping. Suddenly, I have a question. I finished the first heel and did my 12 rounds leading to the calf shaping (not a great photo for detail, but these are for my sis-in-law, whose foot is 2 1/2 sizes smaller than mine, so I can no longer model it, now that there is a heel in place)…
…where I’m supposed to do 108 rounds of Chart E. My question: am I supposed to work the chart pattern all the way around (on both needles), or just on the calf side of the stocking?
posted by Marin
I finished the heel on my first sock last night. Two hours, it took. Although part of that was spent talking and looking at other people’s projects. Go Knit night. Pics when I’ve found my camera.
I don’t really like short rows. I always seem to miss the second wrap on the purl side. I caught it early enough to fix it without frogging, so I’m proud of myself. Learned how to move wraps over too. Go me. Then I proceeded to get very lost on the lacing, so I think I’m frogging a bit anyways. I was going to just do a plain heel, but I think I might go back, since I have to anyways, and try the Cuban heel. I’ll take suggestions.
Cheers.
-Caet
Let’s talk progress…
Okay, so it’s time for the semi-regular status update on my thigh-high Bellocqs!
Moving right along, no?
I had to stretch the stocking up and hold it in place – without the border or anything in place to keep it where it belongs, it slouches down around the knee. Observe:
I’m not completely unopposed to this look, because the baggy-sock-around-the-knee look actually works wonders for my thighs. Who knew?? I may start wearing baggy thigh-high stockings all the time.
As with all my photos, click for bigger if you want better detail – I want to show off the clever shaping.
The thigh shaping chart I’m working off of is Chart G – I’m 3/4 of the way through the first repeat of the chart, and I have one more full repeat to go. I’m going to try it on again when I get to the end of this repeat, though, and if I can get away with it, I’m just going to work the vine pattern for the rest of the stocking – I’m concerned that adding another 16 stitches to this would make it way too large, and I don’t really want to change needles again. (I may have overestimated the size of my thighs – isn’t that happy news?!)
I’m dreading the border a bit – I’m quite certain I’m going to muck that up several times…I’m leaning on someone else out there to tackle and conquer it first!
**Right, name. Sorry. Posted by Alyson.**
Weather
Well, I’m officially disgusted. See, it’s been snowing for two whole days now… I’m knitting my socks in wool. This would be the perfect time to wear them. Nice warm and pretty socks to go with the mostly cold weather and snow. As it is, I’ve been sidetracked for the whole weekend, so I just finished my third, of the second attempt, lace rep today and haven’t even started the heel. Disgusted.
On the flip side, I’m doing very well stomping on my perfectionist side. I’ve got a pact with myself that as long as I don’t drop stitches, if I don’t notice a mistake in the first round after it’s made, I’m not going back. I’ve accidentally added stitches across the foot and k2tog to fix that and I’ve got a k2tog that was supposed to be a ssk. Just thinking about it makes my hand itch, but I’m determined not to frog again, at all, unless I drop a stitch. In short, I, sort of, want it to look like a second project. Because it is.
So that’s my knitting life lately.
Cheers.
-Caet
Checking In
May 29, 2007 at 5:16 pm (Crew version, General comments)
How is everyone doing? My first sock is done, but I haven’t started the second yet. I’ve been working on my sweater and a shawl instead and would like to get those off the needles before I cast on for another sock.
I had a little bit of trouble figuring out the border, but I just made sure I counted and didn’t have to frog at all. The BO is uneven, because I dropped my YO’s when picking up the provisional caston. Oops. The people I showed the sock said they couldn’t find it, so I figure I’ll just leave it. What’s the point of having a handmade item if it doesn’t have mistakes anyways.
I don’t have any pics right now. My camera seems to have been lost in the shuffle of moving and I haven’t had a chance to unpack much as I’m still deciding what stuff needs to go into storage at my parent’s house.
I think that’s all my news. Congratulations to Alyson on her rapidly approaching wedding, that’s getting close now, isn’t it..?
Cheers.
-Caet
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