...And the Angels Sang...

When last we saw my Sockapalooooza socks, sock #1 had been bound off with a modified tubular bind off and, quite frankly, I, for one, was less than satisfied with the end result. Yes, it was still not pulling its weight, so to speak, and was (albeit just a tiny bit) too binding a bind off.

There was some mention of a possible toe-up epiphany of sorts, and my friends, I think I have seen the light!












(If you think the modified tubular bind off is a pig, try undoing it!)












Original bind off taken out, and stitches ready to give it another go...













But, what's this? Who is this hero on the horizon?


Why, yes, it's humble old Rainbow Elastic, available, oddly enough, in a rainbow of colors!













Will it work?

Yes, my friends, it does! It does leave you with two extra ends to weave in, but this really does seem to alleviate the binding bind off. I used the good ole modified tubular bind off, but this would also work with EZ's sewn bind off or even a standard bind off (colormatching would be more of an issue with this option, as you'd actually have basically a round knit in the elastic) knitter's choice!

I know I can't be the first to have thought of this, but it really has opened the previously self restricted door to all those lovely toe-up patterns out there I had been avoiding due to my picky-ness about achieving just the right bind off!

I hope my sock pal is as happy with it as I am!

Tale of Woe/Tales of Whoa!

(giggle...homonyms...)
First, the tale of woe... I fmelted my Rogue. Fmelted because it was knit from Encore Worsted and it seems that it inadvertently got put in the dryer on High. It shrunk ever so slightly, and is currently covered in an inextricable veil of matty fuzz. Best I can tell is that the wool content felted and the acrylic just said, "Be my guest!" Sigh. At least it was a fun knit, and there were some issues I was too lazy to fix that I will make better when I make the new one. Yes, I will be making a new Rogue, since I have found it to be a very wearable sweater. This time I'll be knitting it in 22o, which I just so happen to have enough of, purchased to make the Sunrise Circle Jacket. Eh, I'd rather have Rogue right now.

Tale of Whoa #1: While working on the Succulent Socks (almost done!), I was using my Inox dpns, which were not so pointy as I usually like, but I was doing alright until, struggling to pull a stitch through one of the decreases, something slipped and my working needle dropped the 13 already worked stitches! After I got everything back where it belonged, I immediately switched over to the oh-so-pointy-they-might-just-attack-you KnitPicks dpns. Oh, so much better for socky lace!

Tale of Whoa #2: My dear friend (and LYS owner) Emily got me Blocking Wires! I couldn't wait to try them out, and so I reblocked my grandmother's shawl. Last time I used thread, but since this shawl requires rather, um, agressive blocking? I still ended up with weird peaks along the top edge in my attempt to prevent it from coming out U shaped. So, per Emily's request, here are some pics of the wires in action: