Knitted Feats and Knitted Feets

First the knitted feat, though it really wasn't a big deal: Asana is finished!

Aren't these labels cute? My "happy 3rd anniversary of my 30th birthday to me" gift last month, courtesy of The Yarn Harlot's Christmas Gifts For Knitters links.

Well, at least the knitting and seaming portion is done. I have a wee (very wee) bit of sewing to do, and then I just need to size it for others, send it off to Knitty and hope for the best. Not to jinx myself, but I will be shocked if it doesn't get published - I'm very excited about the way this one turned out. (But I'll still love ya regardless, Amy!*)

Wallce, on the other hand, is not finished, but perhaps I'll get to work on it during the SuperKnit. I mean Bowl. Superbowl.

Now for the knitted feet. First, for all of you who have been coveting the fresh baked bread that my little tootsies recieved last month, my friend Mary has kindly provided the "recipe", which you can find in the extended entry. It is a recipe in Southern style - an amalgam of sockish wisdom, though not perhaps something for the sock uninitiated - my favorite kind!

In addition, I have been busy getting ready to knit some feet myself. After scouting around my Sockapalooza sock pal's blog to figure out what colors she likes, I picked out a bit of koigu for her while we were in LA. She likes "bight colors." I'm guessing these will fit the bill:

Loverly, eh?

Since she also likes ankle socks, I thought Crusoe would be a good choice. I may have to make a pair of these for myself as well....

Finally, I could use a little fabric moral support. I found this great stuff at G Street Fabrics the other day and am planning to use it to make fabulous curtains for the bathroom:

I think it's rather hard to resist....

Moxie has made exactly two comments:

"It looks like a flower threw up."

and the real winner:

"Don't get creative in my environment."

Ours is a candid marriage.

*Speaking of La Knitty Queen, did you see that Amy re-worked my teeny tiny sweater pattern to fit her Blythe dolls? Too cute!

Mary's Sock Recipe and Yarn Info

"Here's the sock poop:

I wasn't following a specific pattern when I made your socks. I generally cast on 64 stitches on size one (2.25 mm) when I'm going to do stockinette with sock weight yarn. (When you work with 5 needles, a cast on multiple of 4 will make ribbing easier.) I work about 1 and 1/4" with whatever ribbing I feel like, then I do stockinette until the leg is about 7 and 1/4". I work a heel flap of 32 rows over 32 stitches, turn the heel and pick up and knit the gusset stitches. I pretty much use the same heel and toe methods that Sally Melville writes about in her sock pattern in her "Knit Book," except that I make the toe more round (by decreasing every other row down to 5 stitches on each needle), and I pick up a couple extra stitches on each side when I do the gusset. I knit down the foot until it is about 2" short of the length I want, and begin decreasing for the toe. I graft my toes following the directions for Kitchener stitch that you can find in the back of every issue of Interweave Knits. It's the clearest instruction I've ever seen for Kitchener stitch. Unless I'm knitting for someone I know has larger or smaller feet, I start doing toe decreases when the foot is about 7 and 1/4 to 7 and 1/2" long. That will fit most women who wear a size 7-8 shoe.

The yarn I used was Froehlich Wolle - Special Blauband that I bought at Cloverhill Yarns in Catonsville, MD. In August. I was there on Friday, and they don't have any more of that color, although they do have several tweeds in other colors. Aylin's Woolgatherer in Falls Church also carries that yarn, but I haven't been there in a while, so I don't know what the current color choices are. Special Blauband is one of my favorite sock yarns."