The socks for my mom are done! They were not finished in time for Xmas morning, but I gave them to her anyway with the needles still in them. I was able to complete the socks the following day and, ta da, they fit! My mom makes a terrific sock/foot model. Big thanks to my brother Dave for taking photos and directing the “photo shoot”.
Pattern: Improvised, based on the stitch pattern from my Dembow hat
Yarn: Miss Babs Yummy Superwash Sock and Baby Yarn (100% Merino), in colorway Rosewood
Needles: US 1 – 2.25 mm (the REAL size 1 needles)
Notes: I wound this yarn into two skeins and knit from each end. The yarn coming from one end of the skein was much more mottled, making one sock a little bit stripey. I like the mottled, stripey look, though I wish the whole skein had been like that. The yarn is lovely and really grew and softened up after blocking. The Dembow stitch is not difficult in the slightest, but I wasn’t paying proper attention (perhaps I shouldn’t watch reggaeton videos while knitting) and I messed up multiple times. Whoops! All fixed.
Now, the needles. I exclusively use Knit Picks 32″ circular needles for knitting socks via magic loop. I have 2 pairs of Knit Picks size 1 US (2.25 mm) needles, or so I thought. For a while now I’ve been suspecting that one set of size 1 needles is larger in diameter than the other. What I needed was a caliper to confirm my suspicions. I asked my dad if he owned a caliper and sure enough, he had not one but two calipers. And the calipers do confirm that I am the owner of a set of regular size 1 US needles AND a set of needles measuring somewhere between sizes 1 and 1.5 US. Gee, great. I think I need to invest in a caliper. That’s one cool tool.
I blogged about the difference in needles of different materials in the same size. Now I know that I should measure all needles!
I only finished my mom’s Christmas socks this past Sat, so you did better than me! I’m a biomedical engineer, so I appreciated your comment about calipers.
(sjn821)
Hmm, calipers? I think I’ll have to add that to my list of items needed for knitting, along with the digital scale that will measure in grams, and the knitting chart generator program. Dembow looks quite nice, in all the forms I’ve seen here! Still working on my Dad’s socks (size 10.5, wide!), but they weren’t necessarily for Christmas. However, he’s 84 years young, and I’d like him to have a few chances to wear the socks, so I need to get crackin’ on the things.