A Comment from Antje!!!

WalleyeGirl and I have been muddling through our first attempt at knitting two socks at once on two circulars.  We were both knitting the basic sock pattern from Antje Gillingham’s book Knitting Circles Around Socks.

A while ago we were both struggling a bit picking up the second set of gusset stitches.  Imagine my surprise to receive a comment from Antje Gillingham herself!  Here’s what she said…

You’re right! Picking up the second set of gusset sts is rather weird…let me try to explain.

After you’ve turned the heel and picked up the first set of gusset sts (each sock is worked separately!), you should be able to turn your work and knit across both sets of instep sts. Then turn your work again. The heels are facing you. Cover both tips of the 24″ needle. Only the tips of the 16″ needle are exposed. Slide the sts of the first heel flap to be worked close to the corresponding needle tip. Then take that heel flap in your left hand. With the right hand grab the other needle tip and bring it around the front to the heel flap you’re holding in your hand. You should be able to begin and pick up the second set of gusset sts, this time starting with the corner stitch and working your way up the side of the flap.

Once those are picked up you can easily knit across the heel and down the other side of the flap. Then you’re once again set up to pick up the gusset sts of the second sock, beginning with the corner stitch.

Hope this helps!
Happy knitting!!
Antje

Thank you Antje for taking the time to clarify this for us.  I’m working on the Anne’s Magic Stripe socks now, so I’ll refer to these notes when I’m ready to start picking up the 2nd set of gusset stitches.

Last night while watching Akeela and the Bee I started the Magic Stripe socks over so I could do a k1 p1 cuff as instructed, instead of the k2 p2 cuff I had started.  The movie was good fun and I’m loving using the hand dyed sock yarn from Louise.

Unfortunately, after I finished the cuffs and was a few rows down the leg, I found ANOTHER HOLE.  I studied it and studied it. It was a big loose bit of yarn, but it wasn’t a dropped stitched. I always seem to get at least one of these per item I knit.

I  haven’t found a way to fix them besides unknitting to that point and then reknitting. Very annoying in any project, but how to do it when knitting two at once?  Is it possible to slip a needle through the row below where I want to fix, so that I can rip back rather than unknit?

I dug out two more #2 needles (good thing I have the largest collection of #2 circulars in captivity) and  then ripped back.  It was challenging to slide the needle in to the k1, p1 ribbing and in some places I was up or down a row from what I intended.  So, when I ripped back, some stitches were not quite right; there was an extra stitch above  the row I was in.  When I started to knit again, I kept having runs of working yarn that were anchored at both ends.  Slowly I figured it out.

However, when all seemed right, I had two working yarns, one on each half of the sock!   That should not be.  In this method, each sock is knit from its own ball of yarn. There is only one working yarn per sock.

I wondered if I had accidentally knit both socks with one ball at some point, but no.  they were separate.  The times I’ve accidentally used the same ball for a round, the socks become conjoined, and that had not happened here.

I never did figure out what had happened, so for the second time that night, I ripped them out completely.  Today I need to get a pedicure. I may try casting on for what truly must be at least the sixth time.  <sigh>

At least I really, REALLY like how the yarn knits up when I’m not making mistakes. It isn’t exactly striping, the color runs are not quite that long, but that makes it perfect for short attention span knitting.  (No pictures. I refuse to take any until I make progress, or I have another hole and can show it here for suggestions. I’m hoping for the former.)

My traveling project is an infant hat.  Not certain I have enough of the premmie hat yarn left to make it. May need to frog the final premmie hat for the yarn, which is too bad since the final premmie hat looks nice.  However, friends here have a baby who could use a hat. Taxis and doctor offices are cold, and he has a few health complications  that mean he will probably be spending some time in doctors’ offices.