Halfway there!

annetrelac03thumb
Originally uploaded by stacybeads

Here it is--Annetrelac sock #1. I love it, and it fits great. After the entrelac leg section, the pattern calls for increasing back to 72 stitches, but I knew that would be way too big for my tiny feet. I increased to 56 stitches (a guess, really, since I didn't do a gauge swatch for this project) and that was perfect.

Another view

Here's a close-up of Allie's sock. Wow, Anne sure is some gorgeous yarn.

Anybody out there who was thinking of participating in the knitalong but hasn't done so yet, please join us! Just email Susan and let her know you want to sign up.

A tale of two gauges

Here are Peyton's and Allie's socks, both being modeled by Peyton. Peyton's sock (shown with just ribbing done) is done at the gauge the pattern called for, but she increased the stitch count to make the sock fit her better. Allie's sock (with the entrelac section) follows the pattern's original stitch count, but she is getting fewer stitches per inch than the gauge the pattern called for. As you can see, both socks fit pretty much the same. Which is good, since Allie's sock is actually a belated Christmas present for Peyton! Hopefully these ladies will join us and can tell you more about their Annetrelac experiences than I can.

It's happening!

Wow, I can't believe how much I'm enjoying the entrelac. I expected to love the result, but not the process, so this is a pleasant surprise. I did have to rip out my first two tiers of blocks because I realized I had misunderstood the instructions. When it says to do that series of steps "7 more times," I neglected to count the actual times I'd done it. I just assumed when I got to the end of the round, I was done, and I started going back the other way. WRONG. The rounds are actually meaningless for the entrelac section, so I removed my marker. It was only confusing me! Now I'm on the right track and loving the way this sock looks. Fun fun fun.

Pretty pretty pretty yarn

Unlike everyone else, I chose a yarn that has minimal color variation cuz, well, I wanted to see the subtleties of the shading when I start my entrelac pattern.  So I took some pictures at the shop and have posted a couple.  It's kind of hard to see the subtlety in just one shot, so here are a couple in a couple of different lights.  The color is just a shade darker than the second photo, kind of a dark rust.  Which is a color I wear often, so I'm really looking forward to getting started on knitting this cool pattern soon.

On the Wild Sock Ride

Well, I've sent out the invitations for the Annetrelac Knitalong, including the links to this blog and to the Interweave Press pattern download, and I'm really, really getting excited about this whole thing! I mean, the Yahoo Group has been a great vehicle to promote the shop, but this is the time that a group of us from the shop, customers and staff, are going to be able to do something together - suffer, I mean, create a pair of socks from a challenging pattern, and each of us will share our experiences: our choice of yarn, our reading the pattern, our figuring out how the pattern works, our cursing, our successes, etc. I'm really looking forward to seeing it all come together.

So today, I'll take my camera into work and take a photo of the yarn I'm going to use. When the latest shipment of Anne yarn came in last month, there were several subtle shades in addition to the colors that were brown with a splash of teal, or multi-blue -red and -green. I chose a red that has very subtle shading, to see how the effect of entrelac knitting will show up on the entrelac portion of the sock.

To all the others on this blog, why did you choose the color you chose?

And one more thing to think about - Betsy, late of Cast-On Cottage, came by the shop on Thursday to drop off some brochures for her knitting week at Sweet Briar, called "Lace at Sweet Briar," in June. There are several different styles of lace being taught that week, and she is teaching the knitted lace seminar. I remember back in 2000 or 2001 (is the project really THAT old??) she taught entrelac at Cast-On, and one of the neat things about entrelac is that the rows are so short, you can actually knit backwards. I may have gotten myself into a hole here, but I'm going to try to remember how to knit backwards to share with the others in this group. If I can't, I might be able to convince Betsy to stop by the shop for a one-evening seminar on this technique. I'm sure she'd be thrilled, and she's always been a fantastic teacher.

OK, well, I'll head into the shop with yarn and camera now. This is going to be one wild ride!