My Hands Hurt…

This past weekend I was lucky enough to attend Vogue Knitting Live. I took two classes, and spent a LOT of time wandering around the market, visiting friends and seeing what’s new in the fibery world.

VKL, as it’s known, ran Friday through Sunday. On Friday night I stopped by after work to hug Sarah and Sam of Cephalopod Yarns, and Kate and Elizabeth at Dragonfly Fibers. My heart was happy I got to see “my people”. While the market was open, it wasn’t terribly crowded. I’d done this before though, and I knew it was going to be insane.

On Saturday I travelled back into the city for an all day class with Cat Bordhi learning about her Sweet Tomato Heel. I don’t knit a lot of socks, but I’m in love with this heel. It’s round, and smooth, and there’s no wrap and turn. It’s totally customizable to your heel shape.

We did a wee baby sock out of worsted weight yarn just to practice the heel, then Cat taught us the most amazing, smooth round toe. It’s perfect for a toe up sock.

I immediately cast on with some Socks that Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I love BMFA yarn. I especially love Socks that Rock in medium weight. It’s my go-t0 yarn for socks. The yarn is soft, smooth, tightly twisted, and it holds up to a lot of abuse. It’s perfect for hand knit socks. The yarn I chose to bring to class was a “mill end”, which means it has some imperfections. I’ve found a single knot, and a fairly short area of more softly plied yarn. I untied the knot and wove in the ends, and I just kept going when I hit the softly plied area. That section of the yarn happened to fall in the middle of my foot where I felt it wouldn’t have a ton of friction to abrade it. If it had been at the ball of the foot, or at the heel I probably would have broken the yarn and removed the softly spun section.

I finished the toe in class. I started up the foot in class. I was so into this sock that I made it all the way to the heel before I got on the train to go home. I finished the heel on the train, and continued to knit all the way back into the city on Sunday. I knit like a woman possessed, finishing the shortie sock Sunday evening. Yes, that’s right. I knit an adult sock in less than two full days. Finished, with ends woven in, ready to wear.

My hands were not happy.

I expect that my dear readers are looking at this sock and wondering why it’s so long and shaped a little funny. Well, that’s because the sock was knit using Cat’s method of sizing directly to your foot. The sock stretches around my foot to fit like a glove, with no wrinkles or gaps. The stretching sucks up the foot, so it fits my very normal looking foot perfectly. There are increases starting about 4.5″ up the foot to accomodate the increase in the circumference of my foot as I approach the ankle. It’s Ah-Mazing.

The thing I learned from this sock is that I want to keep my increases more towards the center of what will be the bottom of the foot.

Someone in class recognized the colorway of this yarn. She mentioned it, but I don’t remember. If you know what colorway this is, please let me know!

I’ll post about my second class, and the market later.