Knitting by the pool…
…and in airports and on planes, while we spent nearly three lovely weeks in Thailand with a weekend in Malaysia at the end. We flew from Frankfurt to Phuket for a week (via Bangkok) then stayed in Bangkok for a few days. Then it was off to Chiang Mai for a few days before our final stay in Kuala Lumpur (via Bangkok) and then to Frankfurt – yes, via Bangkok!
Cologne hasn’t been as cold as in previous years but it was still lovely to escape to somewhere warm. We’ve been to these places before so this holiday focussed on enjoying the lovely weather, eating good food and relaxing. I’m very pleased that I knitted a whole pair of socks while we were away. I modified the pattern heavily but I have to say these are now the best-fitting pair of socks I own. 🙂
Lattice is usually knit from the cuff down but of course this symmetrical diamond pattern lends itself to be turned on its head. The stitch count posed a greater problem. I started off with 64 stitches (8-stitch repeat) and blithely knitted half a foot before admitting to myself that this was really too loose and starting again now would be a Very Good Idea. So I did. 60 stitches as usual but now, of course, this pattern wasn’t working out. It was fine on the foot where the sole is smooth stocking stitch (I used 32 stitches for the top and only 28 for the sole) but I had to come up with a solution for the leg. I decided to just stop the rounds 4 stitches short. So there is a bit of a join on the inside leg but not much and if you’re not a knitter you’d probably not even notice it!
Why does this sock fit so well? Apart from having a round of only 60 stitches? The Sweet Tomato Heel.
This is Cat Bordhi’s great adaptation of a short row heel where you work wedges to get you round the cup of the heel. Cat Bordhi recommends working the heel over two-thirds of the stitches. Well I wasn’t up for messing with my diamonds so I used my heel stitches and increased at the sides and the centre back of the heel to create a little more fullness. Then I worked two full wedges and a half wedge (to avoid having a little pouch of extra fabric at the top of the heel). I worked the second sock mirrored so that the join is again hidden on the inside leg. Perfect.