Day 6: Other sock and some yarn...

Poor Moodles ran a temperature of 102 all day yesterday and did NOT want to be put down. Not even for a second. So, I wore her in her backpack all day and entertained her with the spinning wheel. Apparently she finds its whirring as soothing as I do, because that's pretty much all she wanted to do the entire day.

That was OK by me, because that gave me a chance to try out my new high speed whorl. I had been trying and failing, repeatedly, to make sock or lace weight yarn with my wheel. Eventually, I got sick of trying to figure it out on my own, and hit the intertubes for help. As it turns out, this is why they make different gear ratios for spinning wheels. The smaller gage your yarn, the higher twist you need.  I needed a new part for my spinning wheel. Surprisingly, amazon.com has spinning wheel parts and accessories. Problem solved... now I just need to learn to spin a consistent enough yarn not to jam up my sock machine. We will see how this batch does tonight.

Day 5: Lady's Size 7.5

Phoning this one in. Moodles has a miserable cold.

Sock Size List:

I'm developing a bit of a queue here, so before I forget, I'll start a list. If you are not on the list, and would like to be, please leave me a comment!

• Dafyd: 8-8.5 (9.75"/72 rounds in homespun)
• Alinore: 7.5 (8.75"/63 rounds in homespun)
• Tristan: 12 (11"/80 rounds in commercial)
• Alec: 11 (10.5"/75 rounds in commercial)
• Mom: 6 (8.5"/56.25 rounds in homespun)
• Kendi: 6 (8.5"/51.75 rounds in commercial)
• Teresa: 8 (9"/58  rounds in commercial)
• Chris E: 8 (9"/58 rounds in commercial)
• Zig: 9-9.5 (10"/69 rounds in commercial)
• Serina: 7 (8.75"/55 rounds in commercial)
• Gwenyth: 9.5-10 (9.5"/63 rounds in commercial)
• Red: 10 (9.5"/63 rounds in commercial)
• Corrigan: 7.5 (8.75"/55 rounds in commercial)
• Dianna: 8 (9"/58 rounds in commercial)
• Pixel 9 (9.25"/66 rounds in homespun)
• Mysie 9 (9.25"/66 rounds in homespun)

Day 4: Other Sock (Man's Size 11)

Brandon is not in yet, so I can't show you a picture of him holding his socks and looking satisfied, but his other sock is done!

Day 3: Men's Size 11

Well, since I didn't have to go to work yesterday, I finished off the second sock on the first pair (Lady's size 7.5) and this morning sent them off to their new home with the Accounting Services Lady in my office. (She lives on a farm and has given me wool from her pet sheep to play with, so she definitely deserves a pair of wool socks!)
Today's thing, as should be obvious from the subject line, is a Men's Size 11 sock, which has already been claimed by Brandon, our Administrative Associate. (I thought about giving it to him as a single, since his other leg is in a cast right now, but I'm pretty sure that he'll eventually want the second sock...)
Also, for your viewing pleasure, I made a little video of my sock machine in action: http://s186.photobucket.com/albums/x214/Mighty-Jesse/fiber/?action=view&current=VID_20110202_231044.mp4
You can see Moodles in the background, passed out cold from all the trials and tribulations of making teeth. Even the THUNK of the weights hitting the floor didn't wake her.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Day 2: Ribbed, for your pleasure.

So in today's entry we see what is probably going to represent an unprecedented amount of progress on the sock machine learning curve. (Thank you, Snowpocalypse for this unplanned furlough day...) Please don't expect this kind of progress tomorrow.
I had been using the 54 needle cylinder and fingering weight arcrylic yarn because the sock weight wool was too lacy with that few needles, but too big on the 72 needle cylinder without any ribbing. I had tried the ribber on the 54 needle cylinder, but couldn't get it to go. Due to some other inconsistencies with the 54 slot cylinder, I wasn't really convinced that it was the ribber's fault. (The 54 just doesn't seem to fit the machine like it should. I'm wondering if its a frankenstein piece from a different model year machine or something.)  Anyway, I swapped out the cylinders, which is a far more involved process than that wee sentence suggests, and gave the ribber another go. There were still issues, but this time there were knobs to twiddle that would resolve them.
So. I moved the yarn carrier so that it would clear the ribber needles, tuned the ribber dial (This was what appeared to be off on the 54 - I couldn't adjust this, as the lever arm wasn't touching the screw. Instead it was just swinging around free and not holding the dial alignment at all.) And lastly, adjusted the timing. (On the knitting machine list, most "experts" tell you not to mess with the timing, but we all know how well I follow instuctions like that. May as well put a sign on it that says "Please do not push this button again....")
Clearly, I am sufficiently lucky, and/or mechanically inclined to get the ribber working as you can see the sock that I completed using the thing. This was no small undertaking. I probably frogged that sock like 4 times, but I finally got it done.
Ta. Da.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Day 1: Lace Sock

Sadly, this sock is too big for me and anyone I know. It is probably about a lady's size 9.5. Once I've made this sock a mate, I'm sure I'll be posting a "give-away" to ensure that these practice socks go to a good home.

Some notes (mostly to myself) about sock construction:

• Toe up "Sweet Sock" construction
• 2 rows after toe, start lace pattern
• 3 repeats and 10 rows, start heel
• finish lace pattern and 3 more repeats for calf
• crank 10 rows for ribbing and cast off
• rib for 9 rows, starting 1 row of plain knitting after last lace row.