Yee-Hah! I actually finished a real, true, adult sized sock - and it fits beautifully!! I was up till three this morning weaving the ends in on this puppy but it’s done and I’m going to cast on for the mate as soon as I post this blog entry :)
I got stuck on the heel forgetting, apparently, everything I knew about turning one. A desperate google scramble found me Knitty’s Socks 101 article by Kate Atherly. This is a different heel than I’ve worked before. (Note: You’ll have to forgive my clumsy terminology because I don’t know from heel types - something to study, I’m sure, as I go on!) All the heels I’ve made previously have started in the center and worked out towards the edges of the heel flap, increasing 1stitch every row. This heel didn’t; it got you working the center third of the heel stitches the count of which remained constant while the heel flap stitches were eaten up with SSKs and P2togs. It was an exhilarating ride, as it always is when you don’t quite know what you’re doing, and in the end everything came out great. The heel looks and feels good!
I kept careful measure of the foot as it grew and, for my foot, the toe decreases came at about 7 7/8 inches. From an original cast on of 60, I worked down to 40 stitches in the usual fashion: 1 decrease row, 1 knit-around row. Then when I tried the sock on, it was apparent that if I continued this way I was going to have a very long-toed sock (sounds like some small mammal on the endangered species list, doesn’t it?). I decided to decrease every row for the next 5 rows - 20 stitches left on the needles and that’s where I stopped and finished up. The toe is a little rounder on the sides than I’m used to seeing but I like it quite a lot. I think the slight roundness is very cool!
I’m not going to post a pattern for this. That privilege belongs to Colleen whose idea to make socks in the Japanese Feathers pattern it was in the first place. Watch her blog, Musings of a Silver Rose for future developments. She will certainly produce a much more professional sock than I have and she’ll probably even use sock yarn too!
As I got caught up in the sock (oh, the excitement of it all!) I didn’t get the work done on the Dragon Wing Shawl that I had planned to do this week. However, as it’s supposed to rain steadily and heavily into Sunday, it looks like this might be just the weekend for it. I want to finish the wimple too, but probably not this weekend :)
This afternoon, dad and I are headed north to Lord’s Harborside for a celebratory lunch. This is where we go to celebrate our birthdays which are next week: dad’s on the 17th and mine on the 18th. It’s a bit of a drive but it’s a nice place with delicious seafood and we have always enjoyed it.
I’ll leave with a poem. Something reminded me of the first few lines a couple of days ago and, upon looking it up, I found there was more to it than I knew. Not a bad birthday thought either :)
Have a wonderful weekend folks!
Let Me Grow Lovely
Let me grow lovely, growing old—
So many fine things do:
Laces, and ivory, and gold,
And silks need not be new;
And there is healing in old trees,
Old streets a glamour hold;
Why may not I, as well as these,
Grow lovely, growing old?
Karle Wilson Baker
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pretty sock, and in a *most* ‘robbyn color’ too-
such a pretty poem- i seem to be approaching antiquity by displaying everything ungraceful and annoying possible, so i should probably try to commit those lines to memory (snort!)- have a lovely birthday celebration with your dad-
have you read that the dulaan project will continue into another year- hooray! i’d heard it was going to end after july of this year, and i’d been feeling rather sad about that- i know there are *so* many charities that need support,but those pics that ryan posts of the little recipients in mongolia just make me want to keep on knitting- excellent cure for a slump-
stay happy-
Hey Barb :) - Why yes, the color is quite Robbyn, isn’t it? Heheh…
Yes, I’m tickled pink that Dulaan will be going forward but to tell you the truth, I didn’t know that it wasn’t going to until I heard that it was - if you know what I mean :) 
And I’m with you on the slump thing - getting going on a Dulaan project always seems to help me get over the hump!
Er, Robbyn, have you seen this? http://www.knitlist.com/00gift/japanese-feather-socks.htm
Oh, and hi, Barb!!! Nice to “see” you again!
-Ryan
Ryan - Well, I can’t say I’m surprised as the Japanese feather is such a pretty stitch :) That variegated yarn is fugly though…
Aarlene: just to let you know that I looked up that “flat braid” this morning, and it looks great! Even the little square looks nice. (The granny squares we did in the 60s were more open ... fug). Thank you so much!
Warning: dementors have strayed into MuggleVille. How else to explain that unholy mess in a yarn box in my basement? About fifty strands pulled and tangled together, all weights, all fibres, and seemingly, all lengths. From small scrap balls to 4” pieces. All that dead yarn. Sigh. I’m working on it but the cpr is going to take some weekend time .... All I wanted was some cottony scraps that I promised to a friend.
Robbyn: yes the yarn shown in that sock is horrid isn’t it. I know you can do better .... Heck the one on your post this morning is prettier.
amaryllis
I’ve seen that pattern, Ryan, and frankly, I don’t like it at all. First strike against it is that it’s not charted, which I find annoying in a lace pattern (particularly not a 28 row one!). Second, there is No. Way. that casting on 48 stitches in sock weight yarn is going to fit me. Third, I agree with Robbyn that a few extra purl stitches would enhance the pattern. Fourth, I’m not found of the cast-on s/he used, and fifth ... 6.5 spi? Not in my world. I aim for 8 or 9.
*cough* ANYWAY ... Since I plan on using just the stitch pattern, I don’t feel like I’m copying her pattern, if that makes sense.
Robbyn - seriously… that’s your first adult sock? How cool! It’s lovely, too. (The heel turning you describe using normally is the one I always use - sounds like the article describes a band heel)
Sorry I missed y’all last night - was cleaning house ... and working on the sooper-sekrit promised dot stitch Koigu socks.
Colleen, to be honest I’d never looked at that Japanese Feather sock pattern in much detail but I have to say, after reading your comment, 48 stitches?! Good Lord. No way. I had no idea.
I hope we get a chance to see a picture of your version. I bet it’s going to look spiffy!
Until Ryan mentioned the ‘last’ Dulaan knit in I didn’t know either. Whew!
That’s a right pretty sock, Robbyn. I don’t know how you did such good work staying up that late. For me the later it gets the worse my knitting becomes and by midnight it’s a pumpkin. 
Amaryllis, I guess cleaning up in the office/computer room was a good thing ‘cause that’s when I found that printout of that crochet thing. I’d have never remembered it otherwise!
Amaryllis - It’s just that a stongly colored vareigate does no favors for a lace pattern. Even the heathery tone I used is iffy, IMO.
Sorry to hear about your dead yarn - how annoying! Sadly, I don’t know of a good untangling spell or I’d pass it along to you.
Colleen - It’s not my very first, but I’ve had problems making socks that fit me properly. That’s one of the reasons I so excited about this baby - it fits perfectly :)
I wish I had done another half pattern repeat on the leg though - it could have been a bit longer. Ahh well, I’ll know next time!
Aarlene - Thanks, but there wasn’t any choice about staying up to finish it - it would have sung to me and not let me sleep anyway until it was completed.
The only time when it’s truly unwise for me to knit is when I’m angry. Mistakes all over the place, much cussing and, of course, more anger.
Great job on the sock and looks like a good fit. I did end up going to the NH sheep and Wool. It poured buckets. I still have not warmed up. I bought a few things and had a good time despite the weather.
Maureen - New Hampshire sheep and wool - man, if only I had known. Next year for sure!
I’m glad you had such a good time - you’re going to blog about your finds, right? Heheh…
Have a nice long soak in a hot tub and bring a hot cup of tea in with you, you know, to warm up the inside while the tub’s warming up the outside!
Lovely sock. But whaddya mean it is your first adult sock!!!!!!! I can’t believe you have been hiding your virgin status from us for so long. I spent part of yesterday folding pairs of handmade socks, placing them carefully in their little spaces in their special sock-drawer organizing, and giggling gleefully. Only 5 pair so far, but two more pair will be done soon!
Rob - It’s not precisely my first adult sock; I have made one pair for myself and one pair for my father before now. But I have had no end of annoyances trying to make another pair for myself that actually fit that I had just given up on it for a while and focused on baby and toddler socks.
But with the success of this venture, I’m beginning to get a glimmer of what that gleeful giggling is all about!
