I’m Such A Loser!

I couldn’t resist that title. My first weigh-in after starting Weight Watchers was Saturday. I was a little concerned, as the first week on the plan was a bit experimental, while I was figuring everything out. Turns out that the experiment worked, at least for the first week. I faithfully promise right here that I will update that ticker weekly, whether it’s a success story or not. If that doesn’t keep me motivated, nothing will.

In Knitting News:

I have mostly been working on non-Amazing Lace projects. I’ve gotten exactly one row of that Langsjal Johonnu done in the last week. Don’t even ask why, I have no idea. The Socks That Rock might be part of the problem. Boy, is that yarn addictive. And those stripes, I just keep knitting to see the next one appear.

The colors flashed a bit over the instep, but then the stripes straightened right back out again. A little bit of flashing is OK.

The first sock’s worth of gusset decreases are done, it’s all round and round from here.

Instructions for Lorette’s Famous Sock pattern continue. Check this post for the cuff down to the heel.

Put the 32 (half the total) heel stitches on one needle, the other 32 instep stitches should be on the other two needles, ignore them for now. Set this up so the working yarn is at the left end of the row of heel stitches, turn and purl back across them. Now you are ready to do the heel stitch. I like a simple knit one-slip one stitch, though you can get fancy and do variations of this.
Row 1: *Slip 1, Knit 1*, repeat all the way across.
Row 2: Slip 1, then purl all the way across.
Repeat these until you’ve done 32 rows. There should be roughly 16 slipped stitches along the side of the heel. These are the ones you will pick up for the gussets. If you like your socks a little looser around the instep, just do a few more rows of the heel.

Now it’s time for my favorite part, turning the heel. This is just magic, especially when you remember to do it before picking up the gussets. Start the heel turning with a knit-side row.
Row 1: Slip 1, Knit 17 stitches, K2 tog, K1. Turn around so you are heading back the other direction, leaving the remaining stitches unworked.
Row 2: Slip 1, Purl 5, P2 tog, P1, turn again.
Row 3: Slip 1, Knit 6, K2 tog, K1, turn
Row 4: Slip 1, Purl 7, P2tog, P1, turn

Keep doing this until you have worked all the way across the heel stitches, working one more stitch on each pass back and forth. You should end up having just finished a purl row.

Knit across the heel, then pick up 16 stitches along the first side of the heel flap. You may need to pick up more or less to make it work out. I also try to pick up one in the tight little spot between the first side of the gusset and the first needle of the instep, to prevent a hole. Knit across your instep stitches, then pick up the stitches across the other side of the heel flap in the same way. I now rearrange the stitches so I have the instep stitches divided between two needles (16 each in this example), and each side of the gusset along with half the heel stitches on two needles (roughly 26 each, depending on how many gusset stitches you really picked up).  I now just knit one round all the way around plain just to settle things down and get ready for the gusset decreases, which I’ll get to in the next post. This is a good time to look at your gussets and make sure you like the
way it looks. If it looks weird, rip it out and do it again. You won’t
like it any better later, trust me.

Last but not least, a gratuitous cat picture.

Relax, Lucy, relax!

Author: Lorette

My name is Lorette. I learned to knit in 1999, and took up spinning in 2009. I'm a physician specializing in internal medicine, and live in the Pacific Northwest. Enjoy my blog! View all posts by Lorette