2020 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

PollyWollyDoodle

So pleased to hear it Laura, what a relief for you both. I hope his recovery continues to progress well, how lucky that he had that test. 

keepcalmandcraft

So glad it was good news, Laura. Now to nag my husband about a test!

maddiemay

Laura I am absolutely delighted for you both and for family and friends too, the ripples from such events spread a long way at times.
xx

basketcase

Great news Laura!  So glad to hear it.

Something to make us smile...

skogar

Great news Laura. :-)

MrsCD

Great news, Laura. I've just told DH, and he says the last time he had a PSA test, he had to almost beg the doctor to do it! My dad has to have a test twice a year as he's had problems in the past. Really pleased they caught it in time for your OH and he's doing so well.

Cherryfudge

Fab news Laura! I'm so pleased.

skogar

Short update on the sock  knitting. Little progress recently and what there has been has involved lots of "reverse knitting" as my FIL called it. The heel decrease worked OK, although I couldn't see how the pattern would work my MIL could and told me to keep going and follow the pattern and it would be fine. Its obvious now what the pattern was trying to do now I've done it. The bit that I am having difficulty with is the bit after that where you pick up the stitches between the heel and front piece. This is the bit where it starts to get untidy. I'm getting a small hole between the heel piece and one of the picked up stitches. That is where I am on the 3rd attempt, originally it was 2 large holes, one each side. Will try it again but any tips to avoid the hole issue would be good. I'm already increasing tension round the area and trying to avoid swapping needles near this join. Will try and give it another go later in the week.

PipneyJane

skogar said:

Short update on the sock  knitting. Little progress recently and what there has been has involved lots of "reverse knitting" as my FIL called it. The heel decrease worked OK, although I couldn't see how the pattern would work my MIL could and told me to keep going and follow the pattern and it would be fine. Its obvious now what the pattern was trying to do now I've done it. The bit that I am having difficulty with is the bit after that where you pick up the stitches between the heel and front piece. This is the bit where it starts to get untidy. I'm getting a small hole between the heel piece and one of the picked up stitches. That is where I am on the 3rd attempt, originally it was 2 large holes, one each side. Will try it again but any tips to avoid the hole issue would be good. I'm already increasing tension round the area and trying to avoid swapping needles near this join. Will try and give it another go later in the week.

The area you are talking about is called "the gusset".  I do four things to avoid holes along the edge of the heel flap and at the point where the heel flap and gusset join the top of the foot:-

1. When I'm picking up stitches along the side edge of the heel flap, I don't pick up the large stitch and knit it.  Instead, I use a small latch hook to pull my yarn through that stitch, slide the loop onto the right-hand needle and then move on and pick up the next loop.  (NB:  the "large" stitch is made because you've slipped it at the start of the row, so it stretches across two rows.)
2. After picking up a loop for each large stitch, when I get to the point where the heel flap joins the top of the foot, I will pick up an extra loop, usually pulling it through a stitch two rows from where you divided for the heel.  Depending on how the stitches look on the needle, it may be from the heel side or the foot side, but it's never from between the stitches.  It's always from within a stitch.  Sometimes, I'll pick up two - one from each side of the "gap", if it's very gappy.  I'll place a marker here, after the picked up loops, knit 5-10 stitches and then swap to the next needle.  Whatever you do, you must mimic this on the other side of the gusset.
3. Needle spacing:  I knit my socks on 4 DPNs but, when I do the gusset, I'll knit them over 5.  The bottom of the heel flap is one DPN.  The next DPN is picked up loops on the first side, has a stitch marker plus 5 stitches from the top of the foot.  The top of the foot is (maybe) 20 stitches.  The fourth DPN is 5 stitches, a stitch marker and then however many loops you pick up for the gusset.  The fifth is your working needle.
4. When I go to knit the picked up loops - round 1- I will knit into the back of them so that they are deliberately twisted.  This makes the stitches tighter and, again, helps to prevent holes.  (Round 2 is my first decrease row.)

Finally, if you have a hole in the corner of the gusset, you can always take a 3 inch piece of yarn, weave it around the underside of the hole, tighten it to pull the edges of the hole together and then weave in the ends.

HTH

- Pip

Laura_Elsewhere

@skogar, 

Pip gives good advice, but jsut to show how variable knitting and knitters are, I don't do most of what she does  

I pick up the big, slipped, stitches, but I pick up an extra stitch as well, at the point you're talking about - it takes a bit of practice to work out which one to pick up and tbh even after all these years I still basically just prod and poke til I pick up a strand that doesn't immediately create a big hole There is one which instantly makes a gaping abyss, and another one that instantly snugs everything neatly, and to my eyes even now they look petty mcuh the same til you pick them up and look! 
Also, I use two much smaller needles to pick these stitches up so I'm not pulling the loops even bigger. 
Then on the first round, I do what Pip does and knit into the back of the stitches which gives a nice criss-cross effect as well, but when I get to the last two picked-up/ first two picked-up stitches, I just k2tog, which gives me the number I should have had had I not picked up the extra one. Second round I just decrease as normal. 

I have the top-of-foot stitches on one DPN and one side's picked-up plus half the heel stitches on another, and the other side's picked-up plus the other half of the heel stitches on the third. 
It's instinct to pull the first stitch on a new needle tight, but actually what works best is to snug it all up after the *second* stitch. Just one of those things... 

But you're not doing anything wrong at all, trust me! It sounds like you're doing a grand job!