Sizing The Sock

When trying to size the sock to fit my feet, the big thing to worry about is the size of the toe. For the February sock pattern, the toe is created by casting on stitches and then using the wrap and turn technique to create the toe. It's not a true "toe-up" pattern - it's more like a "toe around" pattern.

Measuring to confirm the size of the toe starts by figuring out how wide the toe box should be. That's accomplished by measuring across the base of the toe, as shown in this picture:



From the picture, you can see that the correct width is 4". Double that to 8" and that's the "circumference" of the toe box. Here's a picture of the finished toe (and the start of the foot):



Changing the sizing for the foot itself is a little more difficult as it requires understanding the pattern repeat. The instep is a 2 x 1 (3 stitch) repeat and the sole is a 2 x x (4 stitch) repeat. I'll talk about that when I have time later tonight.

Let the Knit-a-long Begin!

Wonder of wonders, my shipment from Blue Moon showed up today - a beautiful skein of hand-dyed merino superwash wool and a wonderful pattern for reversible socks. They look great! I'm excited to get started on the pattern, but first a picture of the skein as it arrived:



It's amazing at how soft and supple the yarn is. I always grew up with "scratchy" and rough wool - the merino blend is amazing. While hard to show, the color mix goes from gray to purple to yellow to green.


I'm now merrily winding it in to the usual ball and I'll take pictures as the sock progresses. It's so exciting! The pattern is simple and it seems like I should have no trouble getting it done before the next pattern shows up. Woo hoo!

Kick-starting the Blog

Yeah, so this is embarrasing. It's been almost 8 months since I've done anything here - and all I've got are excuses. So, let's review:

1. Restructuring at work. After taking on 1/2 a person back in Nov. '05, I got a whole additional person in June. I'm now doing the work of 3.
2. Refereeing. Still working on getting my Grade 6 badge, which meant that pretty much every weekend was spent on the pitch. At least four different leagues (including College) so that took up weeknights as well and a trip to Florida for the Super-Y national championships!
   
3. Illness. All that work and referee stuff resulted in an AMAZING bout with the flu. That took up a good chunk of January with a minor relapse last month

Ok, so it's time to quit complaining. I'm fixing the "work" part, it's the off season for soccer (net of State Cup) and I think I'm finally getting healthy.

Best of all - I've got a fun-filled and action-packed year of knitting coming up. I've joined the "Rockin' Sock Club" sponsored by Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I get six shipments of sock yarn (one every two months) along with a pattern. That means I'll be upping my personal stash of socks (heck - I'm DOUBLING it!) and trying out some really fun new techniques. Pictures and progress posted here as I get the yarn and start knitting.

The weather is getting better and it's time to start the new year off more productively.

Happy Knitting!

Marathon Update

I can't believe it's been more than a MONTH since I ran the marathon. Ok, so I'm catching up on everything but I did managed to run a PR - 3:50:28.

My running/training partner was having a fabulous day and put me to shame - she turned a 3:45:49 and managed to qualify for Boston! Absolutely terrific! I was one big cramp starting at mile 19 but still finished strong. Tired, sure. Stiff, yes. Sore - not so much. I'm back and running and my knees are almost in working order.

Time to get back to refereeing and yard work.

Oatmeal Cookies - v3.0

Experimentation continues - as always.

Version 2.0 was NOT great. It doesn't even merit posting. That being said, I marched on to version 3.0 (taking my co-workers' excellent feedback) and have settled on this recipe:

Cream together:

1/2 c shortening
1/2 c butter (softened)
1 c brown sugar, packed
3/8 c white sugar

Add:

1 t pure vanilla extract
2 eggs at room temperature

and mix at medium-high speed until light and fluffy.

Now add:

1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
pinch of salt
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t ground cinnamon

Mix at low speed until incorporated. Add

1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c white chocolate chips
1/2 c shelled, unsalted pistachios (you can roast these for a stronger flavor)

Finally, add:

2 c quick-cooking oats
1 c mixed grain quick-cooking breakfast (mix of barley, oat and wheat)

Now here's where it gets interesting. The size of the cookie matters - big surprise! The last few batches yielded <30 cookies and baking time was approaching 20 minutes. This time, I was closer to the 1" ball size and the yield was ~3 dozen (37 to be exact). Baking time was 15 minutes - and *perhaps* could have gone a bit longer - but not much.

Stick with aluminum 1/4 sheet pans - you can get about 14 cookies on them. One sheet at a time, middle rack - oven temp 350 degF.

These were awesome. I should take some pictures!