Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Passap Socks - Regia Cotton

As I'm bigger and taller than most and these will fit me perfectly, less sts and rows will be needed for most others, not to mention most people don't have kankles and shouldn't need larger tension on their legs.

I bought 2 x 50g (200m/50g) Pegasus #4080 & Jamaica #5435. The only problem I had was with the length of one of the balls. I do recall reading somewhere that they can be a bit light on it, which one of the Jamaica's was, so I finished with the leftover scraps from Pegasus. This pattern has 5 less rows on the leg to allow for any future shortfall:

Cuff:
Pink strippers; C/O 72 sts K:K, T1 = N/N 1 row; T3 = CX/CX 4 rows; N/N 1 row; RC0; work 16 rows K:K.
Black strippers; move all sts to the back bed. T4.75 = *** N/N 2 rows***. Put 18 sts each side onto the long holders, drop front bed; bring 18 sts to the front bed and raise front bed again. Bring yarn from centre right 18 sts to the back, transfer sts. Undo last 18 sts from right side. RC000.
***ALTERNATIVE to undoing last 18 sts:
BX/GX Bring all pushers on back bed into working position, knit one row. Put LAST 18 pushers into rest position, knit one row. (the rest of the instructions remain the same)***

Leg:
CX/CX = 159 rows, lock left.

Heel:
GX/BX bring front 36 pushers into working position, starting on the left, wrap first st and place first pusher into rest position, work one row, wrap and rest first stitch on the right, continuing until 12 sts remain in the centre, lock on left.Roll up cuff and attach either yellow or green tool latch up to the centre on the first and last sts to be worked applying firm hold as each new sts in brought back into position . On the left, bring one pusher back into working position, moving the latch tools along and ensuring at the sts under the edge spring has completed knitting the stitch properly. Wrap yarn around last needle on back bed on last rows. RC0, work 2 rows.
change to T4.5 work 150 rows. (ME: keep the tension T4.75 for the first 30 rows, then drop to T4.5 for the remaining foot - see kankle comment!)

Toe:
I prefer Regia toe: using yellow tool: dec 1st each side front and back bed (4 sts in all), every 4th row once (8 on RC), 3rd row twice (6 on RC), 2nd row 4 times (4 on RC), then every row (2 on RC) til 8 sts = 4 on each bed, work one row, lock left, undo last 2 sts, take off on waste yarn.

Graft toe, sew up cuff.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

Passap Socks

I've been refining my ankle socks and workshopping Passap machine knee socks for myself. I've made Loz's, but she has workshopped hers and had a working pattern for me to follow. The ankle socks I made are pretty close. The Passap book (guidelines) suggest T5, which is much looser than my handknit. I'm trialling T4.75 for the leg and T4.5 for the foot instead of extra sts on the leg and doing the decreases on the feet. . I did the first run experiment of the tension longer than I need so I could do a row countback. Next time I will make the rib T3 instead of T2.5. I've got some Regia cotton (200m/50g) to trial as well.

The knee length has had several make and rips, but I've got a working pair to trial wash and wear. I'll definitely need 4x50g balls, I cut into the 4th ball of the Hotsocks, I'll have enough though to make a fold over cuff, which Loz said was good on hers (hers used 3 balls). The Russian join worked well, I couldn't find one of them, always a good sign.