So, my orange sock is too big. I started it at 64 stitches, on size 2 needles. The yarn is probably a tad thicker than Koigu but it is very similar. I’d have to drop down to 48 stitches to go any smaller, as it’s an 8 stitch repeat, and an odd number of repeats just doesn’t seem right. I was going to try 48 stitches, despite it seeming like a small number until I realized that’s the same number of stitches I’ve been knitting Clark’s socks with, on the same needles.

That can’t possibly work.

SO, after spending some time this morning crunching numbers and thinking of ways to alter the stitch pattern (which is in the Harmony Guide, vol 2, pg 51), I think I found a solution that will be “good enough.”

If I widen the fishtail by increasing the repeat to 10 stitches from 8 and cut down to 6 repeats, that’ll probably look the best but only bring my stitch count down to 60. I don’t think that’s enough. So I’m changing the stitch pattern to a repeat of 9 stitches (bringing the total down to 54) by adding one stockinette stitch between each fishtail. It detracts from the lacy-ness of the stitch, but I don’t think I have an option, and after a little swatching, I think I’ll still like it.

For those that are curious, going down a needle size will make the fabric too stiff. It’s about perfect right now. I hope it doesn’t loosen up with wearing like my Koigu monkey socks did.

I can’t post pictures because my computer is not acknowledging the fact that we have wireless internet. It’s all sorts of mess. So I’m on the laptop which is having no trouble at all. But there’s no Photoshop on this computer.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 28th, 2009 at 10:13 am and is filed under knitting stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.