Sunday, October 12, 2008

OCDK-


OCDK
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Knitting. There! I’ve said it. I have a problem, the first step is always admitting to your self that you have a problem. Is there a 12-step program for knitters? Enough! My obsession has always been those beautiful self-stripping yarns and how to match perfectly the strips on two separate feet. I love knitting my sock ‘toe up, two at once’ and being able to finish both socks at the same time. The trick has always been how to get the ball of yarn to tell us when we’re at the halfway point. I will admit to cheating….here’s how:
Years ago I purchased an "incredible sweater machine’ and I’ve found the perfect use for it, well, OK, it became a part of my OCD. My therapist says I’ve got to stop ‘justifying my actions.’ Anyway, take out the sweater machine, or whatever brand knitting machine you’ve got. Now cast on about 56-60 stitches with waste yarn and then start with your self-striping sock yarn. Add some more waste yarn and start then next ball of self-striping sock yarn (because you KNOW that you have at least 10 in the stash) that’s right keep going. Why not knit them all up while you got the knitting machine out and dusted off. Put about 5-10 rows of waste yarn between each section of good sock yarn and remove from the knitting machine. Now you have this HUGH scarf looking thing. Snip about half way though the section of waste yarn and unravel, separating the sections of sock yarn. You can now see the color rotation and exactly how many sections of the color strip you have in that ball of yarn. If you count 17 sections of yellow/red/green you know that you can start your toe at yellow and knit eight sections per sock. You can also snip and unravel to separate the scarf into two sections and knit your sock at the same time from the two, now separated scarves. Keep in mind, the scarf will only unravel in one direction, you will KNOW if your going from the wrong way because you’ll only get to unravel one row at a time before you have to untie the knot.
And that is my secret to these PERFECTLY matched heels….TA DA!!!!!



1 comment:

Katidids said...

I love this pattern, your colors worked out well. Nudging it higher on the "to do" list