KAL Carousel Notes

I love my new Carousel socks and am on my way to knitting a second pair in zauberball. The second pair I am modifying so that there is no need for an afterthought heel, it's just knit right in the spiral as you go! If it works well, I'll post on how to do it here!

I want to post about picking up the stitches for the heel and toe here because it took me a while to figure out what she wanted you to do in the pattern. It's really simple, but she doesn't actually tell you what to do, rather she points you in the direction of various tutorials and other instructions. It's really simple and I'm not sure why she didn't just tell you what to do.

If you have 60 sts to pick up for the toe or heel and you only have 30 slipped stitches to pick up from, you add the extra stitches you need by using the backwards loop cast on. The backwards loop cast on is the simplest of cast ons, if you don't already know how to do it there's a tutorial here, but really you just make a loop and stick on the needle. So you would pick up one slipped stitch and knit it, and cast on one, pick up one slipped stitch, cast on, etc. Don't do 2 backwards loop cast on stitches in a row it will make a hole.

I also found a minor errata in the pattern and did mention it to the designer but it has not been fixed. It's in the left leg. The pattern reads:

Left sock leg spiral:
You now have a small strip beginning with a point (cast-on edge). In order to create a spiral, attach the strip to the cast-on edge as follows:
See Illustration 2 at right -->

Row 1 [WS] Sl1, p10, sl1, pick up and knit 1 stitch from the right side of the cast-on edge and pass the slipped stitch over.

I made the mistake big and bold! It should read "pick up and purl 1 stitch from the right side of the cast-on edge"

Round and Round the Carousel!

Carousel Socks!I LOVE THEM!!!

knit a pair in 4 days. Granted, I modified the design so it was 11 sts on a 2.75 instead of 12 on a 2.5 so they went a lot faster, but something about this knit is crazy speedy.

I had purchased some Frabjuous Fibre with no plan for what to do with the bright colourway. Then I saw the Carousel Socks and I just knew it was meant to be.

I split the roving lengthwise into quarters and spun 2 quarters on each bobbin and plied them together. I did quarters instead of halves so that I would have a nice colour change that wasn't too long for the sock pattern.

Yes, I am totally casting on another pair today...this time in Katia Darling

Socken Sockey Sock Sock and a Sock KAL

I've had a bad case of KADD (Knitting Attention Deficit Disorder) lately. A million projects on the go, and none ever getting finished. Then Knitty came out with this:

I just about died. A million projects on the needles and these babies fall out of the sky?! In Knitty no less, so there's no financial excuses (Oh I'll knit that pattern later, it costs SIX BUCKS-for those of you that don't know Knitty, this is sarcasm, Knitty has awesome patterns and they are FREE!). There's was nothing left to do but hit the needles and get some shtuff finished!

I started these bad boys 2 and a half weeks ago.

A pattern completely of my own devisement. I did make notes as I went along, so it's possible that they will end up as an actual pattern someday.

They turned out pretty awesome. But took way too long too knit, that's not just because of the KADD, it's also because it's year end and books, payroll, etc was all due. I had 5 days where I didn't knit. If you know me personally, you know that's crazypants. I got pretty cranky for awhile there (well, more than usual anyhow...)

I still have a couple projects on the go, but I frogged 2 that just were not working, so am now down to a pair of socks and a sweater. In honour of this I have decided to start a Knit Along for those amazing Carousel socks! This way I won't feel guilty about starting them when there are other projects on the go, it's my responsibility as the host of this KAL that I knit along with all of you! (Right? RIGHT?!!)

In honour of this electrictree yarns will be having a sale on yarns appropriate for the socks. You don't have to buy our yarn to join the knit along, but we wanted something special for you. And we like doing sales. And contests. Oh! Did I mention this is a contest too!?

This pattern is designed especially for yarns with long colour changes. I have seen a few people try it out with variegated yarns and the results are not nearly as wonderful. If you are using your own yarn we strongly suggest using a long colour change yarn. You can check out the projects on Ravelry and see what appeals to you. If you need help choosing yarn from your stash, feel free to come in with some yarns and we'll be happy to help you choose.

Yarns in store that will work great for this pattern and therefore or on sale for the KAL are:

Zauberball

Zauberball Crazy

Katia Darling

and Jawoll Bambus

This discount is not a regular sale and is only for the purposes of this KAL, so if you purchase one of these yarns, let us know it's for the KAL and we'll give you 10% off your chosen yarn.

Here's how the KAL works-

We'll be starting a thread on our electrictree yarns group on Ravelry, so if you aren't already on Ravelry you should join, because it's awesome. Take the time to introduce yourself on the thread and share your project/yarn with the group. The group is there for discussion and fun, so if you find problems with pattern, parts of it you love, parts of it you hate, or any other insights-that is the perfect place to discuss it with other people knitting the pattern!

The KAL starts today and ends April 10th. The yarns mentioned above will be on sale for you until April 3rd. By purchasing one of these yarns and mentioning the discount you are committing to at least attempting to knit the Carousel socks during this time and not just padding your stash.

On April 10th we will do a random drawing of all the people who have completed the project and they will receive a skein of electrictree yarns ephemeral as a tribute to their awesomeness!

If you don't want to join Ravelry, but still want to join the Knit Along, that's OK too, just stop in the store by April 10th and show us your finished socks and we'll enter you in the draw!

On your marks, Get Set, SOCK!!!