Tips for Christmas Knitting

 I hate to break the news but it’s September and summer is unofficially over. Now for the worse news. There are only 112 days until Christmas, 108 days until Winter Solstice, and a scant 86 days till Hanukkah. Please don’t hurt me, I’m only the messenger. 

I come bearing a few tips to make knitting and crafting through the coming months a little easier. The holiday season is filled with enough stress and knitting should help reduce instead of add to it.

• Plan your projects. Write a list of everyone you want to knit or craft for and what you’ll be making for them. Planning this stuff out now, will spare you the hassle of figuring it out later. The list doesn’t have to be finished in one sitting. You can add or subtract from it as you go. Just don’t add too much later.  
• Make a schedule. Set some realistic goals and build your stockpile of awesome knitted gift goodness over the coming months. Start the big stuff now to get it out of the way and give yourself an extra boost when you finish. Leave the small potato chip knitting that you can’t put down for when you feel like doing anything but knitting.
• Gather your supplies. Need yarn, needles, or random notions? Buy it or find it and put everything in one place. When you’re ready to start a new project or finish one, you’ll have everything you need. There are better things to do at midnight than rummaging around for a tapestry needle. Like sleeping or watching Doctor Who marathons. 
• Start now. You don’t have to cast on right this minute but start thinking and planning your projects when you still have the breathing room.  

I’ve only just started my holiday knitting/crafting list and winding the first skein of yarn. It’s a pretty short list and will probably stay that way. Anyone have grand plans or ideas for the next few months?

A Slouchy Baby Hat

All of my current knitting is large, complicated, or a slog. It was a nice change to knit a cute and, importantly, little hat for a friend’s new baby. Did I mention it was little? For the pattern, I turned to a cute and simple hat I published last year, the Slouchy Babe.

I made a few modifications to the pattern because, apparently, I can’t knit any pattern as written. Not even my own. First change was the yarn. I went with Cool Wool which is a DK instead of worsted. I love using Cool Wool, a 50/50 blend of wool and cotton, for baby items because of the yarn’s soft feel and lovely drape. You can even through it through the washing machine, though I generally hand wash, if push comes to shove. To make up for the thinner yarn, I increased to 88 stitches since the gauge was closer to 4.5 sts/inch than the pattern’s 5.25 sts/inch. My last change was knit the body to 6.75” before the ribbing for a little extra slouch. 

You can download the Slouchy Babe pattern here. It comes sized for newborns, toddlers, kids, and adults. The Slouchy I made for myself is one of my favorite hats.

One Unique Basketweave

Sometimes, I just want to knit something simple. I want to knit, just to knit, without worrying about complicated details or evenly spacing decreases. Times like these, I wander through my 18-page* Ravelry queue looking for something that catches my eye. The last time this happened was way back in May when the Unique Basketweave Washcloth grabbed my attention. I did the only thing I could do - grabbed a skein of colorful cotton and cast on. It only seemed right to keep going until I ran out of  yarn.

I vaguely recall knitting this washcloth while also watching a great anime that I can’t remember the name or the plot of. Mostly what I remember about making this cloth is how different my life was at the time. It was before I got married and before I picked up everything to move across the country. All that stuff was in the works though so this cloth was made with the intention of making a new place feel like home. The basketweave cloth is only the latest in a long standing tradition of knitting to warm a new place. I’ve done it for dorm rooms, new houses, and apartments for myself, family, and friends. What can I say, it works.

Whether it’s a set of washcloths, a toy, or a blanket; a hand knitted item helps bring warmth and love into a house to make it a home.

The Specs

Pattern: Unique Basketweave Washcloth by Anna Peck Maliszewski ( @Ravelry )

Yarn: Lily Sugar'n Cream Ombres & Prints

Needles:  US 6 (4 mm)

*Or more. At it’s longest, the queue was 24 pages long. I try to prune it more regularly now. 

Time to Design

It’s been far too long since I’ve put my needles to yarn and designed a knitting pattern. Feeling just a bit rusty but ready for the challenge. My first opponent, 80 yards of Noro Taiyo leftover from a Doublish Shawl, has only been mocking me from the stash since April 2012. I don’t know what it is about this particular cake of yarn but I just have to knit it all up. Other leftover balls have sat in my stash for years but they haven’t enticed me to knit them up with the same fervor. Maybe it’s the way the colors are presented or the silky hand of the cotton but I’ve been racking my brain to come up with a pattern for this yarn. 80 yards of fingering weight isn’t much to work with, after all, but I’ve relished the constraint. It’s made things so much more interesting. After much swatching and ripping (and even more swatching and ripping), I finally have a workable idea.  Folks, I’m running with it. See you at the finish line.

Knit and Be Proud

​One reason I love knitting is because of all the different things I can make. The other big reason is how easily it fits into the rest of my life. I don’t need to sit at home to knit. I can go out with my knitting and not be stuck in front of a computer. I can run errands with yarn and needles in my bag to keep busy and not waste time standing in line. For the last few years, my favorite bit of purse knitting has been socks but I’ve also hauled along hats, fingerless mitts, and even a shawl or two. I carried around the Hitchhiker Shawl until I had to wrap it around my arms so it wouldn’t trail along behind me. Before I learned to make socks and developed a love for shawls, I carried along washcloths to keep my hands busy. I clearly remember knitting a washcloth in a doctor’s waiting room. While the lady sitting across from me thought my knitting was pretty great, I was just a little embarrassed. Not because I was seen knitting in public by stranger but because I was embarrassed to be seen knitting a washcloth. 

At the time, hand knitted washcloths were all the rage. However, for as many people I saw extolling the virtues and wonders of knitting your own washcloths, there were just as many people typing their distaste. One person wrote they would rather pull out their own hair rather than knit a washcloth. Another commenter stated that they would flat out refuse knitted washcloths given to them as gifts. It was comments and thoughts like this that were swirling around in my head as I was sitting in the doctor’s waiting room stitching away. You either had to love knitting washcloths or hate them. There was no in between. I was afraid that some knitter - one that unapologetically hated knitted washcloths - would see me and sneer. So I slunk down in my chair, kept knitting, and hoped that the imagined sneering knitter would not appear. The thought that some knitter who loved making washcloths might appear did not occur to me.

I couldn’t help feeling that way even though I knew it was silly and completely illogical. Several years later, I’m certain that it’s silly and illogical. Just because someone on the internet or in real life says they don’t like knitting washcloths or lacy socks or giant blankets or funny hats doesn’t mean you have to feel like a smuck for enjoying those things. If you want to knit a stack of washcloths 10’ high or a hat that looks like a cooked turkey, go for it. Enjoy it. Have fun. Own it. Just knit what you like. Knit what makes you happy. You don’t have to sneak away and rent a hotel room to get your fix for knitting washcloths or full-length beaded opera gloves. 

Over the years, I’ve since come to terms with my love of knitted washcloths. They’re small, colorful, generally easy, and entirely functional. I like them for scrubbing my dishes and scrubbing my back. If you’re wondering, I do have separate kitchen cloths and bath cloths. Don’t worry. My kitchen has a special drawer filled just with knitted kitchen towels and a few crocheted clothes from a friend. I have an unapologetic stash of kitchen cotton. What’s more, I’ve released six washcloth/kitchen towel patterns and have a few more in mind. The Triforce Washcloth and Bridges Kitchen Towel are the most popular but my favorite is Cthulu Rising. I have no intention of not knitting washcloths because they’re awesome and I enjoy it. Socks are my default purse knitting of choice now but I’m not afraid of sneers or derision, real or imagined, for knitting washcloths or anything else. I say, knit what you love and be proud of it.

Knit and Focus

I love the versatility of knitting. I can have giant projects that take months to finish like the Norma Blanket. I can have medium sized projects like the Shur’tugal Socks which fit in my purse and keep me entertained for weeks. I can also have small projects as a refresher and break from the larger projects. It’s a good thing there’s no such thing as the knitting police or they’d be writing me up for just how much I have on the needles.

The current small project of choice is the Unique Basketweave Washcloth by Anna Peck Maliszewski. It’s a simple pattern that’s easy to remember and looks great in variegated yarn. I can knit a few rows here and there without loosing my place which is great since I only have a few minutes for knitting these days. Plus, knitting a few stitches helps me focus and not run around like a headless chicken. Yep, knitting is good.

April is for Blankets: Recap

Every month I’m picking one skill to practice everyday for a month and updating my progress every Monday. I call it Project Incremental. Read up on how it all got started. 

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When I started daily knitting on the Norma Blanket for April’s Incremental Project I knew I wouldn’t finish. My goal was to just make progress. So I took the blanket on car trips and knit through numerous movies, podcasts, and anime series. Most days I just knit one round. Some days I knit 2, 3 or even 6 rounds. Then there were a few days when I didn’t knit at all. Now that April is pretty much over, there’s definitely not going to be a special twist ending where I’ve suddenly finished blanket in the next 2 days.

Since I’m being honest, I have no clue when I’ll finish this blanket. It’s not called the Couch Monster for nothing. Over 650 yards have already been knit and the blanket is just starting to look squished up on the needles. There are still over 930 yards to go knit. I have this vision of the blanket sitting nonchalantly on the couch and waiting for a victim. Once said victim, probably me, is comfy and distracted by a digital box, the Couch Monster makes its move and completely envelopes his meal in a wooly maw. No evidence is left behind and blanket awaits his next victim. At least I’ll be cozy and might be able to distract the beast with animal crackers.

A few statistics for April’s Norma blanket knitting:

• Knit a total of 44 rounds with minimal ripping and should add 2 more before the month is out.
• Worked a grand total of 19,584 stitches so far.
• Used up over 200 grams of yarn.
• Add 8” to each ever increasing side. Safe to say I’ve knit most of the blanket this month.
• Managed to finish the first charts and put a good dent in 3 and 4.

This next part might be a little odd but I’m going to keep tracking the stitch count yardage on a round by round basis. Hear me out. I have a lot more yarn than the pattern calls for and I want to use it all up. Gathering all this data will make it easier for me to chart out more rows and figure out just how large the blanket can get. Spreadsheets are being put to good use tracking yarn per row (the average is 5g at the moment) and the increasing number of stitches per row (currently 508 and growing). Fear not math and data for they will save your knitting butt. 

Now that May and the next Incremental Project are almost here, I’m going to miss knitting on the blanket everyday.  Maybe I’ll keep going. A giant wool blanket isn’t a bad thing to have in your lap when the air conditioner is raging.

In A Year - 4KCBWday7

The last day of the 4th Knit and Crochet Blog Week has arrived. I for one will be sad to see it go and I’m already looking forward to next year. Now, on with the routine. Today’s prompt is all about looking forward to next April and setting a few crafty goals. Going to keep things simple around here. 

• Write more. I came across Knit and Crochet Blog Week on the first day it started, April 22. The prompts had been up for weeks but, since I was late to the party, I wrote my posts the day before and a couple posts on the day of. Most of the time I was up late editing photos and refining my drafts. This whole week has been completely last minute but I loved every minute of it. Writing needs to become a daily part of my life. 
• Release all the patterns! I’ve got so many half finished knitting patterns that need just a little more love before I can send them out to the world. Some are closer to complete than others but it’s better to think of them half or even a quarter finished than mostly undone. 
• I want to finish up some major projects that have been floating around. My Dr Who scarf is feeling quite neglected.
• The most important goal though is to stay curious and keep learning. Maybe this means I’ll spend a month obsessed with origami or seriously take up needle felting or start dyeing yarn or learn to make ravioli. I have no clue what’ll do but it’s going to be awesome. 

What are your goals for the coming year?

Scales help Knitting - 4KCBWday6

One of the great things about knitting is that it requires so few tools to accomplish. All you really need to start is yarn, needles, and a pair of functional hands (thanks to SillyLittleLady for the reminder). With those three things you can knock out garter stitch scarves till you run out of yarn. Tape measures, stitch markers, tapestry needles, stitch counters, and scissors are helpful tools that help kick your knitting up to the next level. It’s worth having multiples of that list and, especially, multiple tape measures since they seem to pop into an alternate dimension whenever you’re not looking. Honestly, with a full set of those 8 items you’d be set but I’m going to suggest one more. The humble and handy kitchen scale. 

• Scales can tell you exactly how much yarn you used for a project such as pair of socks of or a kid’s sweater. If you’re making multiples of an item, you’ll know exactly how much yarn you’ll need for the rest.
• Have yarn or handspun and don’t know the yardage? This tutorial from FreshStitches details how to use a digital scale to calculate yardage. 
• Scales make it trivial to split skeins of yarn in half to make socks and sleeves easier to knit. Making kits and dividing yarn for a group project is also much easier with a scale. 
• Like tracking data and knowing how much yarn you’ve actually knit in a month or a week or a day? The scale is your friend.
• There are patterns with the instruction, “Knit half of the skein before beginning the next section.” Baktus Scarf, I’m looking at you. Measure the yarn before you cast on and regularly weigh the remainder until you’re at the right number.

I knit for years without a scale but, now that I use one and know how helpful it is, I don’t want to be without one. My scale hangs out with my knitting needles and other helpful gadgets which are always close at hand. Plus, you don’t have to use it just for knitting. Use a scale to help you cook or mail packages or spin yarn. 

Today’s post is part of the 4th Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week. See what it’s all about at Eskimimi Makes. ​

Starting off Green - 4KCBWday4

The Answer: Green

Today’s Questions for Knitting and Crochet Blogging Week: What are your favorite colors for knitted projects? What colors do you seem to favor when yarn shopping and crafting?

I did not even have to think about the answer. Whether I’m wandering around yarn shops or shopping for clothing, I’m drawn towards various shades of green first. I pick up the green yarn first even when I end up buying a different color. I have never knit a sweater and yet I have at least two sweater quantities of green wool ready and waiting to be knit.

​Green isn’t the only color I go for though. My stash page on Ravelry is showing a strong trend towards blue, grey, and a particular shade of earthy, mustard yellow. The colors I design and knit patterns with are also varied though green does make a strong showing. 

At the moment I’m feeling a bit bored from all the green. I’m knitting a green pair of socks. I just finished spinning green handspun. Plus, there’s a secret project on the needles with green stripes but more on that later. To combat my boredom I picked out a very not green bump of fiber called Winter Pinoak from Yarn Geek Fibers. The bump is 4oz of Blue Faced Leicester in blue, orange, brown, and white. Looks so fun to spin too. 

What color or colors are grabbing you right now?

It’s funny. When I first started this post I thought it would be green, green, and more green. Instead its mostly blue. 

Knitting Day to Day - 4KCBWday3

Today’s prompt for Knitting and Crochet Blog Week was to make an infographic. I’ve never made one before but it was pretty fun to do. Let’s pretend I didn’t greatly underestimate how long it would take me to finish.

At first I had no clue what topic the infographic should cover but my frequent knitting came to the rescue. I knit almost every day on different projects, in different places, and for different reasons.   When the stars are right I even buy yarn. Knitting has a measurable impact on my daily life and vice versa. I know I’m not the only one either. So, an infographic about how knitting and the daily grind affect each other came to be.

Wooly Mascot - 4KCBWday2

There are times when I hear about exciting things at the very last minute and decide to throw my plans (or planned posts) to the wind and do something new. The exciting thing this time was the 4th Knitting and Crochet Blog Week. I’ve seen and read this week over the past years and always wanted to participate but always forgot. Luckily, I found out on Day 1 and not Day 7 this year.

The first day’s prompt was about picking a house Hogwarts style. The Bee’s are always busy. The Manatee’s are cozy. The Monkey’s want to learn. The Peacocks like to strut their stuff. I am definitely in the House of Bee. I knit a lot as the 282 projects on my Ravelry page will testify and always have several projects on the needles at one time. When I was first learning to knit House of Monkey would have been the place for me. Still is depending on the day. I want to learn but not every project I knit teaches me something new. Sometimes I want the finished project more than I want to practice a new technique.

I don’t think the two Houses have to be mutually exclusive though. True, I do have a lot of projects on the needles and a lot of fiber on the spindles. I switch between them at the drop of a hat. Also true is that I like to learn. What joins my love of learning and all of the half finished projects is a sense of play. When I’m making something, I try not to take myself too seriously. I don’t always succeed but that’s mostly after ripping out something 5+ times. Knitting, crochet, spinning, and generally making stuff is the easiest way for me to play and have fun. 

Spinning is king right now for giving me a way for me to play, to learn, and to start just one more project. It’s no surprise that my mascot is my own handspun yarn. Feeling the wool (or silk or alpaca) moving through my fingers is fun. Putting twist into fiber and plying singles is all play even if it is difficult. After a year, I’m still new to spinning and there’s so much more to learn. No matter how much yarn is on the needles I can’t resist making more yarn with my spindles. Making handspun is amazing and, at the end of the process, I can knit with it too. Then the cycle begins again. 

April is for Blankets: Week 4

Every month I’m picking one skill to practice everyday for a month and updating my progress every Monday. I call it Project Incremental. Read up on how it all got started. 

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3 weeks down with 1 week until May and I’m still enjoying this project. Measurable progress probably helps. Oh, hitting a major milestone every so often is great too. Last week, I finally knit through the entire 465 yards in the first skein of yarn and started on the second 465 yards. Feels good.

I prefer not to think about the fact that after I finish the second skein, there’s still another 465 yards to go. I’m also doing my best to ignore the fact that the final rounds of this blanket have over 700 stitches each. Instead of focusing on the sheer number of stitches ahead of me, I’m keeping what I’ve accomplished in mind. Last week I knit 10 rounds and 4,280 stitches and the week before saw 14 rounds and 5,320 stitches. That’s over 9,000 stitches (9,600 to be exact). All those stitches are adding up. 

Wonder how many rounds and stitches I’ll knit this week. 

April is for Blankets: Week 3

​Every month I’m picking one skill to practice everyday for a month and updating my progress every Monday. I call it Project Incremental. Read up on how it all got started. 

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And the month is half over already. Funny how that happens. Here I am, just going about my own business, and time is flying by without one bit of concern for any deadlines it’s bringing closer. Ah well. I was able to put some of that time to use by testing out my theory about sneaking up on finished projects one row/day at a time. 

During the past week I knit 14 rounds and the great bulk of the work, 6 rounds, happened Sunday. Managed to get all wrapped up in watching a new to me anime and couldn’t stop until the last episode. What better thing to do with my hands than knit? Somehow managed to not scare away the finished project by knitting so much at one time. Still looking forward to today’s and tomorrow’s rounds so the theory stands strong. Giant, bound off blanket, you shall not escape me.

I’ve managed to to finish the first 2 charts and start the next 2. After knitting 14 rounds, there are 404 stitches on the needles. The grand total of stitches knitted last week is 5,320. There are 82 rounds left assuming that I don’t chart out any more repeats - the jury is still out on that - and not even I am going to bother doing the math about how many stitches are left. That is not information I care to know until after I’ve bound off, blocked the blanket, and am cozy underneath it. Then the stitch count will be a point of pride or insanity. Haven’t decided which. 

Washing Socks

Weeks of unrelenting pollen? Check.

Frequent rain storms? Check.

70° (F) temperatures? Check. 

Tornado Warnings? Check. Thankfully, nothing happened this time. 

Yep, it’s finally time to put away the woolens and the comfy hand knit socks. What finally convinced me to put away the wool was several days spent wearing flip-flops. Flip-flops and socks don’t mix unless you happen to be wearing tabi socks. Even then, doesn’t work most of the time.

My condolences to any who live farther north and are still being buffeted by cold temps and sleet. 

Before my socks could go into hibernation for the season, some of them needed a bath. So they got a soak in the sink with grapefruit Eucalan and a good squishing before going on the rack to dry. I really don’t mind hand washing my socks even though I could put all of these through the washer and dryer.   Soak. Squish. Hang. That’s all there is to it.The socks get clean, are spared the abuse of the washing machines, and I get to see them looking pretty while I go about my day. 

Anyone else putting away the wool hand knits for the summer? Or at least thinking about it?

April is for Blankets: Week 2

Every month I’m picking one skill to practice everyday for a month and updating my progress every Monday. I call it Project Incremental. Read up on how it all got started. 

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Thanks to constant rain and all encompassing clouds of pollen, the first week of April has been full of good reasons to stay inside and knit. I did brave the outdoors and cross other things off my to do list but I always made time for a few stitches or a few hundred stitches from the Norma Blanket.

On some days I knit one row and was completely happy with it. On other day I knit 2 rows and that was great. Either way, I’m slowly sneaking closer to a finished blanket. I have this theory that if you try to tackle a large and cunning project all at once, it’ll see you coming and make a great escape; however, if you sneak up a row or two at a time, the wily stitches won’t notice you until they’re already bound off. Then you’ve won and your project can’t escape to the bottom of the work in progress basket for a year or two. 

Testing is ongoing but the results look promising. During the last week, I knit 10 rows which equals 3,320 stitches. The blanket, or the Couch Monster as I’ve started calling it, does not see me coming. 

Technical Magic

Magic, folks. It was magic that finally made me rip out a pair of half knit socks that I was never going to finish. Okay, it was really a handy little gadget that cranks out i-cord like nobody’s business, the Embellish Knit. Clark’s Third Law says that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I know how knitting works and I understand how this machine works but it still seems like magic to me. Yarn goes in and seconds later, i-cord comes out in a fraction of the time it would take me to knit. Let’s just call it the magic of engineering and technical know-how.

One of the first ideas I had for the yarn when I decided to rip out the socks was to use it for an i-cord garland. Only I didn’t want to spend the rest of the year knitting i-cord. So, the yarn stayed partially socks until I broke down and bought the Embellish Knit to make i-cord for another project. The practice yarn that came with the package went through first. Cranking that little bit yarn into i-cord was all it took for the hunk of plastic and metal in my hands to become magic. 

The yarn that was partially socks quickly went back to just being yarn before I doubled up the strands and started feeding them through the gadget. Thick, cushy i-cord started flowing out. About an hour later, there was about 40 feet (12.2 meters) of i-cord instead of 219 yards of fingering weight yarn. I don’t even want to think about how long it would have taken me knit all that by hand. 

If you need to knit yards and yards of i-cord, spare your hands and your time and just get this gadget. Absolutely worth it. 

The i-cord gets to do garland duty once I figure out where to hang it Until then, I’ll just drape it artfully over a chair. Don’t want to put it away just yet. 

April is for Blankets

Every month I’m picking one skill to practice everyday for a month and updating my progress every Monday. I call it Project Incremental. Read up on how it all got started. 

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Well, specifically, I’m only going to be focusing on one blanket this month. No, this is not an April Fool’s prank though I am annoyed that I didn’t remember to come up with one this year. Oh, but my yearly PSA for April 1st still stands, trust next to nothing on the internet today. Not even the Google Nose Beta. Now down to the serious and prank free matters at hand. 

I am really making my Incremental Project for the month about knitting a blanket. The Norma blanket to be exact. I cast on last Christmas as a present for myself and made some good progress for a bit.  I’ve stalled out on on Row 75 of the first chart which means I have a long way to go. The blanket has been sitting none to quietly in its bag and mocking me about it’s unfinished state. Knit me, it says. I have fun lace and long repeats to keep you interested. Knit me before Summer comes and you burst into flames as soon as I’m in your lap. Can’t argue with that logic. ​

The plan is simple. Knit 1 row everyday for the entire month of April. That’s 30 days but there are more than 30 rows before it’s time to bind off.  Not a problem. See, this month’s goal isn’t to finish but to move forward. That’s the important part and I’m more than ready.

Anyone else care to join me in tackling a giant project?

Still Spring

Spring continues unabated outside the windows. Only the weather has gone from warm and sunny to cold and windy with occasional rain. I’m sure the pollen will return any day now. In the mean time, I want nothing more than to snuggle up with my knitting and a cup of something hot to drink. Not much luck on snuggling part but I still get to knit. The top project right now is a black ribbed hat, Slick by Alexandra Tinsley. Much of that ribbing is twisted which isn’t as annoying as it sounds. Plus, I get to work a few cables every now and then so the knitting is actually fun. Feels good to be a process and a product knitter at the same time.  

Do you knit for the joy of knitting or do you knit for the final product? 

To balance out the  dark ribbing, here’s a bright spring flower. Maybe the color will help hold us over until the sun comes out again. 

Confidence

When I was trying to come up with something worth writing about today, my first thought was about socks. Blame the Shur’tugal socks I’ve been working on since January. Specifically, I was going to write about another reason why socks are great for travel knitting besides from the portability and enjoyment in progress socks provide. Then I changed my mind. 

My toe-up Shur’tugal socks have been growing one row at a time and gusset is not far off. Before the socks got any longer, I wanted to figure out where the gusset would start. Of course, I can’t remember to work the math at home with paper, pencil, and a flat table. I was sitting in a car and doing the calculations on the back of a napkin. The math wasn’t hard and I knew what I was doing because I done the same calculations for most of the 20+ other pairs of socks that I’ve knit. Number crunching finished, the gussets needed to start at 6.5”. The socks are currently 5” long so I’ve got a few more rows before I have to keep track of increases. 

I thought about writing a tutorial about gusset and heel flap placement but realized I was missing the larger point. 

Sock - hat/fingerless mitts/sleeves/hexipuff/whatever you please - knitting is prime travel knitting because of confidence and practice. I finished my first pair in front a computer with a video about kitchener stitch going on repeat. At the time, socks were not travel knitting. It was only after finishing several pairs and liking how they fit that my confidence grew. Took even longer for me to start hauling them around in my purse during errands because I could fix any problem that came up. The fix might be ripping out most of the sock but I knew I could do it. 

Confidence. In knitting and everything else that we do, confidence in our skills and in ourselves is important and absolutely necessary. It is the first step towards reaching any goal and finishing every project. Why bother doing anything if you’re sure you’ll fail?

If you’re starting or learning something new, it’s probably going to be hard work. It’s probably going to take time. You might make mistakes but, know this, you’ll get there. I’m rooting for you.