At 09:17 AM 10/17/03 -0400, Holly Shaltz wrote: >. . . , I use the round toe all the time now. It's not as >easy to follow (for me) while knitting, but it eliminates the weak area >where the decreases are in the usual flat toe.
I have developed a self-counting swirl toe. I make the first round of decreases on the first two stitches of each needle, the second round on stitches #2 and #3, the third decrease becomes the third stitch from the end, etc. While the decrease rounds are far apart, I knit a bit of crochet cotton into the same column I've been counting rows in, so that one stitch in the decrease round turns pink. When the decreases approach my marking column, I switch to marking the first stitch on the needle. (Each time I have decreased away half the stitches, the beginning of the round shifts one needle to the left.) Sometimes I find an overlooked marker after the sock has been washed two or three times, but mercerized crochet cotton doesn't stick to wool, so it's still easy to get out. >Darns in that area are a >real bear! If I get a hole in the toe, I usually ravel it out and knit a new toe. The Pointe de Venise darn isn't particularly difficult on a sharp curve, but toes are where my socks wear out last. I get a couple of thin patches on the sides of the balls which this thread has made me realize is due to my sandals slipping. But for the same reason, factory-knit socks aren't very comfortable in my sandals, so I'm going to keep on wearing the hand-knit ones. Like someone whose post I've deleted, my factory socks wear first at the back of the heel, and my hand-knit socks wear first under the heel, even though I continue stranding the sole well into the foot. Well, it's stranding in the heel flap and festive knitting* on the sole, but the two fabrics are indistinguishable. There is also a weak line where I short-row to turn the heel; I can't think of anything to do about it except maybe pre-darn. -- Joy Beeson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~joybeeson/ http://home.earthlink.net/~beeson_n3f/ west of Fort Wayne, Indiana, U.S.A. To stop mail temporarily mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: set nomail To restore send: set mail
