Quant, um.

I finished the Quant. I sort of wandered away from the directions, so it isn't perfect, and like most things I've knit following somebody else's pattern, it's sort of too big. If I don't tweak it right, it stands up like an old fashioned habit and makes me look like I should be ministering to sick hippies. But I love it. It doesn't squish my bun and it keeps the freezing wind off my ears and holds back those little wisps of hair that stick to my lipgloss. Also, I find something really comforting about big knitted headbands, and I need comforting right now.
In a few minutes, Andy will come get me and we'll go sign the lease and get the keys and the Great Schlep of '08 will begin. Over the years, I've grown used to loathing this apartment. It is beyond weird to think that tomorrow I will live somewhere else, on the other side of the river, in a better apartment. It's like shock Feng Shui.

Entrelac and You Don't Stop Rockin'

Entrelac is one of those things like cabling and turning a heel that you think must be incredibly difficult but when you do it just isn't. I've been wanting to give it a go for a while, but haven't come up with a project - I don't need any more scarves, heaven knows, and there are already several sock projects in my queue. I don't do bags, either. I settled on Quant :



which is small and fast and easy and can be picked up with the justification of taking a little break from the Packing and be put down again quickly when someone asks why it is you a still knitting instead of Packing.
Tomorrow is moving day. I am in complete denial.
Noro bands make nice bracelets.

The Thing About Toe-Up Socks

Meet Gertrude.
(If Gerturde looks a little big, it's because she is a gift sock and the intended has bigger feet than me. She is made with Schaefer Yarns "Heather" in the Gertrude Erdele colorway.) Gertrude is an excellent example of the best thing about knitting socks toe-up.
Actually, there are lots of good things to recommend knitting your socks from the toe up: you can try them on as you go, no separate heel-flap so no picking up stitches (ok so I'm a wuss when it comes to picking up stitches), no seam at the toe, etc. All those reasons are more or less matters of opinion and preference, though, and there is nothing knitty that knitters won't dispute.
The one reason no one can argue with is that if you knit your socks from the toe up you can work on both socks at the same time and use up all you yarn. Not that I have anything against leftover yarn. It's just that you can only make so many sachets and nose warmers and mismatched striped whatsits and egg-cozies and tiny mitten Christmas ornaments and baby bootees before you start to wonder if maybe there's another way.
This is my Basic Toe-Up Template. It's the one I teach in my class, and it can very easily be adapted to any stitch pattern. The heel even looks and fits like a top down heel flap! I'll post more detailed pictures when I get to the heel of Gertrude 2.
First, measure the circumference and length of your foot and do a gauge swatch. Multiply stitches per inch by the circumference of you foot. This is the approximate number of total stitches (NTS) your sock will need.
I like to use a Figure-8 cast on. It takes a little practice but is completely worth it. An excellent tutorial can be found here.
Increase until you have the NTS. You should have half the NTS on your 1st needle, and the other half divided on the 2nd and 3rd needles. Your 1st needle is your instep, and you can now start any stitch pattern across those stitches. The stitches on the other two needles are your heel stitches. Knit up to about 3" from your heel.
Start increasing 1 stitch on each side of your heel stitches (once after the 1st stitch on 2nd needle and once before the last stitch on your 3rd needle) every other row, until the number of stitches across your 2nd and 3rd needle has doubled.
Example: You had 13 stitches on your 2nd needle and 13 stitches on your 3rd needle. This equals 26. When you have 26 stitches on your 2nd needle and 26 stitches on your 3rd needle, you're there. Knit across instep stitches.
Now, the short rows! These are worked on the heel stitches only. First, subtract 4 from 3/4 the number of heel stitches. Knit this number of stitches, wrap and turn (w&t).
Example: You started with 13 stitches on your 2nd needle and 13 stitches on your 3rd needle. You doubled this number. 13 x 4 = 52. 13 x 3 = 39. 39 - 4 = 35. K35, w&t.
Next, subtract 2 from 1/2 the number of heel stitches. Purl this number, w&t.
Example: 13 x 2 = 26. 26 - 2 = 24. Purl 24, w&t.
Continue short rows, working one less stitch each time.
Example : K35, w&t. P24, w&t. K23, w&t. P22, w&t. K21, w&t. P20, w&t.
When 9 stitches remain unwrapped (your last row should be a K9, w&t), purl 9, pick up the wrap and P2tog with the stitch it wrapped. Do the same for all following wrapped stitches on this side. On the last wrap, pick up the wrap and P3tog (the wrap, the stitch it wrapped, and the next stitch in line). Turn work.
Slip 1 stitch, knit across to the first wrapped stitch, pick up the wrap, and ssk with the stitch it wrapped. Do the same for all the wrapped stitches on this side. On the last wrap, pick up the wrap and sssk (the wrap, the stitch it wrapped, and the next stitch in line).
To shape the gusset, turn work (WS), sl 1, purl to one stitch before the gap, p2tog. Turn work (RS), *sl 1, K1* repeat to one stitch before the gap, ssk. Keep doing this until you've decreased back to the number of heel stitches you started with. You should end on a RS row. Rejoin instep stitches. When you get to the gap on the other side, pick up a couple of stitches from the base and side of the gap and knit them together with the next stitch through the back.
Keep knitting. Put the sock on holders when you get a fair bit up the leg, and start the second sock. Work it up to the same height, and then switch back and forth between the socks until just enough yarn is left to do a sewn bind off for each sock. If you are using one skein, do one sock from the outside and one from the inside.

To the Next Occupants of My Old Apartment

1. At first, you will think this apartment is charming, with its old timey details and unique nooks and crannies. Do not be fooled. What it is, in fact, is too small and filled with weird angles to put any actual grown-up furniture into.
2. There is no ventilation in the kitchen. The smoke alarm goes off when you make toast. Against all common sense, it goes off when you boil water. Also, never ever fry anything. If you do, the entire apartment will be coated in a film of grease that turns to tar as soon as it cools.
3. In humid weather, a large lake will form in the middle of the bathroom floor. There isn't a damn thing you can do about this.
4. Clouds of small black flies fill the apartment in summer if you open the windows.
5. I hope you want to listen to "Baba O'Reilly" 32 times in one afternoon. Your new neighbors certainly do.
6. The landscaping at the back of the drycleaner's parking lot makes an ideal place for transients to hide, get drunk, have arguments, and fornicate. Shudder.
7. If you have a car, you will be paying $40 a year for a parking permit. You will still never be able to find a parking space. If you have a bicycle, it will be stolen almost immediately.
8. In winter, all the heat hides in one corner, behind the bedroom door. If you close this door, the bedroom will be warm. Everywhere else will be freezing and sweat with damp.
9. The thing about a claw foot tub is that when you shower, the curtains suck in and attack you. Also, things evolve underneath.
10, When you leave, take a moment to look around, as I did, and remember how truly miserable you were here.

Ow.

The Packing has now reached the point where one stops labeling boxes things like "Glass Bottles, Colored" and begins labeling them things like "Random Crap". Who lives in this apartment anyway? What kind of inbred monster allows that kind of scrunge to accumulate under the sink? What kind of maniac keeps an entire drawer full of unopened junk mail? What has been going on here?
Of course, this may have something to do with my fundamental philosophy that there are lots more interesting things to do in my free time besides clean. Nah. Weasels come out of the cupboards while we're at work and throw crazy drunken weasel parties. That must be it.
The Stash has been packed:

Wisely, I kept some Malabrigo Worsted aside for comfort. And what a knitter needs at a time like this is garter stitch. Luckily, I found these posted on Craftster. Basically, you make a rectangle the length of you foot without toes and 7" wide, with two rows of decreases at one end. You fold it in half and sew up the heel and toe, and make a little strap:



Doesn't look like much, until you put it on:



Snuggly, voila!