The Crocs Socks

Here's a little pattern I worked up last weekend.  I don't know if my notes are clear enough for someone else to follow.  If you knit this, please feel free to send me comments either here or on Ravelry.com.  I'd love to hear what you think.  I plan to add pictures as soon as I can.

These socks fit an average woman's foot.  You could use DK weight and decrease your spi to make them fit men.

Materials:
I used one 2oz ball of fingering/sock weight yarn and size 2 needles, both 9" circ and DPNs.
Also needed: stitch markers, stitch holders or spare DPNs to use as holders, tapestry needle.

gauge: 
7 stitches per inch in stockinette stitch

cast on:
co 38 with the long-tail method.
ankle:
R1: sl1, P6, sl1, P to end
R2: sl1 K6 sl1 (K1, sl1) until there are 7 stitches left, k7
Repeat R1-2 until 12 rounds total.

heel:
Place first 7 and last 7 stitches on holders.
continue heel piece in (sl1, K1) pattern as above until a total of 15 rounds or 30 rows have been knit.

turn heel:
Turn heel (P14, P2tog, P1, turn, ETC.) until 14 stitches remain.  For a quick tutorial on how to do this, look here.  Since this is a standard technique, I didn't write it all out.  What can I say?  I'm lazy sometimes.

constructing the arch section:
R1: pick up+ 9 stitches along side of heel flap, K1 stitch off holding needle, slip previous stitch over this stitch knitted off the holder (the last stitch picked up on side of heel.) turn.
R2: sl1, P to top edge of heel flap (9+14 stitches) pick up 9 stitches along other side of heel. K1 stitch from holding needle, slip previous stitch over as before.
R3: sl1, K to 1 st before holding needle, sl1, K1 from holder, psso. turn.
R4: sl1, P to 1 st before holdling needle, sl1, P1 from holder, Psso. Turn.
Repeat R3 and R4 until all but one stitch has been removed from holder.
complete R3 again but instead of turning, pick up 6 stitches along the edge of the ankle piece knit with the initial 12 rows. turn.
(K1, P1) 3 times, P to last stitch on needle and complete this row as R4 above. DO NOT TURN. Pick up 6 stitches along the edge of the ankle piece, turn.
(K1, P1) 3 times. K to last 6 stitches, (p1, K1) 3 times. CO 13 stitches and join in the round with ribbed section on opposite side of the ankle, placing a round marker.
 
Working in the round:
R1: (K1, P1) 3 times, K to ribbing, (P1,K1) three times, continue ribbing pattern across to end of round.
R2: (K1, P1) 3 times, place marker, K1, ssk, K to 3 stitches before ribbing begins, K2tog, K1, place marker, (P1,K1) ribbing to end of round.
Repeat R1-R3 until 49 stitches remain in total.  Yes, 49.  You cast on 13 stitches across the top of the foot to keep in K1P1 pattern so it's uneven.  Now you'll remove the asymmetry by K2tog once at the center of the bottom of the foot, roughly 12 stitches from the ribbing section.
Continue in pattern until sock measures 2” less than desired length.

Toe decreases:
one row of K and then decrease as standard and kitchener graft to seam up.
If you don't know how to do this, read on!

You will want to switch to your DPNs now.  Place a marker  on either side of the ribbing.  Now remember, you have 25 stitches in ribbing pattern and 23 stitches in stockinette.  You'll want to place your markers just slightly off so that you have 24 st between each marker.  Designate one of these markers the round marker.

R1: K
R2: K1, ssk, K to 3 stitches before marker, K2tog, K1, sm, ssk, K to 3 stitches before marker, K2tog, K1.
R3: K

Repeate R2-3 until 8 stitches remain between each marker, a total of 16 stitches in total.

Use a kitchener graft to close up the toe.

DONE!

The story behind this pattern is this:  My family and I were perusing a local yarn shop a few weeks ago just for fun and my husband saw a pattern for socks similar to the above.  He said, "You should make some of those for yourself!"  I wasn't sure if I'd like them or not so I didn't want to spend the money on the pattern.

Fast forward to this past weekend when we were on a road trip.  I had packed a sock project to work on and thought that was all I'd need.  Lo and behold, my husband decided he didn't want me to use the yarn I had with me to make a gift for someone else ("It's too nice, you should make yourself something with it."  See?  He's always looking out for me because he knows I don't make much for myself.) So suddenly I had a 10 hour car trip and no busy work!  We stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up a ball of sock yarn and I decided I'd take a stab at something like the sock pattern we'd looked at a few weeks prior.

The pattern above is the result.  I wasn't sure I'd like them still, even when I had them done!  Until I wore them with my crocks.  LOVE!

Learning to Love Flat Diapers

I recently was forced to make drastic changes to our cloth diaper stash. I'll be the first to admit that I'm always up for trying new diapers, but this time, I was forced into using a diaper that I had tried time and time again with both of my girls and never found any love for. The Flat Fold Diaper.

Traditionally, flat diapers were made of cotton birdseye or cotton gauze. In fact, when I was expecting my first child, my mother gifted me with 2 dozen gauze half-flats from my own childhood. I was excited by this gift because half of the reason I wanted to use cloth diapers was because it was the "traditional" way to do things. If it worked for Mom and Grandma, why shouldn't it work for me?

Well, my firstborn turned out to be a heavy wetter. And I do mean heavy. I could not get the gauzy cotton flats to hold enough pee or create a tight enough seal to keep the pee in if I doulbed them up. So I used them for burprags. They made great burp rags.

For my second child, I was inspired to try flats again when she was tiny when I learned about the origami fold. I love origami and thought that maybe that fold would work better than what I had been trying with my older child. Also, my second baby was NOT a heavy wetter so I had better chances of loving them. In the end, I did not. Using traditional birdseye flats, the origami fold was too small for her waist and using flannel receiving blankets with the origami fold created diapers that were not only too big but too absorbant and bulky. I just couldn't find a happy medium.

Flash forward to a few months after our move into the new house. A new house means a new washer and dryer and a new water supply. All of those things, means a new washing routine. I struggled to find a washing routine that would conquer the stinkies in my daughter's diapers. It seemed like I could go only about a week before I had to do something drastic like stripping them or using bleach on them. I wasn't willing to do that many intensive washes. It was making cloth diapering much less appealing!

While searching for more hints on handling the stinkies, I came across a thread on my diapering forum extolling the virtues of flat diapers. Again, I thought, it's too bad I don't like flats because they would be easy to keep clean. One single layer of fabric would come clean for sure, no matter what my washing routine was! But I remembered hating flats. Ugh.

As I read through the thread, I noticed that a lot of mamas were using a folding pattern that hadn't been publicized when I had last tried flats. After looking at it and trying it out on the flat diapers I had at home, I realized that I just might like it enough to try flats again. So, out came the receiving blankets. Out came the flat diapers. Out came the pins.

And wouldn't you know, after only one small modification to that RoPo fold, I was loving the flat diapers on my younger daughter. Seriously, I love the act of folding them. I love the sense of tradition in using flat diapers and pins. I love the fact that laundry is a breeze. The stinkies are gone and flat diapers dry in a single cycle of the dryer, unlike other diapers which can take up to 2 hours in the dryer plus overnight hanging to dry.

The added bonus to using flannel receiving blankets as flat diapers is all the fun color that shows up in your stash! I have been picking up blankets at garage sales and resale shops all summer long and am really enjoying the different colors and prints. Since I"m buying used, a lot of my blankets are available in colors and styles that I couldn't find in the store today.

As I've added new blankets to my stash, I have come to have a great appreciatioan for the art of gender-neutral prints. There was once a great need for gender-neutral blankets as no one knew whether they'd have a baby girl or a baby boy. The prints in these older blankets are by far my favorites as they are so carefully drawn and have some truly great color schemes in them. Take a peek at some of my favorites!

The Finished Koolaid Upchuck Sweater

IMG_4220
Originally uploaded by LittlePoopie

It's done! It fits, too!