Pay It Forward

Like the title today, I’m posting so I can try and pay it forward. I got a little inspired by Maia who’s taking the time to make a tutorial for her toe up heel flap method. I butcher knitting patterns on the regular so I thought I’d share with you one of the ways I remixed my current pattern. Hopefully it will save you from repeating a lot of the curse words I said last night.

I started my Falling in Love socks that I’m knitting along with Nancy. Toe up socks are my favorite so I figured it would be smooth sailing. I decided to magic loop ‘em on my favorite Addi Turbos. You can tell they’re my favorite because they have this warped gangsta lean thing going on. Anyhoo, so I’m chillin at my Tuesday knitting session at Barnes & Nobles and I glance over and see my buddy Nancy. I’m so anxious to show her that I started my socks that I smugly hold them up high in the air so she can see that I am a knitter of my word. Nancy holds up the beginings of a toe and Maribel holds up her chocolate Hedera sock so we had a little wonder twins, sock knitting moment.

We commence to talk about how the patterns going so far. I tell her that I wasn’t feeling the short row toe so I remixed it into a magic cast on and increased every other row each end of the needle until I had the appropriate number of stitches. I still had like 2 more increase rows to go when Nancy casually states “Oh, and how about that knit 4 together?” Knit what?!?!?!? Where?!?!? Like usual, I just skimmed through the pattern. I was totally blindsided by the pretty picture and I didn’t realize there was a knit 4 together in there. And here goes Shameka, who’s sitting right next to me, snatches up my pattern off the table and states “Yup, right here on row 5, Knit four together”. Can I tell you how mortified I was when I found this out. HAve you ever tried to knit 4 together using an Addi Turbo? Let me just tell you that it aint gonna work. I haven’t had to deal with anything like that since the nupps in the Swallowtail shawl. I was really discouraged about the knit 4 together but I was determined to finish these socks.

I thought about my dilemma the whole train ride home. It finally clicked when I thought about the double decreases I did in the Baudelair socks. I just had to find a way to mix that with how I purled the nupps in the shawl. First thing I did was make myself a chart in excel because it’s easier for me if I can get a clear visual of the stitch pattern. By the way, does anyone know of any free knitting software I can use to make my own charts? Once that was done, it took a couple of tries but I think I came up with an alternative for the knit 4 together. Here goes my attmept at a tutorial.

Here’s what I did for the first knit 4 together:
-Slip two stitches
-Knit 2 together
-Slip the two stitches over the knit two together one at a time (as if you were binding off)
-Go on about your business

Here’s what I did for the second knit 4 together:
-Knit two together
-Slip that stitch back to left needle
-Slip the next two stitches over the knit two together one at time.
-Go on about your business.

(see below)
Because the knit 4 together is surrounded by yarn overs it seems to look OK. I’m using handspun yarn which is kind of lumpy and bumpy so I can’t tell if it messes with the pattern or not. Fell free to comment if you have any input on this subject. I’d love to hear what you guys think.
Happy Knitting 4 Together!

On second thought, scratch those instructions above. I did a couple of rows on the sock durign my lunch hour and it looks like I should have switched them (of course I'm not ripping back, wabi sabi). Here' show it should go:

For the first knit 4 together
-Knit two together
-slip that stitch back to left needle
-Slip the next two stitches over the knit together one at a time

For the second knit 4 together
-Slip two stitches
- Knit two together
-Slip the two slipped stitches over the knit together one at a time (as if binding off)