Twisted Flower, Hybrid Cables and Febrarch

First and foremost, let me thank everyone for all the kind comments about my Minimalist Cardigan! I really appreciate all your responses, and I read them all. I’ve been very busy, which has limited my blogging, emailing and knitting time rather drastically (sob!), so I had to decide between responding to each of your comments on my sweater or looking to see what you were up to on your blogs. I opted for reading and commenting on your blogs. Although I am still playing blog-reading catch-up, I can say with confidence that everyone is knitting cool stuff!

Myself, I’m knitting a pretty cool sock, and I am very pleased to report that my Twisted Flower sock is looking just like the first sock of the pair, which was knit by Jean of Golden Purl.

I am actually a little farther along than this, but this was the last time the sock, daylight and my camera came together which was on Saturday. I’m still on the leg though. It isn’t hard to follow the directions or the chart, but my wrists don’t like the twisted stitches very much. So, I knit a couple rounds and then take a breather (a tweed breather, but that’s another post).

I’m knitting the 2-stitch twists and cables using a hybrid method that I’m sure others use, but I haven’t seen it. I’d knit the cables without a cable needle except for the fact that these are itty-bitty, teensy-weensy, tight little stitches on a whole mess of dpns (I’m using 5 instead of my usual 4, making the chart repeats easier). So, I’ve been doing the cross before working any stitches, like is done when cabling without a cable needle, but I am using a cable needle to keep from losing the aforementioned rather smallish, tightish stitches during the crossing transfers. Here’s an example:

Actual Right Twist Pattern Instructions: Sl 1 to cn and hold to back, k tbl, p1 from cn
What I do: Sl 1 to cn and hold to back, Sl 1 to right needle, transfer st from cn to left needle, transfer slipped st on right needle to left needle, k tbl, p1 (It’s longer to write but easier than knitting from the cable needle.)

The inability to knit many rounds of an evening is causing me some concern in terms of finishing this sock by the end of February. I may have to make the period after the 31st of January and before the first of April a big month of Febrarch, during which time I finish the Twisted Flower and knit a second pair of socks. I have the yarn for the second pair of socks, and it is very suitable for Project Spectrum 3: Fire. Fearless Fibers Superwash Merino is Raspberry:

Because I am really liking how the twisted stitches are looking on the Twisted Flower, of course, I want to knit this into a twisted stitch. But that is NOT THE IDEA for Febrarch. I am currently torn, but eying socks all over everyone’s Ravelry pages, so I hope to make a decision soon. In the meantime, I haven’t knit my round allotment on Twisted Flower yet this evening…