Tag Archives: shur’tugal

Think pink! and purple, and…

Posted on April 13, 2009 | 26 comments

Dragons!

shurt fo

The Shur’tugal (Dragon Rider) socks are done. And I love them! The color pooling has been vanquished (except maybe a hint of a pink puddle on one side of each of the ankles), the spiral has been embraced, and all is well.

shurt fo 2

Details:

Shur’tugal by Alice Yu (Socktopus), knit for the Ravelry Socks that Rock 2nd quarter Knitalong.
Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Bleeding Hearts
Size 1 Lantern Moon Blond wood Sox Stix (I really like these 6 inch needles!)

shurt model

I modified the pattern to from 56 stitches to 48 to compensate for the heavier yarn and to escape the color pooling I had with 56. The socks look narrow, but they are a perfect fit. The fabric is pretty stretchy; I think they would also have fit at 56 stitches, but they wouldn’t have been nearly as pretty. And these are very, very pretty.

shurt model 2

I love the detail on the heels.

shurt heels

Thanks to Alice (Socktopus) for a great knit!

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What is a sock

Posted on April 3, 2009 | 16 comments

What is a sock start, but a gauge swatch?

Yesterday’s foray with the Bleeding Heart Shur’tugal left me cold. That big blobby pool of pink just didn’t make me happy. The spiral reversed direction between the ribbing and the dragon scale pattern, and the area where it reversed was like a big pink eyeball. I couldn’t take it, so I ripped it out.

bleeding hearts

The pattern calls for 64 or 72 stitches. I had already reduced it to 56 stitches on size 1 needles because I’m using STR Mediumweight instead of Lightweight. I knew if I increased to 64 stitches, I would have to knit on size 0 or 00 needles. No way. So I went the other direction, and cast on 48 stitches on size 2 needles. (ETA: I thought they were 2’s, but they’re still 1’s! I guess I can switch back to my new Lantern Moon blondwood Sox Stix, since they’re the same size as these Brittany Birch.)

spiral

(Please excuse the harsh lighting. The sun actually came out, hooray!)

What a well behaved spiral. Just what I wanted, and it looks a lot like the spiral on the designer’s revised pattern for Shur’tugal. (Ravelry link for the updated pattern, but I don’t think you can get it elsewhere. Join Ravelry; it’s free!)

So I’m much happier. The sock is a little snugger, but still big enough for my leg and my foot. And there’s no pink eyeball. Ahhhhh.

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April is for casting on

Posted on April 2, 2009 | 9 comments

It’s time for the next Socks that Rock knitalong on Ravelry. The pattern choices this month are Shur’tugal (Dragon Rider) and Mad Color Weave. I chose Shur’tugal, and bought this STR Mediumweight for it last month.

bleeding hearts

The color is Bleeding Hearts. Although there’s not much knitting to show yet, I couldn’t resist taking this picture, because it wasn’t raining!

bleeding hearts

But I’m not sure I like what the color is doing. The brighter colors began a spiral around the leg while I was knitting the ribbing, but when I changed to the dragon scale pattern, the spiral reversed direction, resulting in a huge color pool. The reverse side of the sock is all dark. I’m going to go through one more repeat, and then decide if I can stand it.

I also picked up the next installment of the Single Skein Club from Twisted; I’ll take some pictures soon!

Knit on!

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