Before we jump into the first section of the Never Never Sock KAL (if you missed the first post about the socks you can read that HERE) or the Book Club portion of this post, I want to talk a little bit about choosing a size for your socks. Cotton behaves differently than wool, and this is especially noticeable in gauge and drape. 

The gauge of a cotton yarn will almost certainly be larger/more open than the same weight of wool yarn on the same needles. As such, the gauge for cotton projects is expectedly larger. That means that for a project like socks you will cast on fewer stitches than you likely would for the same project on the same needles if worked in wool. When a pattern calls for cotton and you wish to use wool, you will likely want to work one size up. If a project calls for wool and you want to use cotton, you will likely want to work one size down.

Drape refers to how well a piece holds its shape when draped across a form. Very tightly knit wool has very little drape. It will hold it’s shape regardless of what it’s on. Cotton at most gauges has quite a lot of drape. That means it’s not going to have a lot of stretch or spring. If you do stretch it out it is more prone to staying stretched than wool. In addition to accounting for gauge, I recommend knitting cotton garments just a little smaller than you want them to actually be so they will still fit if slightly stretched. The benefit here means your stitches go farther. With fewer stitches you will use less yarn and complete projects more quickly. 

Never Never Socks

Part One

First, you need to download the project sheet by clicking the “Download” button below. It’s got all the sweet project info you’ve been longing for. Well, OK, maybe not longing but I’ll settle for mild curiosity. 

Second, you’ll want to check out this week’s tutorial on Stacked Increases. I’ll have another one on Stacked Decreases ready to go next Wednesday. The increases post goes over the stitch in detail. 

Ready to get knitting?!

Instructions given inside [brackets] are pattern repeats. The bracketed instructions should be repeated the number of times indicated immediately after the bracket. Ex: [K1P1] x4. Means you should work “K1, P1” four times, and [K1P1] to marker means to repeat “K1, P1” until you reach the next marker.

SWATCH

The swatch is worked flat.

Cast On: With MC and larger needles, cast on 20 sts using your favorite CO.

Rows 1-2: K all sts. Join CC.

Rows 3-4: With CC, K all sts. 

Rows 5-6: With MC, K all sts. 

Row 7: (MC) K4. *[KyoK, Sl2B]x3. KyoK, K6. Repeat from * across. Here you have worked 9 sts into what was previously 1 st. The final KyoK does not include a Sl2B, and on the K6 that completes the increased sts begins by knitting across the 3 sts that you had slipped back as you worked, working down the side of the stack of increases just created and then across the 3 sts next to the stack just made. 52sts

Row 8: (MC) K all sts across. 

Rows 9-10: (CC) K all sts. 

Row 11: (CC) [SSK]x4. *K6 [K3tog, Sl2B]x3, K3tog.  Repeat from * to last 8 sts, [K2tog]x4. 20 sts. 

Row 12: (CC) K all sts across. 

Rows 13-14: (MC) K all sts. Break MC. 

Rows 15-16: (CC) K all sts. 

BO loosely, and block gauge swatch lightly. If you are using cotton yarn, steam is an ideal way to block. 

CUFF

Cast On: With Color A and smaller needles, cast on 52(60, 68, 76, 84) sts using your favorite CO. Join to work in the round, taking care not to twist your sts. Place marker to indicate BoR. 

R1-16: K1P1 around. 

Come back next Friday for the next piece of the pattern!

BOOK CLUB

contains spoilers form ‘Turn Coat’ by Jim Butcher

Turn Coat is an especially satisfying book. Comeuppance are had by those that deserve them. We finally get some momentum and the beginning of resolution on the Black Council. Harry and Lucio’s relationship finally makes sense. Molly is growing into her power and developing a strong sense of self. But before we talk about any of that, we all need to take a beat and acknowledge something: Binder is so obviously Badger from Firefly that I keep expecting Harry to announce that he wishes he were a King that wears a shiny hat. Seriously, Butcher barely even bothered to change his name from the source material. Also, despite having gotten a break from it for the last two books, Jim Butcher suddenly remembered how much he likes writing about women’s nipples “straining against their blouses” and made sure to include plenty of that. 

We don’t leave this book knowing who the entirety of the Black Council is, but we at least know some of the people they are not. They are not the Merlin (which surprised me). They are not Morgan or Lucio either. The whiny, weaselly little secretary Wizard, Peabody, turning out to be evil was not a particular surprise. I really enjoyed that Harry wound up exposing Peabody, and the existence of a Black Council, not with magic but with good, old fashioned investigating. He nailed Peabody by hiring the PI that had first met Harry earlier in the book when Harry caught him surveying Harry’s apartment to catch Peabody in the act and photograph him coming to Chicago at a very incriminating moment. 

At the start of the book, a beaten and bloody Morgan shows up on Harry’s doorstep asking for help. He’s been framed for the murder of a member of the Senior Council. On the lamb from the Wardens and out of options, Morgan turns to someone that he has spent decades persecuting. Morgan has come to believe that Harry is a good man (well, if not good, he no longer believes Harry is evil), but he has not changed his opinion about Molly. The altercations between Molly and Morgan were well written, did a lot to show Molly’s ongoing growth, were pretty funny, and also served to set up the final twist of the book: That Anastasia Lucio’s mind has been altered with black magic, and that she was compelled towards a relationship with Harry. That only comes to light when Molly breaks her vow to not use mind magic and takes a peek inside the sleeping Lucio’s mind. Morgan shoots her for it, and Mouse intervenes taking the bullet for her. That experience was a wake up call for Molly and it was written in a very authentic way. I’m not doing it any justice here, but in the book it worked really well. 

Similarly, in the end when the treachery and framing of Morgan comes to light, I hated and loved it that Morgan asked Harry to let them say he was the murderer. Morgan was dying, and knew that if word spread of how the Senior Council had been infiltrated and manipulated it would destroy the organization. Harry doesn’t share Morgan’s faith in the necessity of the Council, but does understand the need for a governing body to control the use of black magic. If you haven’t read this one yet, the scene where Lucio and Harry (before they know that she’s being controlled) discuss why the Council doesn’t intervene in mortal affairs even when they are atrocities like the Holocaust. It’s the perfect blend of horrible, and also correct. It’s the sort of scene that makes me uncomfortable in a really good “examine my world views” kind of way. 

~Megan-Anne

“There is the world that should be and the world that is. We live in one and must create the other.” – Turn Coat by Jim Butcher

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