Iowa floods ‘08

Notorious Sock Knitters | June 16, 2008
By Alice in the Heartland

Just to let everyone know I’m still alive, high and dry, but not unaffected by the recent floods in Iowa. With the closing of many roads in eastern Iowa due to flooding my DH had to drive almost 200 miles round trip to get to work last week. We are fortunate to live on high ground but the Iowa river is right out our front door. If you’d like to see some photos beyond what’s been on the news I suggest this website:

http://iowadot.gov/floods/2008gallery.html

They have some amazing photos of I-80 and the damage flood water does to roadways.  I’ve also put public photos on flickr  so  you  can see what it was like  near me. I’m sure lots of other folks have posted photos of the flooding as well.

Most of eastern Iowa is still dealing with active flooding so it will be awhile before life seems normal. Luckily DH stayed healthy during all this as the hospital we normally use in Cedar Rapids is the one that had to be evacuated. My prayers and thoughts to everyone downstream from us and get your sandbags ready as a whole lot of water is on it’s way. At least 3 rivers in Iowa set record high levels and they all drain into the Mississippi.

Anyway, back to your regular knitting blog. Happy knitting, Alice

May sock with different toe?

May Kit Questions, Notorious Sock Knitters | June 16, 2008
By Amber

Has anyone done a different toe on their May socks?  One that doesn’t require a provisional cast-on?  I’m on travel, without a crochet hook, and just had to frog.  Poor planning on my part. If so, how did you do it?   

Issue with side ladder or front slash pattern?

May Kit Questions | June 16, 2008
By Amber

I’m at a bit of a loss.  Finished the toe (love it, btw!), started the foot.  I’m getting the lovely, pronounced front on the 1/1 LTC side (beginning of the round), but the other side (end of the round), with the 1/1 RTC is a bit of a mess!   <p>I don’t know whether it’s the way I’m doing the 1/1 RTC - slipping one stitch to cable need, holding at back (as in, behind right needle and yarn), k1tbl, then k1 from cable stitch - or whether it’s the side ladder pattern.<p>On round 2 of the side ladder, I’m doing “k2tog tbl, yo, k1tbl” on both ends.  I’m not reversing to “k1tbl, yo, k2tog tbl? on the 1/1 RTC side.  Should I be reversing? Or could it be an issue of how I’m doing the 1/1 RTC?

May Sock Problems

Notorious Sock Knitters | June 15, 2008
By Marlene

I started ny first May sock this weekend. I tried a provisional cast on technique I saw described in another posting. (Waste yarn goes right onto the needle rather than picking it up from the back bumps of a crocheted chain.) It seemed to go well, but the chain didn’t unzip properly and I ended up with one or two few stitches. I inititally just tried to comprensate by making some stitches. But I wasn’t crazy about how one side of the toe looked - it was very holey. The other side looked great.

Anyway, I ended up frogging the whole thing (it was only the toe, so not a big deal). Before I start again, I was wondering if anyone can help me figure out why the toe was holey and why my chain didn’t unzip well.