Episode 24: shawls, scarves and spiral socks

This week I talk about a few new podcasts that I forgot to mention last time and you should really check out:

Unwound, with a relaxed, sweet-voiced host who asks questions she wants you to answer.

Beneath the Fiber Moon makes me blush, but in a good way.

Sticks and String makes me want to move to Australia, and not because I had a very bad day.

The Book of the Week:
Stahman's Shawls and Scarves makes lace make sense, and lace shawls look super-easy (I don't think they are, but they are achievable, with this book in my hot little hands). Also, an ideal way to work when you have limited or unknown amounts of yarn, as the shawls and scarves in question are all knit from the top down, in a way. Very thorough technique, well-drawn charts, clear instructions and diagrams and, best of all, an author who doesn't mind if people e-mail her with questions and includes her e-mail address on her copyright page.

Lara's Recipe for toe-up spiral socks:
CO 4 stitches
K in the front and back of each stitch, join.
Knit one round, divide stitches onto 4 double-pointed needles (it will be akward at first)
On every other round, increase either at the beginning or end of each needle until you have enough stitches to fit around your foot. (eyeball, measure or guess, but for goodness sake, if you want to try it on, move it to waste yarn first)
When you have enough stitches to fit around your foot, switch to 4 x 4 spiral ribbing:
work four rounds 4x4 rib; shift pattern by one stitch (p1, [k4, p4] around to last 3, p3) for four rounds; (p2, [k4, p4] around to last 2, p2)...savvy?

And so on until you run out of yarn or go mad or just decide you're done. I then worked about 5" in 2x2 rib to help hold the top up.

Download Episode 24

PS - until someone tells me a good reason to keep up the other feed, I will not. :)