Paired Lifted Increases

This photo more or less sums up how I spend the month of  December.  This year I baked 22 different types of cookies.  If  you are on my Christmas list, this is what you get.



A couple of friends came over to help decorate the sugar cookies.  They spent hours making them look lovely.  My style is to stick googly eyes and  mustaches on everything although I did take some time to make a gingerbread Cyclops and goddess Kali.



STUDENT NEWS
I have received very few lessons to review during the month of December.  I think things will pick up now that the holidays are over.

TIP OF THE WEEK
The tip this week is very self serving (yet again).  I am doing a pair of knee high socks for the summer issue of Cast On.  The pattern is a lacy rib.  The difficulty in designing knee highs is how to incorporate the stitch pattern into the calf shaping.  I wanted to increase two stitches in a column of purl stitches.  The best way to do this is with paired lifted increases.  These aren't the same as a double increase as they are worked in two stitches next to each other.  I've used this technique before in designs I have done (Medusa Coat &Medusa Skirt).

I've marked the location of the increases with arrows.  At the bottom I worked a left slanting lifted increase purlwise and then a right slanting lifted increase purlwise.  The slant isn't as important when you are working these increases purlwise.  At the top I worked a left slanting increase knitwise and then a right slanting increase.  When you work the knit version the slant is important.  The photo shows the RS of this work.


Here is the WS.



The video shows how to work the increases.  Here is the link:  Paired Lifted Increases

KNITTING SALON
Salon will be on Sunday from 2-4pm.  I will be driving to the Louisville airport.  We are stopping by at the Kentucky Historical Society museum.  They have a special exhibit of memorabilia from the movie White Christmas.  It looks interesting.

CURRENT PROJECTS
I finished up all of my holiday knitting before Christmas but in my haste to ship everything off, I didn't get photos.  I got the yarn from Miss Babs for one of the projects I am doing for Cast On.  THe yarn from Madelinetosh is scheduled to arrive Monday.  I haven't heard when the Anzula yarn is shipping.  Here is a closeup of the sock.

I've got a bit to go but I should finish it up today or tomorrow.  I must have ripped this thing out 20 times.  I tend to do this when I am not on a tight deadline!