The Leyburn Conundrum

In the long ago, before Battlestar Galatica appeared its last on the SciFi channel, I started knitting a pair of Leyburn socks. I had seen what the Harlot had done (scroll to 01-21-09) and decided I would knit them, too.

I read the pattern. I got some appropriate yarn. I did a bunch of math. I made extensive calculations. I cast-on. I knit. I tried on the sock. I thought it fit. I knit some more. Life happened. The sock waited. Then I decided to finish them. I knit some more. I tried on the sock to determine where best to put the heel. The sock was huge. I refused to accept it, leaving the sock in the basket for a day. I picked it up again. Still huge. I ripped it out. Such is the sad, terrible saga of Leyburn I of the Kingdom of Random Sock Knit Along.

The reign of Leyburn II began the later that evening. After a rough start where Leyburn II’s advisor criticized his logic and appearance, things went well. Then there was the incident of the heel and the whole, loose floats of doom issue. So, Leyburn II has fallen ill and may not survive a trip to the frog pond.

I am generally a relaxed knitter, so to compensate, I tend to use a smaller needle. Because I have knit with practically every weight of sock yarn known to humankind, I can determine how a pattern will work with the yarn and if I need to make any further adjustment beyond needle size to the pattern.

Then I encounter a pattern like the Leyburn and I find myself driven a bit beyond distraction and speeding toward Looneyville.

The very design of the Leyburn that makes me want to knit the socks is the same design that has made me a bit bonko.

I have knit Fair Isle in my time. I am not a fan of Fair Isle. It doesn’t call to me the way lace and cables do.

For those of you unfamiliar with Fair Isle knitting, the briefest of tutorials. Fair Isle knitting is a technique whereby the knitter uses two or more different strands of yarns in different colors in the same row/round to create a multicolor design. To prevent holes from forming in the knitted garment, each strand of yarn is carried across the row. The yarn is then twisted together when changing from one color to the next. The little loops that form by the yarn that is not being used to knit the stitches are called floats. (For a more extensive description via Wikipedia: Fair Isle Knitting)

One of the reasons I am not a fan of Fair Isle is that stitch tension contributes only half to a beautiful result. The other half is the tension of the floats: Too loose and a hole forms every time you change colors; Too tight and the garment puckers unattractively every time you change colors.

In the Leyburn design, however, you create a float by stringing the yarn along in front of unknit stitches, but the basic principle is the same as in Fair Isle knitting with regard to lose and tight floats.

The pattern designed made a point of telling the fair knitter that because of the float design, the sock would be tighter than normal. Fair Knitter was glad to be advised of this because knitter fair has feet of Flintstone, thus necessitating calculations befitting a quantum physicist. So concentrated was Fair Knitter on not producing a second sock worthy of feet of four by sixes, that knitter fair forgot the Float Postulum 573, which states that relaxed knitters need worry less about floats too tight as floats loose and unruly.

So, I am working on the leg bit of Leyburn II and between the floats loose and unruly and the heel of ick, I am thinking of dispatching Leyburn II and trying for Leyburn III. The advocates of Leyburn II are quite vocal and convincing, but I fear they are quickly losing to the advocates of Leyburn III. Damn you knitting OCD!