Happiness is a Warm Pair of Mittens

I may be looking forward to spring, but as long as we have to deal with winter, what's better than new mittens? Remember the yarn I spun over the summer, around the campfire? Not my best spinning, but look what happens when you put together two not quite perfect yarns:

The hounds-tooth pattern meant that any spots where the yarn was a bit thin was reinforced by the other yarn behind it. They turned out to be quite warm.

But if one pair is good, two pairs are better, right? I used the S-spun, Z-plied yarn to try a bit of twine knitting.

I didn't have a pattern, or any stitch directions with me when I started, so my "rings" didn't turn out exactly as they should until I got to the very last one. I just made it up as I went along, and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. And, they are very warm.

Between the two projects I finally used up the wool from the very first roving ever I bought (from the owner of a beautiful Romney-Corriedale sheep) oh those many years ago - almost 10, if anyone is counting. It had been put aside for exotic breeds and fancy colors. I'd almost forgotten how nice it is to play with a basic natural fiber. I think I'll pull out some BFL for my next spin.

Lace Knitting

My son is getting married this summer, to a wonderful woman. I've knit socks for her in the past, but I wanted to make something really special for this occasion. I decided to make her a wedding shawl. I haven't done any significant lace knitting before, so this was a bit of a challenge. But I kept at it, slowly. I was a bit sceptical as it came off the needles that it would ever be something beautiful and useful. But blocking is an amazing thing. Here it is:

And here is a detail of the leaves:

She received it at her shower yesterday. I think she really liked it. Of course, I hope the day is warm enough that she won't actually have to wear it.

Herringbone Cowl

Ta da:

I finished the cowl, and there is even still cold weather so I can wear it. 

My skill improved as I continued, but I still made mistakes. Here are some of the things I learned:

• it is easier to work mindfully than to fix mistakes
• be gentle with tension
• be careful not to split the yarn
• work slowly; dropped stitches are hard to pick up correctly
• if you accidentally drop both loops, put the lower one back on the needle
• if you want to go back to fix a mistake, tink, don't frog

As I was knitting the cowl, I was still thinking about the red socks. I decided to test out making a clock on a modern pair of socks, so I will have an idea of what to do when I reach that point on the reproduction socks. This is a close approximation of the historic design, just a little smaller, since the stitches are so much bigger:

I'm halfway done with sock two, and then I'll go back to the red socks.

herringbone cowl

Herringbone stitch is really interesting. It doesn't even look like knitting. A friend said she thought it reminded her of nalbinding. maybe that's why I like it. It's an easy stitch to do,  but it is also easy to make mistakes.I'm glad I chose to make a cowl, because really, the mistakes won't matter much in the end. Here is the project so far:

One of the tips I learned from the YouTube video is that you want to use larger needles than ordinarily called for by the size of the yarn. I am knitting with a fingering weight yarn. What I found when making my gauge swatch is that the first row is very tight to knit, even if you cast on loosely. For the cowl I cast on 224 stitches using size 7 needles, then transfered them to size 5 needles. That worked perfectly. If I were making socks with this yarn I would be using size 2 needles (or maybe even size 1 for dense socks), so you can see that I went up in size quite a bit. The video also implied that it is easier using metal needles, but I don't have any.

To knit this stitch flat, the video says for the first row, knit 2 together (k2 tog), but only drop one loop off the left needle. For the second row, purl 2 together through the back loop (p2 tog tbl), but only drop one loop off the left needle. I found this difficult to do. What worked for me was k2 tog tbl (etc.) for the first row and p2 tog (etc.) for the second row. The end result looks the same.

The cowl, however, is knit in the round. The first row is k2 tog (etc.), and the second row is k2 tog tbl (etc.). The trick comes when you reach the end of the row and switch directions. You have to keep moving the marker, or the starting place will migrate. You also need to remember which row you are on.

In this picture you can see some of my mistakes. Almost all are related to forgetting where I was. At the right edge of the photo you can see the start of rows. It looks sloppy, but that's just what happens. At the lower center you can see where I accidently dropped some stitches off the needle and they got mixed up when I put them back on. Higher up and to the left is a spot where I forgot which row I was on and switched back and forth. Finally, you can see a row in about the center of the photo where I forgot to switch all together, and knit two rows the same - both rows point this way: ///// The silly part was, it took me to row 15 to realize I can easily tell which row I am on.

                           

knit 2 together                                                           knit 2 together through the back loop

Hopefully by pointing out my mistakes you can avoid them if you try a project using this stitch.

After I finish the cowl, I am considering trying to design a pair of socks with herringbone cuffs. The trick will be to decrease quickly when I change to plain knitting for the foot - reducing both the number of stitches and the needle size. The cowl has 11 stitches/inch on size 5 needles, so you can get a sense of how dense it is.

Knitting Projects

I'm continuing to make slow progress with my reproduction Swedish socks. I am decreasing now. At first I thought decreasing each time I came to the outer point of the decorative triangles would be enough, but it wasn't decreasing fast enough. I decided to also decrease when I reached the base of the triangles, but decreasing at that purl point was confusing me. I decided to decrease within the knit stitches.

Now my problem is actually remembering to decrease!

I have two other knitting projects underway. The first is a sock pattern from the book "New Directions in Sock Knitting." I bought the book because I am a builder at heart. I love exploring different ways to put things together. I chose this particular pattern because it looked like one of the easier ones in the book, meaning the sock construction, not the cables.

I completed the leg section without too many mistakes in the cable pattern. Rather than knitting the heel and then picking up stitches for the gusset, this pattern adds purl stitches every other row between the cables. This creates the gusset without having to pick up stitches later. I like the look of the sock, but I am not having fun knitting it. And isn't that the point? I'm considering ripping it out to the base of the leg and justcontinuing as an ordinary sock. In the meantime, I've stopped knitting. I know in my heart that I am unlikely to ever finish the second sock if I continue this way. Is it really worth it to keep pushing through? Maybe I should frog the whole thing and choose a different pattern?

My third project came about while I was researching for a nalbinding class I am teaching this spring. I came across a video for herringbone stitch. I love the look of it and decided to give it a try. I'll tell you the details in my next post.

My Swedish socks

I continue to work on my Medieval style knitting project. This first sock will clearly document my trials and errors, because I just can't pull them out. The stitches are too small - I would lose my mind. In fact, as I was knitting over the Christmas holidays, I was pleased because I had reached the 5 inch point - I was ready to start decreasing the back of the leg. Then I noticed I had dropped a stitch, within the triangle pattern. It was several rows back. I tried to pick it up, but it just got worse, so I unraveled several rows and put the knitting back on the needles.

It was a worse mess than before - I had missed several stitches, and kept splitting the yarn. It took me about an hour to get everything back on the needles correctly. That row looks awful. Sigh. But I am on my way again - almost back to the 5 inch point.

(The color is all wrong in this photo, as you will see, the yarn is red.)


Here you can see some of the choices I've made as the project progresses:

 

This is the center front of the sock. I added a little triangle, for just a bit of interest. When I started the sock, I only had 4 needles, and I had a very hard time with the tension, particularly going from needle to needle. You can clearly see where I stopped knitting until I was able to borrow a needle from a friend. The tension issue has gotten better, but it has not gone away. I'm not sure what else to do. Perhaps it is because of the small size of the stitches; perhaps it is because the silk/wool blend is not as forgiving as a plain wool yarn. I don't usually have this problem.

Here you can see the back of the sock. I began by purling the first and last stitch of each row, but after completing 2 triangles, I decided it didn't look right. Looking closely again at the photo of the artifact, I decided to purl just the first stitch of every other row. It seems more correct, but I didn't like how that looked, either. After one triangle, I switched again.

Now I am purling the first stitch, except at the beginning and end of each triangle. That stitch I am knitting so that I don't have 3 purl stitches in a row. It does not exactly match the artifact, but I like how it looks. One more triange and I should be ready to start decreasing!

2016 in Review

Happy New Year! It went by so fast. Luckily I kept my goals simple in 2016. I had 3 goals - to teach, to spin, and to always be working on a project. I did teach, both at events and one to one. I didn't do much spinning, though. Work had me on the road often, which doesn't leave much time for spinning. Still, I enjoyed it whenever I could put a spindle in my hand. Unfortunately, I didn't even manage to try spinning with any new fibers. Maybe next year.

As for projects, I had several. I continue to play with lacis. I did quite a bit of knitting for Christmas gifts - mostly socks, and a pair of warm mittens for my sister who has moved to Wisconsin. Silly me, I didn't take any pictures. I've continued working on the Swedish sock pattern. More on that in my next post. And, I had a special knitting project in 2016 - I knit the sky. Here it is:

The idea was to look at the sky each day and knit a stripe using the colors you observe. I knit the colors I saw as I walked to work each morning, or when I first looked outside if I was not working. Most of the days are the Albany sky, but if I was somewhere else, that's what I knit. I expected to have beautiful blue stripes for the days when we went to LA, but it rained and was cloudy. One garter stitch rib didn't seem like enough back when I was starting, so I did 2 (4 rows of knitting each day). In this photo the end of the year is sitting on top of the beginning of the year. Any day that was clear or cloudy was knit in garter stitch. If it was raining, I knit a simple lace pattern; if it snowed, I knit "snowballs." The pink and peach colors are days when I saw a beautiful sunrise. That only occured at the beginning and end of the year. And a bit in October, before the time changed.

Here is what I learned from this project:

• two rows per day would have been plenty - the scarf is over 14 feet long! (If you can see the pink stitch marker, that marks the start of December.)
• I knit with 2 strands of yarn at a time, but there are many more than 2 colors in the sky at any time - sometimes I counted as many as 6. It was often difficult to choose which colors to use. I should have had at least 2 more colors - a very pale blue, and a lighter grey. The winter sky tends to be pale.
• There was not much snow in 2016. Even though I knit snowballs, none of the times it snowed was more than a dusting, except one storm in April that was about 4 inches.
• There was also not much rain. There are many long stretches with no rain at all.
• The sky is an amazing thing, once you stop to really look at it. While my project is done, I still find myself looking up.

Swedish sock

It was so nice to have a day off from work this week. I got to accomplish some planning for knitting the historic sock. First, my yarn came, and I love it - it is 70% merino, 30% silk. It is a joy to knit with. Counting the stitiches in the photo of the artifact, I believe the sock was knit at a gauge of about 20 stitches to the inch. The smallest needles I own are 000, and that knits up a sample at 18 stitches to the inch. Not quite small enough. And I have a project on those needles at the moment. So I've decided to knit the socks on 00 needles. They knit up at a little more than 10 stitches to the inch. That makes it easy - I just have to knit half as many stitches.

After I knit a gauge swatch, I had to figure out how to make the pattern. I tried a few different ideas:

Purling the first and last stitch of the round; knitting the first and purling the second; purling the first and last stitch of every other row. I decided purling the first and last stitch was the way to go. I also needed to figure out the best way to decrease as the sock gets closer to the ankle. I decided the best way is to purl 2 stitches together at the point of the triangle. It makes the decrease practically unnoticable.  I also decided to keep the top of the sock fairly plain. I have no idea what the top of the artifact looks like, but since the majority of the leg is plain, I decided to keep the top plain, too. So I cast on 166 stitches, and got to work:

As you can see, I've knit about half an inch. At this rate, I'll have new socks in a year!

Poof! September is Almost Gone

Sigh, September has been a busy month. Somewhere along the way I misplaced my spindle with the thread I was spinning for the Ribe mittens. And my lacis project. Hopefully I will find them soon. In the meantime, I'm meandering as usual. I found a picture of a late 16th century sock from Sweden that I want to knit.

 Isn't it pretty?

This will be a BIG challenge. First I have to figure out the pattern. So far I am counting stitches as I search for the perfect yarn. Perhaps by the end of October I'll be ready to start.

Necessity is the mother of invention

We drove to Virginia this past weekend. Eight hours in the car each way. I can't do nothing for that many hours, so on the way out the door I grabbed some needles and a ball of yarn. I decided to make socks. It needed to be a simple design, because I didn't have a pattern to follow. I cast on and started the cuff. I quickly decided that it couldn't be too simple of a pattern, or I would get bored. I could have chosen to just do a rib pattern for the whole thing, but I'd done that before and I wanted to try something different.

I decided to run a simple cable down the center of the sock. The only problem was, I didn't have my cable needle with me. I thought the yarn might be stiff enough, or the stitches big enough (size 2 needles) to just take two stitches off the needle and let them sit there while I knit the next two stitches, but that didn't work well for me. So, here was my solution:

 When I reached the point where I needed to twist the stitches, I used the previous needle to hold them, then knit two, placed the held stitches back on the left needle, and knit them. The second cable was slightly easier because it came at the beginning of the needle. I did both cables by holding the stitches to the front, but it would be equally easy to do a cable with the stitches held to the back.

It worked like a charm.

Here is the completed sock (a long sock for a long trip):

I liked this method so much, I may never use my cable needle again. I doubt I was the first person to do this, but it was a new idea for me. Maybe you will like this trick, too.

Christmas knitting

I promised to show you my Christmas knitting. Each person got two knitted items. The trick was – they had to choose their own. What was meant to be a secret game quickly became a funny free-for-all. Everyone seemed to love what they chose from "Santa’s Bag."

And then there were the beer socks.

I did not finish the second sock by Christmas Eve.

Happily, sock one fit perfectly, and I quickly finished up sock two (it’s much faster when you can knit in public). As you can see, I ran out of the dark brown Jacob. Rather than spin more, I used up the leftover bits of gold yarn. And there is just enough left for future repairs (I expect these socks to get worn).

Beer Lover's Sock

Sock one is done!

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The only part I had trouble with is the heel. That is the yarn I spun from the locks. With combed or carded wool I can spin any thickness my heart desires. Spinning from the locks, with a fair amount of lanolin still in the wool, it was difficult to spin as fine as the rest of the yarn. It took most of the yarn I had spun to finish it, so I will have to spin more white before I reach that point in sock #2. It is also significantly thicker, and therefore difficult to knit on size 1 needles. I will make sock two the same, but if I do this again, I will spin it all with combed or carded wool. I will say that my husband is very unlikely to get holes in this heel.

Here is my general pattern:

Using size 1 needles, cast on 68 stitches. Knit 5 rows of 1-1 rib. Change to the Jacob wool and knit one row. Increase to 72 stitches. Knit for 2 inches. Begin knitting gold stripes. Each wide stripe is 5 rows; each narrow stripe is 2 rows. After 3 wide stripes, begin decreasing. Decrease one stitch at the beggining and one stitch at the end of a row, every 5 rows, until 64 stitches remain. vary the stripes according to the yarn you have. Knit until the sock is as long as desired. This one is about 12 inches. Using needles 1 and 4, knit a garter stitch heel. Turn the heel and decrease as usual until 64 stitches remain. Continue knitting, changing yarns as needed, until the sock is the desired length. 

If you don't like beer, it could also be the chocolate and caramel lover's sock (that would be me).

Sock Progress

Here is my sock so far:

I’ve used up almost half of my yarn, except for the mixed gold that I am saving for the foot. The knitting is going pretty quickly, so I’ve decided to make knee-high socks. I’ll need to knit about 4 more inches, so I am spinning up more of the brown Jacob wool. It is tightly spun at 32 wpi (12.5 wpc) and the plied yarn is 15 wpi (6 wpc).

I had different amounts of each shade of gold, so I varied my stripes as I went along. Each wide stripe is 5 rows and about half an inch wide (1.2 cm). The last part of the leg will be mostly brown with one or maybe two thin gold stripes. I’ve decided on a garter stitch heel, using the white yarn, because it will look a little like the bubbles in a beer head.

Beer Lover's Socks

This is the time of year when I am frantically creating Christmas gifts. I've been knitting up a storm (but you'll have to wait to see what I've made). Meanwhile, I was in need of gold thread for embroidery. I happened to be in my local yarn store (Trumpet Hill), and came upon a beautiful bit of gold, hand dyed merino roving. Just the thing! It was dyed in several shades of gold, from light to quite dark. The first thing I had to do was separate the colors. I have a friend who does this all the time, but I had never tried it before. It was a little trickier than I had expected. Here is what I spun - some light gold thread for embroidery, and some dark gold, spun a bit thicker, for a sprang project I have in mind:

I probably should have put a bit more twist in the embroidery thread, but it will work.

While I was separating the colors, it struck me that the colors looked like all the kinds of beer that my husband likes to drink, from a lovely amber or October fest, to a tasty pilsner. I decided to spin it up and make him a pair of "beer lover's" socks for Christmas. Here is where I am so far:

His favorite beer is Guinness, so I added some dark brown Jacob, and some tan Romney/Corriedale yarn to the mix, and started the sock with a wide brown stripe for his favorite stout, with a little tan for the head. The rest of the stripes will be narrower. I've forgotten what breed the white is, but it was spun from the locks. I will use it for the heels, because it will be sturdier than the merino.

By separating the colors, I wound up with four fairly solid shades of gold (the little balls), plus two small hanks with mixed colors, where the colors changed in the roving. I cast on 68 stitches for the ribbing, then increased to 72 stitches for the leg. I know this will work because I've made socks for him before. I'm using size 1 needles. I'm not sure yet how tall the socks will be. I've weighed the balls, so I will stop when I have used up half of each ball. I will use the mixed yarn and additional Jacob yarn for the feet, and maybe some white for the toes. When I finish the first sock I will let you see how it turns out. It may take a little longer than usual because I can only knit when he isn't around.

Medieval Style Knitting

One of my goals for this year is to knit something in a medieval style. This has taken a lot of thought and practice. I decided I wanted to make a small bag. First I looked for some appropriate inspiration.

 Then I started knitting on smaller and smaller needles.

I worked my way down to size 0 as I played with various colorwork designs. Here are a few of the things I made:

The "white" mitten was knit on size 1 needles, the grey sock (my own design) was knit on size 0 needles.

While I was knitting, I was designing my pattern. I decided to base my idea on an embroidered bag that included large versions of arms. I plotted out my arms and my husband's arms, and then experimented over and over until I was happy with the surrounding images.

 The problem with this idea is that both of our arms include 3 colors. I have not found an example of medieval knitting that includes more than 2 colors per row. Perhaps I should have stuck to embroidery! But I am persevering. I am using size 000 needles. I started by practicing carrying the colors around the row, using cotton crochet thread. It was terrible to work with at such a small scale, and I quickly switched to a lace weight wool/silk blend. I played a bit longer, and have now started my actual bag.

You can see the start of my arms on the cotton sample at the top of the photo. I've gotten fairly competent at keeping the threads untangled. On the actual bag, I have knit a plain band for the top and I'm ready to start adding the designs. Check back at the end of the summer and I will show you how far I have come.

Choosing the Right Tool

This is a topic that is near to my heart. I am reminded time and again how important it is to fit the tool to the task at hand. This is true whether I am spinning or knitting or nalbinding. And I'm sure the same is true for you, no matter what art or science you choose to pursue.

The importance of the right tool was made abundantly clear to me as I began to knit a pair of fingerless gloves. I prefer using bamboo needles for knitting. I like that they feel warm and light in my hand. Some people swear by metal needles because they can knit so quickly with them. But my experience is different. They actually slow me down because I don't like how they feel. For these gloves I designed a pattern to use some fine alpaca yarn. I chose size 1 needles so that the resulting fabric would be dense, but not overly so. I was ready to start, but couldn't find my needles (turns out I was using them to knit a sock). I began the gloves using metal needles. I was not having fun. The needles were cold, hard, and too long for this project, making them hard to balance. It not only changed my speed, it affected my stitch tension. I changed needles as soon as possible. Here is a picture of the gloves so far (I don't know why the picture is rotated):

On the completed glove I can see where I changed to bamboo needles. Even though the needles are the same size, the stitches are not. The second glove, knit with bamboo needles from the beginning, is a much more consistent fabric.

So, the lesson for today: The quality of my work is not just due to my skill or lack thereof. It is also a product of the tools I use. The right tool for the task is not just a factor of the quality of the tool, but also how the tool fits the user. If you are having trouble with a project that you think should be going better, perhaps the problem isn't you. Maybe it's the tool.

Some knitting projects

In between everything else this spring and summer, I have been knitting. I started with a simple shawl. It's just an over-sized rib pattern with a couple of stripes to add interest.

It kept me very warm on cold nights at War of the Roses and Pennsic this year.

Then I did a bit of sock knitting. I started with a pair for my husband. I liked the slip stitch pattern so much, I made another pair for me, then adapted the pattern for a hat, to use up the leftover yarn.

I can't wait for it to be cold enough to wear them.

I also knit a small shawl - more like a scarf. I'm waiting for fall weather to try it out.

Finally, I knit a swing coat. The row after row of stockinette was boring, so I am glad to be done (that was part of the reason for the rest of these projects - to give me something interesting to knit). I haven't blocked it yet, but I'm happy with how it turned out. The pattern called for a striped yarn, but I preferred a solid color, with just a bit of accent.

So, there you are. I have another pair of socks, and a summer sweater on the needles now. My plan is to finish the socks by Christmas and the sweater by spring. I've finally learned to knit my sweaters out of season so I can actually be finished when it is time top wear them.

ta da!

Where did the month of April go? While I didn't seem to find time to blog, I didn't neglect my crafts. I finished the striped socks:

I'm very happy with how they turned out. While I do not believe the original sock is quite as old as the magazine implies, it is likely to have been made no later than the early 1700's. So, that is still the earliest style of sock I have attempted. I like the garter stitch heel; it's different from others I have made.

I've also been working on a pair of nalbinding socks made using the York stitch:

The yarn is handspun Corriedale. The stitch size is just slightly larger than the original sock. I would use a much lighter color of thread if I were to do this again (the actual thread is darker than it looks in this photo). It's very hard to see the stitches, except in natural light. Also, I got cocky while working on the second sock, and didn't follow my own rule: try it on often! You can see where I've had to cut some rows out because it got too tight to go over my ankle. I've had to take out about 6 rows. Given the tiny gauge, that represents a lot of work. I will be more careful as I stitch them the second time.

a new knitting project

The January/February 2014 issue of Piecework Magazine is the historical knitting issue. I found all of the articles very interesting this time, but one in particular enticed me to actually knit something. One of the articles is about textile artifacts found at Magdelena de Cao Viejo, Peru. According to the article, the town was settled in 1578 and abandoned around 1712, after an earthquake. The textile artifacts found are presumed to date from that period. Four stocking remnants have been identified - two made from wool, two from cotton. I decided to make myself a pair of stockings based on the information given for the four pieces.

For my pattern, I knit the stripe pattern found in the cotton stockings, but used my handspun wool. My stockings reach my knee, and will be held up with tablet woven garters. The original wool artifact is made with ss-Z yarn, with a gauge of 14 stitches and 20 rows per inch (see p. 12 of the magazine). My yarn is spun zz-S, and it is knit at a gauge of 9 stitches and 12 rows per inch, using size 1 needles. Clearly the original was much finer, but I began with some Finn yarn that I had previously spun, so that set my gauge (and my spin direction).

Two shades of madder-dyed wool are used for the stripes. The lighter one is BFL; the darker is merino.

I soon discovered that I didn't have enough of the lighter shade of wool to complete both pieces. For the second stocking I am reversing the colors. It takes a lot of yarn to make knee-high socks!

a comparison of socks

My great-grandmother was born in Ireland in 1875. She came to America when she was 19. This picture of her holding my grandfather dates from 1906.

I'm certain that she was already an accomplished knitter by the time she came to America. My mother has childhood memories of her knitting socks (as do I). What I don't know is when the pattern for the socks in question dates from. Is it a pattern she learned from her mother before she came to America? Did she learn it here? Did she make it up herself? I'll never know. She had certainly been knitting it for a long time, since she was blind by the time she made this pair in the early 1960's.

This is the woman who taught me to knit as a child, and I wanted to reproduce her pattern. I carefully counted the stitches of my mother's socks, and this is the result:

Grandma Naughter’s Sock Pattern

Size 0 needles

Cast on 68. Make 20 rows of K2 P2 rib. (2 inches)

(P2 K4) 8 times.

(P2 m1 K2 m1) twice, (P2 K4) twice to complete round = 72 stitches.

Make 6 rows of P2 K4.

(P2 cable 2F P2 K4) 6 times.

Continue in pattern (rows 1-7: P2 K4; row 8: P2 cable 2F P2 K4…) for 6 inches = 8 cable twists. 

P2 K4 for 4 rows past the last cable twist.

Position needles:

Heel: 3K 2P 4C 2P 4K 2P 4C 2P 4K 2P 3C = 32 stitches.

Needle 2: 1C 2P 4K 2P 4C 2P 4K 1P = 20 stitches

Needle 3: 1P 4C 2P 4K 2P 4C 2P 1K = 20 stitches. 

Make slip stitch heel flap. Turn heel. Knit gusset, reducing to 64 stitches total. Knit instep in pattern and remaining stitches plain.

Continue in pattern until sock = 4 inches from point of gusset.

Knit 2 inches (or amount needed for correct length) plain. Decrease for toe.

Here is a picture of my sock and Grandma's sock:

Although I used the finest commercial sock yarn I could find, my yarn is much bulkier than the original sock. The stitch size is correct, so I think the needle size is correct, but this makes the finished fabric much denser. Also, because the yarn is thicker, when I discontinued the cabling on the foot, I decreased to 60 stitches because the diameter of the sock spread out too much to be comfortable on my foot. 

I am very pleased with how the sock turned out, even though it is not as delicate as the original. For my next pair I will spin my own yarn so that I can more closely match the original.