Saturday, April 14, 2007

Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue

old-new-borrowed-blue
April 12, 2007
handkerchief crocheted by my mother's father's mother; a shiny new 2007 penny my dad gave me for this purpose; the pearls my mother wore at her wedding; turquoise earrings purchased from an artist in NYC

Monday, April 09, 2007

Deadlines missed

It was my intention to post about two finished pairs of socks two weeks ago. Not as in Easter weekend, but as in the last weekend in March. A couple of things got in the way:
1) Sewing in ends and kitchner stitching toes isn't knitting. And I haven't been in the mood for things not-knitting related. Parent #1's socks have been done for two weeks except for this:
dads socks

2) Both of my couin's feet are the same size. This is a problem. See, I wrote down the number of stitches between the heel and the toe decreases after i finished the first sock. While I worked on the second sock I went strictly by these notes rather than carry around the finished sock for comparison. When sock #2 was ready to be stitched up I pulled out #1 to look for loose ends and met an upsetting situation.

I'd counted wrong.
kellys socks
So I spent a few days pretending I don't knit socks (made significant progress on the Mystery Shawl, which was nice). Then I finally ripped the offending sock back to the toe decreases (it was that or knit two whole new socks in the same yarn and pattern and find a second recipient who wears size 6 shoes) and started again, this time comparing against sock #1. A note to other NJ/NY residents - ripping back knitting on NJ Transit? Not the best idea. Bumpy tracks.

But I'm pleased to say that both socks are finally complete.
Parent #1 received his in person - and claims the loose ankles are just fine with him. Cotton just doesn't cut it for socks - absolutely no elasticity, and they're just going to stretch out, and out, and out. If I'd read more blogs I'd have known this.
Cousin #1's socks will go in the mail shortly.

Cousin #1's socks:
Yarn: KnitPicks Shimmer in Morning Mist (double strand used throughout)
Pattern: pattern from Six Sock Yahoo Group
Needles: 2.25mm bamboo dpns
Comments: Wonderful yarn to knit with; slightly sproingy, incredibly soft on the hands. The pattern had a nice lace pattern at the top (a bit obscured due to the blue/white varigations in the yarn) which will make the leg stretchy for what I hope to be a good fit, but clingy enough to stay up.

Labels: ,