Thursday, February 19, 2009

Satisfaction

In a world as slow as knitting - or at least knitting in my household - there is something imminently satisfying about completing a project fairly quickly. Or maybe I'm just high on wool fumes from all of the recent FOs...


First FO of 2009: Mom's socks
Rushing Rivulet pattern from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book with the addition of 8 plain stockinette rows and a feather and fan repeat for the cuff.
Time to complete: 6.5 weeks
mom's socks (good)
My mom has fraternal feet, so I made appropriately sized socks for each. I started these just before Christmas (I was going to just give her the yarn and a promise, but then it dawned on me that I might be able to take advantage of her being here for some preliminary sizing - so I cast on Dec 18). Using my gauge swatch, I cast on for the smaller sock first. As often happens, my swatch LIED and I learned that I was instead knitting the larger sock.

I've decided that I'm no longer super excited about these sock patterns. The arch shaping starts so early for toe-up socks that there is a lot of ripping to be done if your row gauge is off even slightly. I was lucky because I had two different feet to knit for, but in any other case the first sock would have had to be frogged. As it was, the pattern is nice and airy and will hopefully make for comfy, warm-but-not-too-warm socks for Arizona.


Second FO of 2009: Neptunesmoon socks
Nutkin pattern
Time to complete: 4.5 months
nutkin
This yarn was a gift way back last summer from Sarah. She bought it specifically because the colorway was "Neptune." The yarn had its first run as a pair of inadvertant socks for BabyMan, and as such there wasn't quite enough for a pair for me...but there was almost enough.

The pattern is really clever - a cable-looking design without the bulk and cinching-in of real cables. Unfortunately, the yarn has so much sheen that even though the color variegation is fairly subtle, the pattern gets lost. As pretty as they were, these were obviously back-burner socks. To make up for my yarn shortage, I knit the foot flat, subbing in some KnitPicks Essentials yarn for the sole. As a result that meant quite a bit of purling on DPNS, not my favorite thing. It also meant sewing up the seam on one side of the foot. But now that they are done (and on my feet for about 24hrs after the last stitch was woven in), I'm thrilled, thrilled, thrilled. Wearing them with black shoes and grey work pants, they're just a hint of personality shining into the dark hallways of science. The fit is perfect. Happy happy happy.

Third FO of 2009: Francie socks
Francie pattern
Time to complete: well....
francie
photo taken over the weekend - since finished!
While these aren't yet finished, there is no question these will be the 3rd FO of 2009. I've been staring at this yarn for over six months now. I wrote about the purchase earlier, and the yarn cake has been sitting on my son's dresser (don't ask me why) for a while. I would glance at it every evening as I nursed/rocked/cajoled my son to sleep. From the day I got it I knew it was destined to become a pair of Francie socks (again, don't ask my why). I guess some yarns have ideas of their own, and we are but minions to carry out their wishes. It's so bright and pretty - have I mentioned that yet?
I patiently waited to cast on until Mom's socks were dutifully finished and on their way to their new home. And it's a good thing. This sock just took over. The lovely Neptunesmoon socks that were less than an inch from wearability languished for a week while I obsessively worked on Francie. Even though my row gauge was off by quite a bit making the sock come out rather different from the pattern as written - I'm happy. One sock in 8 days. One lovely, slightly big around the ankle, a tad short in the length sock in 8 days. I'm a bit afraid to cast on the second sock as I do have laundry and grocery shopping and such to catch up on.

2 Comments:

At 9:14 AM, February 22, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great Sox!

 
At 10:15 AM, February 23, 2009, Anonymous Anonymous said...

These socks are awesome! What a great feeling to finish all these FO's!

Your socks are all so beautiful!

 

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