socks, backwards.

Well, the great sock experiment is on. I am finally attempting toe-up socks for my boyfriend. This was primarily to make sure that I wouldn't run out of yarn. Well, I had bought the yarn before I found him that was the first problem. The second problem, he has 12 EE feet with almost no arch and a huge amount of foot between his instep and his heel. Inevitably I had to get another ball of the Trekking Pro Natura in charcoal grey to finish things off, but I will have enough for a second pair of socks for someone..

a few notes on toe-up socks: I think that these will definitely work better if you can use short row heels. I think these also work better if you have normally shaped feet as well. Personally, I hate knitting up the heel flap backwards. It's an interesting method, but not for me. I would rather buy my three skeins of sock yarn and just fudge my way through things. I know even with Tony's large feet, that 6 oz of sock yarn will work beautifully for his socks, so that is not a problem, even for a pair of longer dress socks, which is mostly what I'm going to be making.

Being a businessman, he's always in suits, or slacks, so sports socks are pretty much pointless.

If anyone else has sock options that might help all of this make more sense, I would definitely appreciate some pointers..

musings on socks..

I've found out something very important about handknit socks... Stop if I'm boring you already, but after wearing almost exclusively handknit socks all winter, I've found out something interesting about needle size.. How is it that you can knit two different pairs of socks out of the same kind of yarn (Opal) using 2.75mm needles for one and 2.0mm needles for the others and get two different fits? The ones knit on the smaller needles fit better over the long term while the others want to slide down into my shoes right away.

I'm thinking that the smaller needles and smaller stitches lend to more elasticity in the long run and therefore require less tugging up during the day. Both go well with clogs, but clogs don't cut it for work. This of course frustrates me no end as I try desperately to get my opal handpaint yarn to take well to my feet without killing the entire ball! Thank god ends are weavable!

We are Siamese if you please..

Yes, it turns out my pitty (pretty) kitty is a traditional flame point siamese who at the present moment is playing with his ziplocked bag of treats, trying to open it up.. I really should take more pics of Sam, but this will have to suffice in the meantime..

Life being owned by a cat...

About a week ago, a beautiful cat showed up in our stairwell and didn't have an owner. Now I am thoroughly in love with a beautiful white flame point male siamese mix 6 month old male. He is CRAZY!!! Tonight, he invented a new sport: extreme table jumping... Sam always runs around the apartment, but tonight, he came running from my room, jumped up, launching himself from the floor and landed on the table. Thank god there was junk all over the table, otherwise, he would have sailed across the table, clinging to the table cloth, and hit the wall! I wish I could catch it on video....

Almost done!!!

My EZ fair isle yoke sweater from Knitting Around is almost done! I have been knitting and knitting and knitting on it for the past two weeks and I finally am in sight of the finish line! I LOVE this pattern! It is soooooo easy to do as long as you get your count right when you attach the sleeves and are ready to do the first set of decreases! I will definitely be making more of these, especially for kids!

Me wearing the sweater when it is almost done!

This sweater has been very forgiving of my more ample chest and I have lots of extra room through my back and arms even before the blocking, so I'm happy..

The yarn I used was Patons Classic Wool in Winter White, Worn Denim, Grey Mix. New Denim, and Leaf Green in case anyone is interested.

And one gratuitous close up for you to drool over:

Later: I hope that blocking can even out the problems that developed in this sweater... As I worked on the neck, and continued with color work closing up the shoulders, I came across a massive problem: gauge. i should have remembered that the gauge shrinks and the fabric becomes LESS elastic when you switch to a color work design! For someone who has worked on fair isle sweaters before, this should have been a no duh, but I failed to take this into account. As I slipped the sweater over my head and expected it to fall easily around my shoulders, I was shocked to discover that the neck was resting around my vocal chords because of the wonky shaping of the second row of decreases.. some good tugging and i was able to make it look a good bit better, BUT I am hoping that the wet blocking will take care of my problems. I am hoping to enter this in the fair this year. I have a good number of entries I want to take over including this sweater because the color work really is very beautiful. I would feel awful if it didn't fit properly at all, though.

Wrapping up projects

The summer has been very good to me, even if I have not told you about everything. I have finally moved into my own place which I am loving to no end. I have no extra spending money, but I have a roof over my head, food on my plate, electricity, and stash to fill my needles. I am so thankful I had built up my stash over the years. I now have stuff to keep me busy until I have money to refill the stash.

With that, comes the finishing up of projects that have been sitting around.

1) The Pi Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Almanac that I changed up just a bit.

And the obligator close up of the detail:

I am also knitting up a storm on that fabulous fair isle yoke sweater Elizabeth created so many years ago that launched her Opinionate Knitter magazine! While I don't have any pictures right now, I hope to once I get the body attached to both sleeves which are already done and ready to go as soon as I have enough on the trunk.. I am sooo excited about having it done and ready to wear this winter.

My fair isle sweater is being much more of a pain. The sleeves are being very difficult. I have now had to switch to the double pointed needles, and anyone who has done fair isle stranding on double pointed needles knows how easy it is to make the stranding on the back of the material too tight. So it is coming along, but it is not something I am relishing picking up at the moment. I am even contemplating undoing the sleeves and reknitting them from the cuffs up. Am I willing to put up with the facing around my arms and get the sweater done faster or shall I continue with the sweater as is and risk NOT winning Best in Show at the fair next year? Choices, choices! I am beginning to see what I must do to get it done to my liking, but it is a very hard decision to make. My last experience with sleeves and facings was NOT good (Baby Norgi) but for reasons that were beyond the pattern itself.

I guess I will decide when I finish my fair isle yoke sweater and have a chance to model it for you!

A hard lesson learned

In my overwhelming desire to keep things on the cheap side while I save for the first month's rent, I decided to take the cheap route in touching up my hair ( yes, I dye it regularly) rather than going to the salon. I picked up Loreal's Natural Match in Deep Auburn ( there is a reason for this information) and promptly applied it yesterday afternoon. BIG MISTAKE. My hair turned PURPLE. Not a pretty dark auburn, but PURPLE... my younger sister started calling me Barney and it was totally stripped of all its moisture. Today, with a baseball cap firmly planted over all my nasty purple frizzy straw, I made my way to the salon to see what they could do about rescuing my hair. Over $100 later, I walked out with very dark, but manageable dark auburn hair that i can live with... perhaps it is not as gorgeous as the color I was shooting for, but stripping the deposited color was not an option, nor was buzzing the entire thing. I might be my own girl but I'm not as brave ( or crazy) as Britney Spears. My comfort in this is that the color will fade gradually with time and I can go back to my old lovely shade already picked out at the salon. I have to congratulate Loreal for choosing to pick up the tab on what has turned into my most expensive day at the salon, but the emotional damage has already been done.. Never again will i trust my locks to their coloring stuff.

Lesson: If you are coloring your hair, just go to the salon. It's worth the extra money in the end.. oh, and pics to come soon!

Et Voici!