Sunday, June 26, 2011

Two socks and a sleeve

Well let's see what have I been working on so far this summer? Yesterday I had three different socks on the needles but today I only have two. I finished a pair for D and will show them to you on Friday, for Finished Object (FO) Friday. That is assuming I get a picture of them before they go down to the laundry and stay there till next weekend. I think I am worse than a kid  in the candy shop, I can not wait for someone to wear the new item including me. I switched my socks at knitting group and wore the wavy cable socks home when I finished them. I guess I just can't wait to get started wearing them out.

I'm knitting Spring Forward socks from Knitty in yarn I bought at Rhinebeck two years ago. Ellen's 1/2 Pint Farm, a merino wool, bamboo and nylon blend in a lovely jaunty pink. 


This is another one of those patterns I see on all the blogs and tell myself "I need to knit that." I love that Knitty has such beautiful varied patterns and all for free. I do admit that I've looked at patterns there and decided they were not for me, until I rediscover them on a blog, knit with different yarn and fall in love with them. Isn't it amazing that changing the color or sheen in a yarn can make such a difference in how a patten is perceived? No wonder that designers get upset when someone messes with their vision. However, if you put a pattern out into the world you must accept that knitters are incapable of doing it your way all the time. I choose to believe that most designers are happy with that. Still it must be somewhat like having a baby and giving it away to the world.

Speaking of Knitty I found another patten there for this yarn, Malabrigo sock yarn in the Candombe colorway, Nemesis. Clearly I went on a pattern hunt on Knitty and found some pretty ones.

I needed something to knit while we watched a movie and all my current projects required charts so I started a basic 2x2 rib and figured I would find a pattern after. I got this far...


Then I remembered my first pair of Malabrigo socks are a bit loose and I meant to knit them with less than 80 stitches in a round, guess how many are on the needles in that cuff above. Yep 80 of those little suckers, so I frogged back and started again with less stitches as the pattern I'd found required and found the cuff should be shorter than what I have there also. Now I am ready to start the leg portion. With all my mistakes/'I'll figure that out later' things this sock may truly be my Nemesis.

Yeah, I know it is lame but I had to do it, I don't know why but I had to.

I pulled my Central Park Hoodie sweater out of the 'time out' pile and decided to start the other sleeve. I had misunderstood the pattern on the first sleeve and was debating making the second sleeve the same as the first just recreating the error in it or starting over and doing it the right way. I knit four pattern repeats and decided I really wanted to do it the right way. Maybe I just decided not to mess with the designer's baby in this case.


That is the offending sleeve of which we speak. I was going to rip it back this weekend so would not be tempted to use it, but I would like to compare the sleeves to see how they differ. Now I'm moving right along with it and have eight repeats done on it. Shortly I will be starting the sleeve cap and then it will be off to the blocking pile.

So, two socks and a sleeve, that is what I'm working on now. I felt so lost yesterday because I finished that sock for D and now my purse has no knitting in it. It felt so empty and without a higher calling. "What? All I'm carrying is your keys, wallet and cell phone? No Yarn? Where is the wool, woman, the wool?"

2 comments:

  1. I'm with you about seeing patterns and not really liking them until you see them in a different yarn or a different colour. I have a very limited imagination for that, but I'm getting better at it, I think. And as for that sleeve: go ahead and rip it out. You'll feel way better for it in the end!

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  2. Imagination is one thing, seeing it in real life is much better. I used to feel bad that I was a poor visualizer then I realized I compensate by actually making things. There are worse things in life than not being able to visualize somethings.

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