Amazing Feets socks

Recipient: DH
Designer: Anna Hobbs
Pattern: Amazing Feets
Source: CanadianLiving.com
Completed: May 22, 2005
Colours: "Marine" (dark blue)
Yarn: Phentex Merit, light worsted weight
Completed status: Given June 4, 2005 - greatly appreciated
Pictures:

2005-May-22

Done!!! To my extreme surprise, the sock, needles and yarn ball actually all fit in the tiny front pocket of my bag, so I was able to bring them home for the weekend. While DD was napping today, DH spent a lot of time in the basement getting us ready for our upcoming garage sale (shudder), so I was able to finish sock #2! So there you go - my first pair of socks ever.

2005-May-20

I completed the heel yesterday and started the main part of the foot. But today I didn't get much done. It's a weird day at work - I'd say about half our department has taken the day off in order to extend the upcoming Victoria Day long weekend even further. To compound this, most of the rest of my co-workers went to the St. Lawrence Market for lunch - specifically, for focaccia (a luxury I did not think I could afford, given that DH and I might be spending our fun cash on seeing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith this weekend; and besides, I'd already packed the super-delicious chicken sandwich left over from yesterday's supper). So it was pretty dead around here during the lunch stretch. Given all this lack of company, I spent the middle of the day alternating among surfing the Internet, eating, doing work, and knitting just a little bit on the sock. It doesn't look much bigger. I think I'll try to conceal it in one of the smaller pockets of my bag so that I can take it home for the weekend without DH seeing it. I'm not sure if I can pull this off - none of the pockets seem big enough to hold it. But we'll see.

2005-May-18

Heel has begun! I'm going to have to remember to bring more of the yarn to work tomorrow - I'm running out fast.

2005-May-16

Got several inches done on the trip down to work today, and on my morning break. (Normally I don't have a morning break, but I did First Aid training this morning at work and they gave us a break halfway through.) I haven't done a row count recently, but I'm pretty sure I'm only about 10 rows away from starting the heel. I have had to leave the project at my desk at work instead of putting it in my bag to take home, because every night my husband is the person who goes into my bag for the milk I've pumped during the day so it can go into the fridge. (You may be wondering, if it's my milk, why isn't refrigerating it my responsibility? Logical answer: because my responsibility right after arriving home is putting DD to bed, which includes a nightly nurse - not exactly something her dad can do. :) So, to avoid him seeing his own present (especially since he is the kind of interested and caring guy who asks me what it is that I'm making), I will keep it at work instead and work on it during my lunch breaks.

2005-May-15

I am now working on these while DH is on another floor of the house, with another project beside me for "cover". When he comes down (or up, depending), I stuff the sock knitting under the futon as fast as I can and pick up the cover project, trying desperately to look like I've been working on it all along. So I was continuing my progress, until I realised that I'd somehow managed to pick up an extra stitch between two of the DPNs. Fifteen rows previously. (Insert naughty word here.) Rip. You know that picture I showed you in my last entry? Yeah. The sock is smaller than that now.

2005-May-12

May I present sock #1:

May I also present the beginnings of sock #2:

(Pictured next to sock #1 so you didn't think I was cheating and recycling an in-progress shot of sock #2.)

2005-May-11

I got so caught up in the excitement of photographing the Snowdrop cloth that I forgot to snap a shot of what sock #1 looks like. Sorry. But it's easy to describe (and you're not missing much - hint: it looks like a half-done sock). I have turned the heel and am working on the last several rows of the instep. Contrary to the rumours about the difficulty of turning a heel, I found it to be a piece of cake. Did I just get a sock pattern with an easy heel, or am I a knitting mutant?

2005-May-10

Cast on today! As of photo-taking time about an hour ago, they looked like this:

However, they are now much, much closer to the spot where I turn the heel. I've never turned a heel before. I consider myself a very fearless knitter, but I have heard horrible things about heel-turning, so I am mentally prepared for numerous frogs and re-starts.

2005-May-3

I really want DH to have handknit socks. But I also really don't want to buy more yarn to do it. Firstly, we have very little money, and secondly, we have even less space to store it. The socks need to be made from something in my existing stash. Further, since I've never done socks before, I'm not keen on using super-nice yarn, so I'd prefer to use some of my acrylic (another advantage of this is that I avoid running the risk of unusable socks if it turns out that wool makes DH's feet itch - he has sensitive skin, so this is a real concern). Since the majority of my acrylic is baby-project-oriented (I'm guessing DH wouldn't really go for mint, baby blue or canary socks), the available selection is small. However, I do have some nice dark blue acrylic in a light worsted weight that would probably make very cushy and cosy socks. Happily, I have found a pattern online that fits the gauge. It's the Amazing Feets pattern from Canadian Living. With any luck, I will be finished the Snowdrop cloth way ahead of schedule and can work sneakily on the socks while DH is on course in Ottawa so that he has no idea they're coming. Oooh...if I work fast, maybe they could be his birthday present. Hm.

2005-Mar-14

My husband's feet have a tendency to hurt (which, of course, is Bad). This is why he wears slippers instead of just stockinged feet around the house, and why he must have a rug on the floor around the work area of the kitchen so that he has some padding between him and the tiled floor as he cooks. This weekend I was informed that even the socks he wears can make a difference. I noticed on Saturday that he was wearing two different socks. "Yes, I know," he said, when I pointed this out. Apparently, he wanted to wear a specific pair of socks because they were nicely padded, but he could only find one of them, so, in a burst of 'screw it, something is better than nothing' philosophy, he put the padded sock on one foot and any-old-sock on the other foot. Hence the mismatched pair. However, hearing this story gave me food for thought. If I found some really nice, comfy, cushy yarn and did up socks for him, his feet would stand a much better chance of not-hurting (which, of course, would be Good). I've never knit socks before...but it can't be that hard. (Famous last words.) I have no idea what kind of yarn to use, though. Hopefully something in my stash will suffice. I will be happy to entertain any suggestions that anyone has for what sort of yarn would make cozy, cushy socks.