Striped socks

Recipient: Moi
Designer: Debbi Young
Pattern: Sock It to Me Plain Toe-Up Socks for the Family
Source: elann.com
Completed: March 28, 2006
Colours: "Jazz Hot"
Yarn: Bernat Sox, 60% acrylic, 40% nylon, sock weight
Completed status: Yay, more socks for me!
Pictures:

yarn


completed socks


'in action' shot


detail of the patterning on sock #1


detail of the patterning on sock #2 - similar but markedly different from that of sock #1

2006-Mar-28

Fortunately, I at least had these in my purse to work on today. And...big trumpet fanfare, please...they are now done.

They look highly un-identical but are very comfy. All that's left is to zip off a notification to 200Sox.

2006-Mar-27

I detest that every entry about this project lately has been a crappy one- or two-liner just to bring you the scintillating knowledge that a few more rows have been worked on this. Sadly, today's entry is no exception. I can't even justify taking a picture to jazz things up because a) it wouldn't look too different from the last picture, and b) it wouldn't look too different from the forthcoming photo of the completed socks, either. Hopefully I will move along on this in short order and have the damn socks done before your brain shuts down from lack of stimulation.

2006-Mar-24

Got a few rounds done on this last night while waiting for an appointment.

2006-Mar-21

I'm about an inch into the top ribbing of the leg of sock #2.

2006-Mar-18

The slow march towards completion continues. The socks now look like this:


It's kind of cheesing me that the two balls of yarn do different things with the patterning. See it? Part of the problem is that I pulled from the centre and the two balls variegate through the colours in opposite directions. But that's not the whole story. The second ball is doing something just a little bit different and weird and the socks, while very similar, do not match.

On the bright side, I'm only ever going to wear these things casually around the house or to sleep with, and they're not for someone else, so I'm not freaking out over it. But still.

2006-Mar-6

The slow trip up the leg continues.

2006-Mar-3

Compared to the speed I'm getting out of my continentally-knit sock projects, this thing is just crawling. I've turned the heel, but it seems like it's taking forever to do the leg. However, I will persevere.

2006-Feb-27

This saw a little bit of action this weekend, but not so much that I'm really anywhere close to the heel. However, what I did find interesting was that my efforts to knit another pair of socks using the continental method started leaking into this project. Twice I switched needles and automatically started knitting continental instead of English - once I even made it about halfway through the stitches on the needle before realising what I was doing!

2006-Feb-23

The toe is finished, and the foot has begun.

2006-Feb-22

Sock #2 got cast on last night:

2005-Oct-22

A demonstration of how sleepy I am: I knew that part of the journey to today's baby shower would involve a ride on the subway. So, I resolved to take a small and portable knitting project for that leg of the trip: socks. (Easy decision - the project fits in my purse.) I meticulously went around the house gathering needles, yarn and the pattern, and then meticulously packed the yarn and the pattern into my purse. It was only after I'd gotten on the train that I realised the needles were still at home. AUGH!

2005-Sep-26

On Friday's morning commute I cast off for sock #1. Oh, the triumph. When I arrived at the office, I whipped it out and tried it on while my computer was booting up.

It took me over a minute to force the thing over my heel. Not good.

So I shall have to frog the cast-off and re-do it more loosely. I only hope that I made the cast-off tail long enough that I won't run out of yarn during the re-do!

2005-Sep-22

Top ribbing on the first sock is very close to being done - just a few more rows, I estimate, and then I can cast off. After which I get to...uh...make the second sock. Woohoo.

I must not lose my focus. I must not succumb to Second Sock Syndrome. I must remember how delighted my footsies will be when I put on the new socks. I must remember how unwilling my footsies will be to share one sock. I. Will. Be. Strong.

2005-Sep-20

Patient slogging does eventually pay off - I'm now working on the top ribbing of sock #1.

2005-Sep-15

It eases my mind greatly to know that, when the subway is ridiculously crowded to the point where I cannot even put my purse down on the floor and have zero elbow room to manoeuvre a large project around, I can whip out some sock knitting.

2005-Sep-12

Fantasy: The Schedule says that I shouldn't even have cast this project on until 2007, maybe 2008.

Reality: The leg of sock #1 now measures over two inches. Like hell my feet will wait two to three years for superhappycomfortsocks.

Fantasy for this week: The Schedule says that I must continue to ignore this project. Snort. What else would I work on while waiting in lineups?

2005-Sep-7

Over an inch has been done on the leg portion of sock #1. It's amazing to me that I don't find sock knitting to be ridiculously boring. But no, I can just keep going around...and around...and around...

2005-Sep-5

I have discovered that socks are an extremely nifty kind of project. I can work on them in just about any situation! Including just walking down the street. I walked around my neighbourhood for about an hour this weekend, mostly to see how long it would take me to get to the local bus terminal to catch a new public transit express bus line (twenty minutes - not bad) and took my sock knitting with me to see if I could walk and knit the sock at the same time. I can. This opens up huge possibilities! Walking is excellent exercise, and if I don't have to give up knitting time in order to exercise, there is a remote chance that I might actually - gasp! - become physically fit! Wow.

Anyway, not only did I make that nifty discovery, but I also finished the foot of the sock and am starting on the leg:

2005-Sep-1

I'm getting to that point where I need to know how long the foot should be so I can turn the heel at the right spot. So I measured my foot - my right foot, which was an uncharacteristically smart move (I'm righthanded and dominant feet tend to be longer, or so I understand). My foot is slightly over nine and a half inches long. Yes, that's right - I'm under 5'2" and I have a 9.5" foot. No one ever believes this, though, because my feet don't actually look that big. Even my brother - who lived with me for years and years and saw my feet and footwear on a daily basis - once called me up and asked if a friend of his could borrow a pair of my shoes because she had a job interview and nothing appropriate to wear on her feet.

"What size does she take?" I asked.
"Oh, about a five and a half," he said.
"Dude, I wear a size eight, eight and a half," I replied.
"No WAY!" was his response. "Man...you've got big feet!"

What can I say - it runs in my family. My mom, who at this point is probably the same height as I am, wears a size nine. My poor grandmother (my mom's mom), in her youth, had to endure what was basically footbinding, because her mother (a piece of work if ever there was one, if half the stories I've heard are true) thought big feet were 'ugly' and refused to buy her correctly-sized shoes. (Resulting in some very nasty foot surgery for my grandmother in later life.)

Fortunately, I've never minded my big feet one bit...until I realised it meant more work to make myself socks. :) It'd be great if I could just turn the heel right now. However, I still have about an inch and a quarter to go. Shouldn't take long.

Simultaneous striping and pooling continues.

2005-Aug-30

Well, work continued on the socks today - I'd guess I've got about five inches done on the foot so far. The pattern of the yarn has emerged, and it's, well, weird. It is sort of striping, but it is also (get this) pooling at the same time. Here's what I mean:

I have to be honest, it's not jazzing me. But I am still enjoying the knitting.

2005-Aug-29

I am aware that I have A Schedule. I am aware that this Schedule is very tight. I am aware that Christmas is fewer than four months away and that babies are coming. Really, I am. I know the news that I have started knitting these socks may make it seem like I'm not aware of all these things, but I am, I swear. It's just that, well, last night, there was no way I was going to be able to meet The Schedule's demands for my BIL's Christmas sweater before bedtime anyway, so therefore I was quite free to cast on for the sock and do a little bit of the toe before I went to sleep. And this morning, well, I figured there was no harm packing the sock project in addition to BIL's Christmas sweater project, right? I mean...just in case? And it's a good thing, too, because the subway was really packed this morning and it was much more considerate to my fellow passengers to whip out a small sock than a big sweater. Yeah.

(Ah, sweet Logic. How easily you can be twisted to suit my purposes.)

Sadly, though, the universe may be punishing me for deviating from The Schedule, because the sock just isn't striping. Now, admittedly, I've only just finished the toe and have about a half inch on the main foot, so perhaps the striping is just taking a while to fully show itself. But so far, it's a bust. Especially considering how beautifully the same yarn striped for me on another pair of socks in a different colourway. But I will be patient. Perhaps I am in for a pleasant surprise.

2005-Aug-28

While shopping I discovered a new colourway of Bernat Sox yarn. It is all for me. Mine, mine, mine. I know I posted just on Thursday that I was going to make myself some sleep socks using the Amazing Feets pattern and some light worsted weight yarn, but, you know, when the colours of yarn in the store speak to you, there's not much you can do. You know what I mean?