I know, I know…the blog has been mighty quiet since that last post on October 10th. I’ve been meaning to post more often, seeing as how it’s Socktoberfest and all, but I wound up with a few outside influences making it difficult to post.
For anyone who tried to access the blog over the past month to find it missing, or redirecting weirdly…that’s one of those influences. My web host was doing some behind-the-scenes work and had things jumping through the wrong hoops for a few days. Since I generally tend to encourage my host in his technical peccadilloes, I really can’t complain very much or very loudly. It’s a small price to pay for using his monthly bandwidth!
The good news is that I was keeping track of my knitting progress over on Ravelry, so all I need to do is refer to those notes for this post. Booyeah! To make a long story a little less long, I finished all but the grafting on the 28:06:42:12 socks, and set them aside. Then I cast on for a pair of Sleepy Hollow socks by Lori Law…at least, I tried to. I had this lovely green Koigu that I wanted to use, but 100g of Koigu makes for a pretty small pair of socks. I usually make my Koigu socks from the toe-up, just so I can get what I need out of it. After hemming and hawing over it, I finally cast on with the Koigu in the medium size.
10-Oct-11
Picked up this pattern awhile back, but I’ve never managed to get the sizing right. Not sure that the Koigu is going to be enough yardage, so cast on another sock in the Cascade Heritage. I’m rather liking the blues in the Cascade…when I think of Sleepy Hollow, I don’t think of the lush green of the Koigu, but dusky shadows, and twilight.
14-Oct-11
So I went ahead and started knitting away with the Koigu. Because I’m a glutton for punishment. I’ve got a sock that may fit a slender-ankled size 9 person. It sure won’t fit me, with my weighty size 9.5/10 feet and thick ankles. And in a way, there’s no real urge to finish these at the moment if I’m not going to fit them. I had a wave of pure selfishness. I’m thinking that if I could scare up another (third) ball of the Koigu, I could just do a larger version. I’m thinking this may go on hold until I decide whether to put these in the “for someone the right size” box, or I can find a ball of the same yarn, possibly at Pudding. Argh.
17-Oct-11
Okay. So after much deliberation, I decided to take a bit of a leap and went down to The Stash and found a ball of Araucania Ranco in a dark purple. I cast it on and am currently at the point where I’m done the leg and about to start the heel.
And yet I still find myself thinking about the Green Koigu. I may be a bit obsessed, folks, because I got a little spontaneous, snagged the green sock I had been knitting (in size 7/8), and took it downstairs to the ball winder where it promptly disappeared back into a ball of yarn. I will admit that all that needed to be done was graft the toe before I went and got freaky with the bal winder. Then I went searching through the stash until I found skein #2 and wound it into a ball. Both of them are sitting on the end table beside me, and I am feeling the urge to cast back on, this time in the larger size. If it just so happens that I don’t have enough yarn to finish, I’ll do something silly like make the toes a different colour. I can get away with that, right? Toes do go into shoes, after all.
I’m going to do myself a favour and not frog back the Araucania socks the way I went to town frogging back the cascade yarn. It’s very possible I’ll wind up with two pairs of socks from this endeavour. I can dream, anyhow…
20-Oct-11
I turned the heel on yet another attempt at the green socks. Surprise!
Really, this green vs. purple thing has got to end soon, but I’m not exactly sure how. Certainly not in a fight to the death or anything. I’m thinking that I’ll probably finish both pairs for Yule or thereabouts.
When I took pictures of the socks in progress this afternoon (both green & purple, using wine bottles to stretch out the patterns), I was at around the 2/3 to 1/2 mark on the ball of green. I’m now down around the 1/3 mark, and have about 2 or 3 inches before the toe decreases. Wish me luck!
25-Oct-11
Sock #1 was finished on the 21st, I think, and now I’m working on the heel of #2. Pro-Tip here…when you get to the heel, transfer to a set of needles with a longer cable. My 42” needles are doing the job perfectly, because with the extra length I can divide the stitches in thirds rather than just over needles one and two. Sure, I could probably do these with DPNs, but as much as I like them, I prefer circulars. I’m a big girl. I can admit that.
26-Oct-11: 12:30am
Finished! This project begs the question “how many times can you knit the same sock?” because after I finished sock #2 (around 6 or 7pm), I ripped back the toe of sock #1 and re-knit it a bit longer. There is so little yarn left over that it’s not registering on my little kitchen scale. I’m really just glad that I managed to complete the project with the Koigu, and I don’t feel any shame whatsoever in admitting that I’m keeping these beauties for myself.
I still have the purple cuff on my other set of needles, and I do plan on completing those socks, so a pair may just go into my birthday/Xmas present collection box! I’ve gotten so used to having the same pair of socks constantly on the go, so I find myself automagically reaching for them when I sit down. I suspect they will be photographed soon enough!
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