The boy’s gray socks are finally done! I looked back and realized I started them three months ago. And while they are very long, they’re also very simple, just plain ribbing. I think it was the boring gray that made them take so long.
The legs are 10 1/2″ long and I knit to 8″ on the feet before starting the toes, so yeah, these are quite a big bigger than what I make for myself. But he put them on the next day and seems quite pleased with them, so I’d say it was worth it.
I’d have another FO to share, my Mad Mini Wrap, except I tried to use up all the green and lost at yarn chicken. So now I need to undo most of a bind-off and the last row. Darn it all.
The good news is that I’ll definitely get it done by the end of the month, taking me down to three WIPs that I’ll carry into March. That’s not bad at all!
I’m starting to think ahead to March, when I’ll be casting on a Water shawl (Rav link) in a knit-along with Alissa and a few others here in Blogville. It’s a two-skein shawl that might have a trick or two up its sleeve, so to get it done by the end of March, I know I’ll need to focus on it quite a bit. Though I know I can’t finish all my WIPs before then, I decided I needed to at least finish the boy’s gray socks, which have been lingering for far too long. If I don’t finish them soon, I’m afraid they’ll get lost forever! After working on it most of the weekend, I got all the way past the heel turn.
That’s a very long leg, I’ll have you know! And the foot will be equally long, I believe, or very close. So this week I just need to watch some good TV and movies and zip through this foot. What about you, are you hoping to finish a WIP or two by the end of the month?
This might be the fastest pair of socks I have ever knit, and the only reason is because I love the yarn so much. I used my favorite Vanilla Latte sock pattern, so they were simple and easy to knit during work meetings, which might have helped. These took less than a week!
And they are already being put to use! We have sunshine and temps in the upper twenties, so I can wear my handknit socks again. When it was so bitter cold, I had to wear thinner dress socks with thick boot socks over to keep my feet warm. It feels so good to have just one layer of sock again, and to see such cheerful colors. I ended up with a good-sized ball left over, so I’ll knit some socks from the grey skein like this and then do a pair of shorties from the two balls of leftovers. I do love it when a plan comes together.
Oh, Monday. I was on a Zoom call this morning, one where I didn’t have much to contribute, so I had a little bit of sock knitting with me. I’d brought up the second gray sock for the boy and I did three or four rounds before pulling out the first sock to check the cuff length. This is what I found.
It might be hard to tell for sure, but no, those cuffs do not match. My typical cuff is 2×2 rib so apparently when I cast on, I did that without thinking. And without remembering that I’d done 1×1 rib on the first sock! I know what you’re thinking: would the boy care? Would he even notice? The answer to both is probably not, but I frogged and started over anyway. If I’d been further along, I might not have, but I like ribbing, so having to re-knit this isn’t a big hardship.
I do have a positive sock update to share, though. I finally finished the first Sorry Not Sorry sock late last week and cast on the second.
I’m not completely convinced I have enough of my contrast yarn for both a heel and a toe, but I’ll worry about that later. I still have about five inches of ribbing to think about that. I really want to cast on some new socks, though. There’s something about solid-color socks that bores me. I’m ready for some stripes or speckles or something more exciting…like this:
This is Doors of January by Mint Rain Yarns. It’s inspired by The 10,000 Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow and if you haven’t read it, definitely check it out! It was one of the recent books from my book group and it’s unusual and strange and I loved it so much. I ordered the black mini-skein to represent doorways at the heels/toes; it’s not a perfect match for the black in the main yarn but it’ll work. I’m telling myself I need to finish my pink sock before starting this one. I wonder if I’ll make it!
And Monday is socking it to me this week. It is cold and gray and rainy, and I found out some news at work that was a little disheartening and so I am wandering around my house in a hoodie with the hood pulled up because it is somehow mildly comforting. We all thought, Oh yay, 2021 will be better! Oh yay, the vaccine is coming! Oh yay this or that! Well, guess what. Things still mostly suck, except I have less dread every time I log into Twitter each morning.
I’ve had some time on conference calls where I’m not doing much, so my bright, fun sock is growing nicely. But mostly I’ve been working on my We Belong Together shawl and I think I will finish that in the next couple of days. Oh, and I took a short break last night for this little project.
Duncan went outside with the sweater on, and came inside without a sweater. I found it outside, damp and muddy, by the broken gate where they like to go in and out under the deck. It snagged on something, clearly. I have mended the hole and it is not pretty if you look up close but it is no longer a hole at least. I didn’t want to take a picture because my mending skills are less than stellar. Thankfully, the dogs won’t care at all.
With my cardigan done, I switched focus last night to the boy’s gray sock and I feel confident that I can get this first sock done today.
I have about half an inch left before I start the toe. No problem! Except I got distracted thinking about my next sweater. I want to do a colorful striped sweater so I started playing around with color choices.
I think I’m leaning toward number three. What do you like best?
With my shawl done, I decided to sit down with my (analog) knitting journal and make an updated list of WIPs on my needles. I was pretty surprised to find that I only had three: the boy’s long gray sock, the Oxbow cardigan, and the scrappy sock yarn blanket. That’s not much at all, and there were some definite gaps in my knitting needs, so I felt justified in casting on a few new projects.
Of course I needed a fun sock for me, so I cast on a basic ribbed sock using my newest sock yarn from last week. And I wanted a delicate lace project in the mix, so I pulled out this gorgeous skein of Malabrigo Mora and cast on a Gris de lin cowl. It’s “100% pure mulberry silk” and I just recently wrote a piece for work about research being done with silkworms, which eat only the leaves of mulberry trees. Even the name, Mora, is connected, as the scientific name for the silkworm is Bombyx mori. It’s not often my work at a research institute overlaps with my knitting! And finally, I cast on the Mad Mini Wrap (Rav link) with the mini kit from Wonderland Yarns & Frabjous Fibers. It’s all garter stitch, knit until the yarn is gone, so that might be my favorite mindless knitting for a while.
The cowl was more of an adventure to get started. The pattern says to cast on 108 with size 4 needles. I chose 16″ circs, thinking that of course a cowl would be at least 16″ around. It was tight, so I knit the first round flat to loosen it up. Still too short for the circs, so I switched to 12″ circs. They were a better length but the metal tips were super slippery with the silk yarn. It was only then that I went and looked at project notes on Ravelry and discovered that the cowl is designed to only be around 14″ in diameter. (Yes, I would have known before if I had read my pattern more carefully. Whatever. Who designs a cowl to be so tiny?) Heck that! I’m not sure that would go around my head anyway. So I frogged, learning that of course the silk is quick to knot and tangle, and cast on again with more stitches. With any luck, that will be the only hiccup with that project. And now I’ve probably jinxed myself. Heck. Oh well. Happy Sunday, friends.
I currently only have one pair of socks on the needles, and they’re not even for me! Okay, that’s not totally true. My last pair of Christmas socks are only half done. I finished the first one right before Christmas and now I don’t want to play with Christmas yarn. So it’s hibernating until it’s time for Christmas in July and instead I’m pretending that I’m going to focus on the plain gray socks for the boy.
Yes, the leg is indeed VERY long. It is 10 1/2 inches. He is tall and likes long socks. I am past the heel on this one so maybe the foot will go quickly? One can hope. The yarn is KnitPicks something sock yarn, I don’t remember, but it’s soft and superwash.
I am also copying Sarah again and keeping track of what books I read now. I have a knitting journal and I decided to save a page for book notes.
I’m not sure if I’ll do book posts like she does, but I really enjoy reading hers, so we’ll see! Happy Monday, friends.
Today is a day for a lot of lasts: last day of 2020 (HOORAY!), last blog post of the year, and today I’ll share my last Finished Object of the year. These are Vanilla Latte socks in the Tainted Love yarn, which I started almost two months ago. They even match (mostly)!
I hurried to finish these before tomorrow because I wanted to be balanced. Back in January, I decided I would try to manage my yarn stash. My goal was to use up more skeins from my stash than I added; I didn’t worry about yardage or weight, just the number of skeins. I am proud to report that even in this dumpster fire of a year, I came out even: 74 in, 74 out! Now, I do have one teensy little disclaimer: I didn’t count gift yarn in my incoming skeins. I was going to all along, but then Christmas came and I did my almost-final count and realized I needed a little win. Along with these socks I finished two hats for the kids.
The girl’s is the Hinterland Hat (Rav link) in Maraschino Island Yarns Blackwater, and the boy’s is a simple Boyfriend Beanie (Rav link) in Land Ho! from the Treasure Goddess. Getting all these projects done made me feel even better about my Christmas yarn acquisitions. Okay, no, I didn’t feel bad about them anyway. But I am going to to do my stash challenge again next year. If nothing else, it was kind of fun to get a sense of how much I actually use and buy.
I got plenty of other lovely gifts, some yarn-related, and it was a good Christmas. Not the best — I missed being with my mom and siblings on Christmas morning — but as good as it could be under the circumstances. I know I’ve been quiet on here lately but I’ve been reading and lurking and I’m grateful to have Blogville here when I need it.
The only thing that’s finished on this Friday is the work week. My shopping’s not done, my wrapping’s not done, and definitely none of my current knitting projects are done. But I’ve had fun working on them this week!
I’m telling you, I can’t stop working on that scrap blanket. These squares are all of my tiny 2-gram balls and now I’ll move on to the 3-gram. The squares are just so quick, and it’s satisfying to see the “blanket” grow. The sock is my Christmas Silly String yarn from BaH Yarns and it’s just about ready for a heel, whenever I can pull myself away from my blanket squares. I also took a quick trip to my LYS because they had these new pins and I was in the area, thanks to weekly testing at work. What else could I do but pop in and get a Santa and a Tree?? Okay and yes, I also got a skein of yarn (not pictured) because the boy said he’d take another hat.
Two of my long-lost packages have arrived, though the one from Etsy was slightly damaged because she didn’t pack it well enough. She wasn’t pleased with the review I left, but hey, I wasn’t pleased with the service so it all balances out. I’m still missing two Christmas gifts but I’m crossing my fingers that they get here in time.
Maybe I’ll have a finished sock to show you in time for Sock it To Me Monday!
bonnyknits 