So...the super secret socks were made and sent and are now owned by **drumroll** my Sister! They could probably due to be altered a little bit, but she says they more or less fit. Good enough for me for right now. Here they are before they went on their merry ways to California:
I also noticed before I sent them that the first sock has a problem.
It's probably quite unnoticeable, which is why I have the "pointer" (aka needle) pointing to it. This would explain why I ended up with an odd number of stitches when I went to make the ribbing at the cuff. Hmm... I guess that's another reason to re-knit the leg if Sis ever wants it to be done. Personally, I hope she doesn't, because it's a lot of boring knitting.So...socks - check! I then decided to use leftover sock yarn (that looks like the yarn for these Secret Socks but is actually from my First Ever Pair of Socks) to make baby booties for a person down the hall. A couple weekends ago I ferociously knit up these two to go with the little outfit I had bought. They don't match each other (I found it impossible to line up the stripe patterns with my leftovers...boo!)
I used the "Better Than Booties" pattern from Interweave Knits, and while I like how the booties come together (the heel and toe shaping is quite nice; my thanks to the wonderful Priscilla Gibson-Roberts who apparently published this technique somewhere), I am not such a huge fan of how long it takes to make these booties since Way Back in the Just Learned How to Knit era, I crafted a pair in about two hours. That was before I knew what I was doing, even. I managed to make short rows without knowing they were supposed to be "hard." The Better Thans use sock yarn, not worsted, and therefore...they take me more like 8 hours to knit up and finish. But...it's also a good way to use up old sock yarn!
After the bootie knitting weekend, I got to work with the booties and outfit all wrapped up nicely and ready to give to the recipient at the baby shower later that afternoon. I turned to my coworker Lori to show off what I had made, and Lori noted that that afternoon's shower was not for the person I thought it was for. Her shower was next week. That day's shower was for another person in the same lab...who was having a girl... Which I knew, of course, but I had gotten the dates mixed up and had only JUST started the girl's gift that morning on the bus! Eeks! I have yet to recover from the mix-up because the sweater is still not done, though it's getting quite close. See?
That is the kimono sweater from the same issue of IK with all of the stitches that are supposed to be on stitch holders on the circular needle because I'm lazy and because I got to the parts that needed to be on stitch holders when I was on the bus and was far away from my stitch holders. I like the construction of this sweater, although it took me a long time to figure out how it was going to all come together. There is much wisdom in some article I read long ago about how you shouldn't feel the need to fully understand a pattern before you start it - just trust that it will make sense when you get there. So true.Other than socks and baby stuff, I've made a small amount of progress on the Nadia hat (aided greatly by the fact that I finally got around to joining a new skein of yarn, which was absolutely impeding my progress on this particular project)...and that's really it other than accumulating a large list of other things I should knit. I'm pretty sure after the kimono I'm going to drop everything (except the hat) and bust out some stockings for myself, Joelle, and Sheamus. I've been searching through pattern books for the appropriate ones and rummaging in my stash for the proper yarns.
...But it started snowing this evening, and I do so need a scarf to go with my Hermione mittens and hat (the hat, also, needs some finishing, and I thought about adding some ear flaps...). There is so much to knit, so little time. If only I were at home knitting instead of at work working after midnight! (Or rather, if only I were SLEEPING after midnight!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment