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Winter has taken its toll on my handknit socks, and my collection is looking a little depleted. Two different pairs both had a sock go missing. I imagine the AWOL socks having an affair somewhere, so I paired up the orphans so they wouldn't be lonely. Another pair was so full of holes that I finally had to toss it.
It was time for me to crank out a new pair of socks.
Treppenviertel. Socks that stand on their own. These socks remind me of some sort of underwater footgear.
They may look odd, but they fit like a dream.
Vertical ribbing down the leg combined with horizontal ribbing across the foot makes an elastic sock that hugs the foot. The fabric is cushy, comfortable and cozy.
Yes, the leg of the left sock appears to be more heavily variegated. I used a skein of yarn destined for the seconds pile. I'm sure it won't affect the wear, and I was happy to put the yarn to good use.
Dirty Water DyeWorks Lucia, colorway Dusk.
And now I have to cast on another sock project. I'm trying to stay ahead of the game.
When my kids were little and their birthdays rolled around, they would spend a considerable amount of time choosing birthday cakes. They would pore over cookbooks and ponder various fancy-pants cakes. The cakes always look so perfect in the pictures - festive and fun with tiny frosting details.
I always told the kids I would make any cake they wanted, but I warned them it probably wouldn't look like the picture. I'm very capable when it comes to baking, but cake presentation is not my thing. I can spend hours with a tangled skein of yarn, but I don't have patience for frivolous frosting with sculpting and layers. The kids have plenty of stories about cakes that were structurally unsound and didn't bear any resemblance to the picture in the cookbook. But in the end they all tasted great, and that's the most important part.
Knitting can be a lot like birthday cakes. The picture always looks smashing - from the model to the color to the lighting to the setting. Picture perfect. Then I start knitting the project and find that I have to adjust my standard of perfection. The color isn't quite what I thought it would be. The sleeves are longer than I thought they would be. (I have short arms, and they're not going to grow. I should have mastered this one by now.) My buttonholes came out bigger. You get the picture.
When I started my Treppenviertel sock project, I was reminded of my kids and the birthday cakes. I told myself I would go ahead with it, but I didn't expect it to look like the picture. Looks aren't everything and as long as it fits, that's the most important part.
I'm working with a misfit skein of yarn that has some funky color that made its way down the leg and then cleared up in time for the foot. I'm considering that a design feature. Other than that I finished my first sock, and I'm pleasantly surprised.
It looks like the picture. And it fits.
Dovetail is on its final rounds, so the other day I was trying to decide on a new knitting project. This is one of my favorite tasks, but sometimes the job can be overwhelming. I start looking at patterns and want to cast on everything from a baby hat to a man's sweater. But this time I was focused. It had to be small, and I was in the mood for a sock. Half the work was already done for me.
Then I started looking for yarn and stumbled across this.
An orphan skein. Last fall in the midst of a dyeing whirlwind this skein came out of one of the dye pots - a misfit from the mill. There was nothing wrong with the yarn, but the barber pole meant that I couldn't sell it with my regular inventory. I tucked it away for later. Of course I forgot all about it, but when I uncovered it in my sock yarn search, I decided I would use it. It doesn't really matter if my socks are a little wonky.
I was hoping the barber pole section would be somewhere in the middle of the skein. That would make it more likely that some of the crazy would be in both socks.
But when I wound the skein, I found that it was just on one end. I don't want to mix and match this skein, so these socks are destined to be fraternal.
I still have quite a bit of barber pole yarn to knit. I'm curious to see how far down the leg it will go.
Treppenviertel. Ribbing with a twist.
My color inspiration this week comes from the world of snow and ice.
Lace border.
