Socks Times Two

I finished the red socks for my younger sister (see 09 March 2010) on 20 March, but haven't gotten home from work while it was still daylight to take a photograph of them. I was finally able to take a photograph of them over the weekend. (Click on a photo to enlarge it.)

She wanted knee socks, and knee socks she got. The legs are 14 1/2 inches long from the bottom of the heel to the cuff. That's a lot of sock, even in a size small---147 square inches. The pattern is Wendy Johnson's Nanner Socks.



Last night, I also finished the pair of socks I was knitting (for myself) this month. They, too, are a Wendy Johnson pattern; this one is her Waterfall Socks. Both patterns are fast, easy, and fun to knit, and the results are lovely.

The red socks were knit with Lorna's Lace Shepherds Sock yarn in the Bold Red colorway. The Waterfall socks were knit with Dream in Color Smooshy (my favorite sock yarn!) in the Into the Mystic colorway.

The Waterfall Socks are almost as long as the red socks, but, since I'm quite a few inches taller than my younger sister, the Waterfalls are a couple inches short of being knee socks. I wore them today, but if anyone noticed, they did not comment.

I knew, and I suppose that's all that matters.

I'm currently turning the heels on another pair of socks---yet another Wendy Johnson pattern, this one her Mallow Socks. I hope to finish them before April 1st, when the next sock challenge begins, but that seems unlikely. Knitting while reading a pattern off a chart always takes longer than knitting a pattern with an easily memorizable repeat.

What are you knitting now?

Susannah

Knitting Olympics, Part II

My knitting olympics was not as successful as I had hoped. I had three WIPs (works in progress) that I hoped to finish---a sweater-tunic for my oldest grandniece and two Adult Surprise Jackets for myself, one in Noro Silk Garden Worsted, the other in Dream in Color Classy in the Dusky Aurora Colorway---as well as pair of socks I hoped to knit for my younger sister.

By the closing ceremony, the socks (Wendy Johnson's Nanner Socks) were two-thirds to three-quarters finished. The legs were only about three inches long, which means I knit 10 inches worth of two socks. (Or twenty inches of "tubing," 7 inches in circumference.  That's 44+ square inches of sock. To put that into terms non-sock-knitters can readily understand, if I'd been knitting a strip one inch wide, it would have been 44 1/2 inches long by the closing ceremonies.) I have worked on these socks, off and on, since. When I asked my sister over the weekend how long she wanted the leg of the socks, she said she preferred knee socks. So, I still have a few inches to go.

As for the WIPs, I never touched my grandniece's sweater-tunic, which still needs sleeves and a neckband. I also never worked on the Noro Adult Surprise Jacket (a.k.a. the Coat of Many Colors). I need to pick up the buttons I ordered before I can knit the next row---the row with the buttonholes---and I never got to my LYS (local yarn store) to pick them up.

In hindsight (so much clear than foresight!), I ought to have started with the project closest to being finished instead of the one with the most still to knit. But I didn't.  I did, however, add five inches to the other Adult Surprise Jacket. (Back to the hypothetical one-inch strip. If I'd been knitting it instead, I would have increased its length by more than 200 inches.) I left the much lighter colored skein of yarn in the jacket, and knit about five more inches---almost two more skeins of yarn. The two skeins after the light one are darker, but not quite as dark as the first three skeins. I'll post a photo of the jacket when it is finished.

I will pick up the buttons on Friday. This week is spring break, so there are few demands on my time, other than the ever-present grading. Grading is the main reason why I didn't make more knitting progress during the Olympics. I only knit during the figure skating and speed skating, and I graded during all the other events.

While I didn't get as much knitting done during the Olympics as I hoped, I did get most of a pair of socks knit and made significant progress on one of my jackets. And I didn't fall behind on the grading. All in all, I'm pleased.

Susannah