I experienced my first sock casualty today. BOTH heels in a pair of socks completely gave way.
Those are socks knit with Claudia Handpainted fingering yarn in the Stormy Days colourway. I thought I had blogged about them before, but apparently not. These socks were an experiment in knitting toe-up socks with a heel flap, and they turned out just fine except for the fact that the colours of each sock pooled pretty differently (not so obvious in this photo). However, I thought that knitting a slip-stitch heel was supposed to make it sturdier? Or maybe not?
I can't remember when exactly I knit these socks, maybe last year, maybe the year before, but they were far from the first pair of socks that I knit, nor were they the handknit socks that I wore the most. I have other socks (knit with Regia, Lorna's Laces, and Fleece Artist yarns) that I've worn just as much (if not more), and none of them show signs of biting the dust anytime soon (and I usually knit short-row heels, sans reinforcement). It seems like this yarn just doesn't hold up as well as the others?
I have other socks knit out of this yarn that I haven't worn yet (including my Monkeys), as well as yarn for 2 more pairs of socks in the stash. So now I'm thinking, maybe they shouldn't become socks if the yarn isn't that hard-wearing? Maybe they want to be something else? A Chevron scarf? Gloves/Mittens? Hats? Maybe I should put the other socks into the rotation and see how they hold up?
Sophie's not quite sure what to do either.
You know the common complaint about Kidsilk Haze (aside from the fact that some people find mohair really itchy), that it's nearly impossible to frog due to the sticky grabby mohair? Well, I am extremely grateful for that fact today. See, I was washing (well, Eucalan soaking) my Modern Quilt Wrap before putting it away for the summer, and as I was laying it out on the floor to dry I discovered something.
You can't see it in the photo, but those two pins are marking a dropped stitch. I thought I had caught them all, but apparently one managed to get away from me. I have been wearing this scarf for 3 months, and after all this time it never actually dropped any further, but stayed just where it was. THANK YOU, sticky grabby mohair!!
Of course I will be fixing this ASAP, once the scarf dries. =)
Okay. I have a problem. I'm losing things - my mind probably among them. You know those socks I was knitting for my brother? I can't find them anywhere in my house. That means I've lost 1 skein of beautiful Dream in Colour, some rather nice size 4 circulars, and the cute little bag that held said yarn and needles. On top of that, I've lost the pattern for the below scarf.
I'm on ball 2 of the organic cotton for that, and can figure out the pattern just by looking at the scarf, so could probably write it out again if I really wanted to (which I don't). But STILL! How come I'm losing everything?!! Grr...
So, in other news, I'm trying to figure out what to do with this
This is what I've knit of the back of the Dollar and Half Cardigan. I'm realizing that I hate seaming so much that I've been putting off this sweater for a long, long time now. I was thinking of going through the pattern and trying to re-write it so that it's knit from the top down, kinda like the way Tulip is knit. But that also seems very daunting considering the amount of pattern work on the sweater, and the fact that I've never modified a pattern as majorly as this, and for it to be a sweater? Kinda intimidating. I have a nice pattern for a top-down raglan v-neck pullover that I wanted to make, so I'm wondering if I should just frog this back and just make that instead. The debate continues in my head, so feel free to try and convince me one way or another. I'm very mold-able right now.
