Noolie Knits

Socks

I think my sock mojo has returned for real.  You may recall that I only completed one pair of socks last year.  Here it is May 4th and I'm working on my fourth pair of 2009 (granted they weren't all started in '09, but that's not the point). 

I had hoped to finish the socks designed by the talented Gina over the weekend and I did it.  As a matter of fact, I finished the second sock on Saturday morning.

Pattern:  Spring Sasavana Socks
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy in the colorway Good Luck Jade.
Needles: Size 6 dpn's

I love these socks; they feel so incredible on my feet!  This pair of socks will live in my spinning basket to be worn when my tootsies get cold while spinning (which is all the time). 

This was a quick and easy pattern that I will definitely knit again.  The only thing I'll do differently on the next pair is  knit the cuff longer.  I was afraid I wouldn't have enough yarn to knit a longer cuff on these so I went with what the pattern suggested -  turns out I had enough left that I could have made them close to my usual length. 

Once these were off the needles, I went up to the stash to find some yarn to start on another pair for Hubby.  While I was looking, I came across the one finished "Boy Sock" that I knit back in October using Schoeller+Stahl Sockina Cotton.   You may remember the story of how this first sock was knit for the hubby and was too short requiring that I rip out the toe and knit a bit more length in the foot.  Hubby tried it on again after that and said it was too tight.  "Boy Sock" was banished at that point and I truly never thought it'd see the light of day again.   When I found it  this weekend, I decided that I would rip back to the leg and reknit the heel and foot allowing some extra room.  Luckily, before ripping I asked hubby to try it on again to let me know exactly where it didn't feel right. 

I'm sure you can guess where this is going - it fits him perfectly.  Yippee, that means I'm halfway to another completed pair of socks!  I started the second sock last night and have knit the ribbing and a few rounds of the cuff.

This weekend was filled with progress on a few different fiber projects - I'll fill you in on the rest later.

Have a great night!

Boy Sock

Looks like a nice sock, doesn’t it? Hmmph, looks can certainly be deceiving. Let me tell you the story of “Boy Sock”.

One day a Knitter was gifted some wonderfully soft cotton sock yarn, in colors she adored.  After the yarn sat for a short period of time in her stash, the Knitter decided that it was high time she knit this wonderful yarn into a pair of socks for herself; she’d been knitting for everyone else lately and she was getting a case of the “me, me, me’s”.

This Knitter has knit many pairs of socks and has never knit a gauge swatch for a plain ole vanilla pair of socks.  She has found that her trusty Crystal Palace size 1 ½ dpn’s always give her a nice fitting sock. She cast on 60 stitches and began the knitting; knit, purl, knit, purl, around and around and around forever (well, for 12 rows). “Hmmm, this feels a bit looser than usual” she thought to herself and continued on to the stockinette portion of the sock.

She knit and knit and knit for a couple inches and finally decided that this sock was going to be too big for her. As a matter of fact, it looked a lot like it would fit Hubby. Hubby has a mere three pairs of hand knit socks, while the Knitter has more than she cares to admit, so she decided to see if these would work for him (plus, that way she wouldn’t have to frog and restart the sock; the Knitter hates frogging!). She asked Hubby how his socks usually fit on his leg (socks which she always knit with 64 stitches). She was in luck; his hand knit socks were all a bit loose on the leg. This sock should fit him.

She began referring to the sock as the Boy Sock (don’t ask me why) and knit merrily away on the leg, admiring the beauty and softness of the yarn as she knit. She knit the heel flap, turned the heel, decreased the gusset and continued on down the loooooong foot. You all know how that is, don’t you? Men have loooooong feet. The Knitter remembered why the Hubby has only three pairs of hand knitted socks; she hates knitting the loooooong foot of the sock. Finally, after a week of knitting, she measured the foot and began the toe decreases (knowing full well that she probably stretched that loooong foot a bit much when measuring it). The toe was finished and the yarn was cut when she decided to ask Hubby to try the sock on. Yep, you guessed it, too short. Turns out if you stretch the foot as far as you can so that you can begin the toe decreases, chances are good that you’ll end up with a sock that is too short. This could still work out, though. Since Hubby hadn’t been showing what the Knitter considered the appropriate amount of enthusiasm for the sock while it was being knit, she thought she could use this sock as a Christmas gift for her brother-in-law with smaller feet. She asked Hubby if he wanted her to rip out the ENTIRE toe and make it longer or if she should give the socks to the BIL. You guessed it; he wanted the socks.

Rippit, rippit, rippit. Out came the toe, length was added and the toe was finished (again).

“Looks good,” thought the knitter as she cut the yarn and began kitchenering (is that a verb?) the toe.

You think you know where this is going, don’t you? You think I’m going to tell you that Hubby tried the sock on again and it was still too short. Well, if that’s what you’re thinking, you are only partially correct. Not only was it still too short (his feet MUST have grown since I made the last pair), but NOW he tells me that it’s too tight in the gusset area. Well, that’s not actually what he said; what he said was, “It’s kind of tight here” and pointed to the top of his foot near the ankle. Can you guess what the Knitter did then?

Yep, grabbed the Damned Boy Sock, threw it in a bag with the yarn, and stuffed it away in the bottom of the WIP basket, where it will probably stay for eternity.

There may have been a few choice words uttered too.

The End