Wednesday, June 13, 2007

When is a pair of striping socks still not a pair?

When one of them has wider stripes, obviously. (Warning: photo heavy post ahead)

Anyone out there have a clue why my Feb STR club Inside Out socks are doing this?
To recap, I had started with the now shorter sock and it was pooling not striping. When I got the second sock to stripe I checked gauge and learned that the first sock was different. So I ripped it back to the set up row after the toe and reknit it. This time the gauge between the two socks matches. Exactly, as nearly as I can tell until I can find my steel rule that is marked off in 100ths of an inch.

So (she wails, confused) why are the stripes on the longer sock twice as wide as the stripes on the redone one? I'm fairly certain I managed to start the second sock at the exact same point in the color repeat as the first one. I certainly pulled out more than a couple of yards worth of yarn from each half skein ball to match up to.

Some days knitting is just fascinating.

In other news, DD's room is finished, she is mostly moved in and I think (hope etc) that I should be able to start having her old room ripped out to the studs on Monday. (Deep inside, where I hope it won't jinx anything, I am skipping about singing - out of key, naturally - "I'm getting my studio back! I'm getting my studio back!")

Ok back to knitting. I've gotten about 75% of the way through the bottom of the French Market Bag.

I've had to rip that out too many times too. I'm stuck for a bit since I've filled that circ and I don't really want to do the Magic Loop thingy with this bag. I need a longer needle, but not too long. I tried to buy one at a LYS on Saturday. And that trip made me 0 for 10 on buying something I want or need in that particular store. In fact, the only time I have ever bought anything there was the first time I went in and wandered about and found a couple of skeins (I don't recall which now) that I could buy in LYS support mode. Every single time I want or need a specific something they don't have it. It's surreal. It doesn't even matter if I call first. It's also annoying because it is, naturally, the closest LYS physically. But I might as well give up on them. I mean really, 0 for 10?!?

I didn't manage to meet my deadline on the Spring Things Shawl. I just couldn't knit fast enough for long enough each day to be sure I could manage it. And then we realized that the bride, despite being nearly half our ages, was also probably twice as practical as we were. So, we gave a much more practical wedding gift instead. It was probably smart. But I was still a bit depressed for a while. Here's a little close up of the beaded section that sort of shows them off.
The whole shawl isn't pictured because it just looks like a rat's nest, albeit a very clean white one, so I'll wait to show off the whole thing until it's finished and blocked.

I took a little break for a few days to mourn the loss of impracticality, and since then I've slowly been working on it now and again when I have enough time to finish a row in one sitting. I finally finished Chart C last night. Now I just have 6 rows of edging and I'm done. I still really like this shawl and suspect that the moment it is finished I'll be casting on for another one. I think maybe in silk this time. I have a very pretty Handmaiden SeaSilk that is calling to me.

As are two skeins of Claudia Handpaint Lace...

and a skein of Handmaiden 2 ply cashmere (I think the color is Glacier).
Although the cashmere is not asking to be a Spring Things Shawl. The cashmere thinks just being cashmere is enough and it thinks being a simple wide triangle (or whatever it was called) from Victorian Lace Today would be nice. Of course, it hasn't tried to find nice lightweight beads for that sucker and I have.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see your Spring Things Shawl. Are the beads easy to add?

Did you ever sort out the STR inside out sock and the mystery of the stripes?