CatKnitsandThings.com

In order of appearance (top down)
1. MP’s sock.
2. Still “thinking.”
3. 375 stitches currently serving the purpose of a circular needle “cozy.”

The sock is getting close - remember these are big, Shrek-size socks. However, it is suffering from one of the “tertiary symptoms” of Second Sock Syndrome - different size from sock #1. Not sure what if anything I’ll do about that. Michael thinks I should “just get more yarn and knit a 3rd sock.” Why, certainly dear! Anything you say! Hmmm….We could end up with matching socks that way - if I knit another 2 similar socks to the ones I’ve just knit - or we could end up with a party of 4 of all different shapes and sizes. Who knows! I don’t do well with knitting two on one needle. I tried that with the swallowtail shawl that never happened. Ended up knitting too much on one pointy part of the butterfly, not enough on the other, getting confused on the charts, and it was just not a pretty sight. So, I think I’m too easily distracted to keep track of knitting two things at once. Actually, I could have avoided making this one bigger if I’d bothered to keep track of how far I was on the heel flap, but…well, I decided to “wing it.” Usually not a good idea for me.

Picovoli is still waiting for me to get the courage to decide whether to do the math - or just wing it [ahem...see above statement on the advisability of me doing any winging]. Acutally…I really DO have an “excuse” to let this one “cure” for a bit in the basket. Since it’s a “top down” sweater, and since I’m not positive it fits or doesn’t, I want to try it on to see how close I am for the shaping part. Well, as can maybe be seen in this picture, I really don’t have enough length of the circular needle to try it on because if I stretch it over my head, it’s going to pull off the needles. I found a really cool little “invention” on Nancy Roberts‘ web page called “Try it on tubing” - the other day. It connects to the tips of your needles, and then you can put the sweater on without worrying about dropping live stitches because it makes a complete circle for them to slide around on. It’s so ELEMENTARY while being ingenious at the same time, that I just love the idea. So, I’m waiting for that to get here. Hopefully it’s not just some air tubing to an aquarium that a person could get at Wal-Mart or their local pet store for a pittance. Oh well…support your local fiber entrepenuer, right? This lady’s got some very good ideas. Stuff I wish I’d thought of. Spin-Off Magazine has her work on the front cover this month.

And as for the so-called needle cozy….that’s the beginnings of Ene from Scarfstyle (see the side bar for a link to the book on Amazon.com). I wasn’t going to cast on until after I finished these other two projects, but that baby alpaca yarn is so soft, the Dallas Cowboys were on the TV, and I’d had enough of THE SOCK…so, OK…I just couldn’t resist. I kind of hoped I’d have more self-control with knitting than I do in sewing, but this is beginning to look familiar. Speaking of sewing…I’ve got a couple projects that need finishing.

Tags: sewing, sock knitting, spinning //