Yes! They are finished. When I last posted a picture of the second sock, I hadn’t realised that the foot was long enough and could have started the toe shaping straight away. Anyway, I got it finished up quickly enough and here they are. Much as I love to show a good photo, I am not lifting my feet above my head to get them in line with the web cam (actually – my dad found my camera cable! I will have proper photos by next weekend).
Finishing these up really gave me a boost and I cast on for my Dad’s Christmas welly socks straight away. I’m not using any particular pattern. I’ve already knitted about six inches but they’re ridiculous looking. I started off with about 30% more stitches than I need. This was not on purpose. So then I did a pile of decreases and the emerging sock now looks more like an elbow warmer than anything else. It annoyed me so much that it woke me up twice during the night. I kept thinking, if it’s rib, then should I put in negative ease instead of positive ease to make sure they stay up?
Another thing that annoyed me is the ‘Complete Book of Traditional Aran Knitting’ that I posted about in my last entry. I was convinced I owned it. Do I? No! But I do have the Complete Book of Traditional Scandanavian Knitting! They look pretty similar and while I was awake during the night, I came to the conclusion that I must have got it out from the library a few years ago, because I have seen it before. Ok. Fine. I did some reasearch and it would be cheap enough to buy second hand online. Why bother? Because I have now seen this book twice and I know for a fact that it is better than the Harmony Stitch guides, and I can’t afford the Barbara Walker stitch dictionaries. It also has a lot of garment patterns as well as separate cable patterns in it.
I am in a bad mood this morning because I am 1. back in Dublin, 2. back in Dublin alone, and 3. my enthusiasm for college is on a par with elbow warmers.
Elbow warmers, eh? Hmmmm…….my elbows have, upon occasion, been cold. You may very well have sussed out another need for a knitted item!
Elbow warmers would be a very good thing to use whilst leaning on my desk…contemplating the next pattern to cast on for….hmm….
Those socks are cute! And yeah, socks should be made with negative ease anyway – and if they’re ribbed, you can afford yet more negative ease. In stockinette, I think the rule of thumb for socks is -10%.