Startitis

I was so happy to finish the skinny Ribby Socks for T-Man yesterday. They lasted a very long time on the needles. Not as long as my poor frogged Jaywalkers but darned long enough. They look totally ridiculous off the foot but since he isn’t around to model them at the moment, this will have to do:

T-Man’s Ribby Socks


Begun: March 7, 2007
Completed: May 21, 2007

Yarn: Trekking XXL (75% superwash wool, 25% nylon) in subtle olive greens, browns, and even a bit of pink and blue (colour 90), 1 ball (100g/420m).
Needles: Clover Takumi bamboo 5” dpns in size 2mm.
Pattern: Mine, the one linked in my sidebar, with a longer leg and longer foot.

Comments: For some reason I can’t resist the yarns with 4 gently variegating plies. It’s impossible to make matching socks but they are so beautiful they counteract my need for symmetry. There are a number of little blips in the knitting but I’m not going to look too closely when they’re on his feet in his shoes under his jeans.

So now that this set of needles was empty I had to fill them up again. And not with the plain pair of socks for SIL either. These are for me (like I need another pair!) in Mega Boots Stretch Softcolor yarn in shades of dark red. I’m using a tulip pattern that I found in an older issue of INKnitters. For some unknown reason, they published it under the name of Leaf Lace Socks, which they definitely aren’t and they were even shown in bright red as a clue to the pattern’s meaning. The pattern stitch, “Tulpen”(tulip) from a German book, was in words so I used my trusty Knit Visualizer to chart it. I’m always looking for patterns that look right upside down since that’s the way they turn when I knit socks from the cuff down. Here’s the chart if you’re interested:


I’m currently still on the ribbing and haven’t gotten to the tulips yet. And as if that wasn’t enough, I decided to cast on for a narrow lace scarf from the leftover yarn from the Cherry Leaf Shawl. I’m using a stitch pattern called Fern Lace with a row of faggoting on either side. The much wider version was in the book Lavish Lace but there was a mistake in the pattern so I checked on the publisher’s website for the corrections. I’m not messing about with provisional cast-on and knitting from the centre out to make the scarf hang symmetrically. I’m just starting at one end and knitting until either it’s long enough or I run out of yarn whichever comes first. There’s about an inch worth of this so far and it’s making an interesting scalloped bottom edge:



So what happened to my weaving you ask? Don’t ask. I got things cleaned up and tidied away and then didn’t touch it. I got carried away knitting and reading blogs instead. I’m so far behind on what’s happening with everyone. The observant will note that neither of the new knitting projects is the kind I can work on and read at the same time. However, I do need to buy some yarn tomorrow (when I go to my LYS to teach the last spinning class) for SIL’s birthday socks. They will be my plain pair so I can read while knitting. Meanwhile I can read while I’m working on the cuffs on the Tulip Socks.