A year in the making

I started this sock a year ago on a road trip. I just returned from a road trip to the very same place, and I found myself knitting on the sock again. I had previously decided to rip out the heel and redo, but I changed my mind.

I took this picture to show the kind of scenery I was enjoying while knitting, but knitters might notice something interesting about this picture. Look at the needles. Can you see that one is missing? When I put the knitting into my knitting bag, I some how pulled out a double-point and didn't notice. Directly after taking this photo, I put the double-point back into the knitting. It actually went back in quite smoothly.

 

The yarn is Knitpicks, the discontinued Essentials. It's really quite soft and lovely to touch, in sharp contrast to some other Essentials I have.

 

I started the toe as written, and then remembered that I wanted a double-stranded toe. I ripped out 12 rows of toe and redid the toe to match the heel. That didn't turn out so well. The toe was too pointy to fit a human toe, and the decreases made the chequerboard look messy, not cute. I ripped out the double-stranded toe, and redid it as written in the pattern, finishing just as we arrived home this afternoon. A year later, one sock complete.

 

The pattern is Hiiumaa from Knitting on the Road

Singular Sock Wrap-up

In a previous post, I weighed my pine and pumpkin sock yarn and determined I had enough left to make one more sock. In a previouser post, I had examined the finished socks and pondered what project could use up the yarn. In the spirit of serious stash-busting, I went ahead and made another Hiiumaa sock, to match the others and use up what was left. I started it last April on a trip to Seattle, using my nice Comfort Zone needles on the plane. (These needles are in my comfort zone because I'm terrified of having my needles confiscated. I figure the Comfort Zone needles not only aren't metal, but can hardly be threatening in any interpretation.) Unfortunately, the sad truth is, while I admire double points, finding them aesthetically pleasing, and they appeal strongly to my vintage sensibilities, I just don't like knitting with them at all. Thus, the entire sock has been a pain in the bum to knit.

Two nights ago I was finally about to start the toe decreases, and the menfolk came into the room to chat. I showed them the sock, along with how much green yarn was remaining.

#1Man, with a sigh: Does this mean you need to buy more yarn?
Me: No, it just means the sock will have an orange toe.
#1Son: That's what I love about homemade socks. You work with what you've got, and they always turn out cooler than any other socks.

Yes, the #1Son does deserve many, many pairs of socks.



So I began knitting the decreases, and immediately discovered a grievous error. While 3 needles had 18 stitches, as they should, 1 needle had 21 stitches. Very, very wrong. The error originated from some anomaly in the gusset decreases, this I am sure. I cannot offer a satisfactory explanation. I can only say that I completed the gusset decreases during a lunch hour at work, sitting outside in the shade during a hot desert noon, listening to Orson Scott Card's Shadow Puppets on my mp3 player. Apparently I was distracted enough not to count thoroughly and notice that while the first decrease needle was at the right spot, the second one most certainly was not.

Then I began to agonize. Clearly, the extra three stitches over the course of the sock were responsible for me running out of yarn. I had a choice: rip back to the decreases, fix, and reknit the foot, or just proceed. I articulated the question:

If I knit forward, making the toe orange, will it be a visual reminder of my failure and mistakes? Or will it be a powerful symbol of my flexibility and adaptability?

The menfolk clearly couldn't see that an extra three stitches on one needle was any thing to get upset about and certainly couldn't see why I would have to rip back. I decided to adopt their casual attitude and proceeded, using what green remained to make an echo of the cuff pattern. And I am very pleased with how it turned out! I'm happy, not annoyed, that I didn't rip back, and delighted with how the toe looks.


These five socks in the photo began with four balls of Knit Picks Essential. All that remains is that tiny little length of pumpkin yarn. Not a bad output from four balls of yarn.

Singular sock progress

Probably because I started it in April, this singular Hiiumaa sock has seemed to drag on and on. I am pushing to finish it up before I succumb to the temptation to start a new pair. I'm running low on green yarn and i'm curious to see what will end first- the yarn or the sock.

What's in progress

 

Yesterday I finally updated my progress page on Ravelry to show all my current works in progress. These are all projects I consider "active" and I work on them all from time to time. It was discouraging to see these projects side by side and accept how slowly they have been and will continue to progress.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot of knitting time available to me right now. My life right now includes:

• Family duties


• Full time work


• Internship 10 hours a week


• Final quarter in graduate school, a major research methodologies course


• Completing my portfolio, the equivalent of a thesis


• Applying for a number of jobs which all come open this time of year


• Going to interviews for these jobs without using up any time off because I need it for my graduation/vacation journey at the end of the term.


• Daily walks or other exercise, without which I go completely batty and everything else falls apart

Sadly, few of these tasks are knitting friendly. There is occassionally knitting at work on lunch time, and sometimes family duties can include knitting while I talk/snuggle/hangout/whatever with my Most Important Peoples. I have been known to knit and walk at the same time, but I've noticed that I get less exercise under those conditions, and also I get crampy shoulders and arms.

Because of the slow knitting progress, there's not a lot to blog. I can't bring myself to blog: Look, here's the broad spiral ribbing an inch longer than it was last week!

Thrice as nice

Live from baggage claim... Travelers every where are celebrating the sock's progress. It has tripled its length during travel. Sadly, it will be promptly neglected.

Knitting on the road

Live from the SeaTac airport... Yes i had several works in progress, but i always like a special travel project. This shows my total progress for the short trip. I did have to rip out several rows yesterday because apparently i cannot count to 3 while attending class.

Silver Lining

A day that starts out with an unexpected ocular event is not all bad. While I had planned to go to water aerobics rather than spend my midday in optical triage, I got 3 happy hours away from work, which included a great deal of knitting time. Sometimes fuzzy, blurry knitting while my pupils slowly dilated, but I wasn't complaining. Enough that I was able to finish the Hiiumaas tonight. I was running low on yarn, and was watching the yarn as I decreased, thinking I still might make it to the end of the sock. Turns out I had to attach another ball when I had only 21 stitches left on the needle. Oh well! And for now my vision is fine, and I will be in to see a specialist as soon as possible to see if there are any lingering problems.

off the road again

Back home, and this is what I have to show for the weekend of traveling. Wheee.

Traveling albums:

• English Beat's Special Beat Service (also digitised from vinyl)
  
• Pogues' If I Should Fall From Grace With God
  
• Sarah McLachlan's Afterglow
  

on the road again...

220 some miles, 3 albums, 2 potty stops, 1 Subway stop, and a pack of gum later, I have this:

Road trip albums were:

• Jack Johnson's Brushfire Fairytales
  
• English Beat's I Just Can't Stop It (Digitised from our vinyl)
  
• Joyce's Astronauta: Songs of Elis
  

Desert Hiiumaa #1

For many years, my socks have been toe up, knitted simultaneously. Thus it is odd that all socks this month have been cuff-down, and some knitted one at a time. Desert Hiiumaa #1 is finished, I do not know when I'll make time to cast on #2.

Desert knitting

When I first received Knitting on the Road, I went through all the patterns, identifying which patterns I could knit from stash yarn. I was able to select several, including the Hiiumaa mismatched mates, which would be perfect for those half-skeins of pumpkin and evergreen Knitpicks Essential.

When the KOTR knitalong selected Hiiumaa for the June/July selection, I was excited, fully intending to knit these socks sometime during the available months. However, these socks were not originally on the must-pack list for my weekend desert trip. I had all my projects packed, when I thought, "Road trip, better take Knitting on the Road." So it was a last-minute thing, grabbing the KOTR book and the pumpkin and evergreen yarn. I started the first sock--on double points, no less!--immediately after finishing the Lithuanian Amber socks from the Folk Socks knitalong.

It wasn't until I was sitting in this swing, early in the morning,

gazing admiringly at this view,

while knitting these socks,

that I noticed that the socks were a perfect tribute to the desert. Just looking up at the cliff walls, I could see the exact colours of my yarn there, looming above me.


PS When I was ordering my Comfort Zone double points, I selected orange for my size 1 needles, and never really expected to actually be knitting some socks that would hardly show on the needles. Guess there's been a lot of orange in my knitting lately...