Lots of Knitting Going On…
Still no pics and I know I promised some. However, last week I had a major flare of my chronic pain issues. I was mostly on bed rest and due to meds sleeping an awful lot so I haven’t had a chance to take any pics just yet, but there will be some soon…
While I was “down and out” I did start and finish the first of the Seaweed Socks for our friend John. I made some adjustments for gauge differences and for a men’s size. I also did not continue the rib across the instep because of the thickness of it in worsted weight. DH and I decided we thought it might be uncomfortable with shoes on. One thing I forgot when I chose the yarn was that intricate stitches do not show up well with Lamb’s Pride because of the 15% mohair. So, for my dad’s socks I think I’ll just do a basic rib of some variety as this seaweed rib is not very prominent.
I have a couple of questions though…
1). I believe I had read some more thrifty ways to hand wash wool and I was thinking it was to use Baby Shampoo to wash them. Am I correct? Please share your tricks to save some $$ when handwashing wool as I’m pretty sure John is not going to big on buying special soap to wash his socks so I’d like to give him some practical washing instructions.
2). Are there any sock knitting books out there that do not have a huge number of intarsia or faire isle designs in them, but rather are focused on knit/purl or cable patterns instead? I do have a few books with stitch patterns but often when I start on socks I’m on my way out the door and needing something to do while waiting or riding in the car and don’t really have the time to create the pattern from scratch so I’d love a no-fail sock book. But, I don’t want to mess with intarsia or faire isle. Any ideas?
In other sock news, the second Sockotta sock is on hold for a bit. Partially because I decided that while I love the socks and they make me smile, I don’t think they are a great fit for the intial intended recipient so there is no huge need to complete them. Then I made the heel flap a bit too long and had a few rows where I skipped a slip stitch on the side so I needl to pull back to the beginning of the heel flap and picking up the stitches has me procrastinating.
The poncho is mostly where it was at last week, except a little over 1/2 of the ends on the first rectangle are woven in. So, there is still much work to do on it, but I’m giving it a bit of a break because it takes a lot of concentration to do that openwork pattern with all those novelty yarns. So, not a good mix with drugs that make me drowsy.
I also started a *super easy* shawl last night based on one we saw at Indigo Thread last Tuesday. I’m 1/2 done on that and did that entire first half while DH and I vegged on the couch watching Pride and Prejudice with Collin Firth and Jennifer Euhle. I took breaks as using full length 13s is a bit hard on the wrists. I’d say I probably knit for about 3 of the 5 hours of the movie. Though that’s a rough estimate.
Tonight at Stitch ‘n Bitch and at knitting tea tomorrow I plan on working on the second seaweed sock…
