Restless Knitter

I finished the sleeve sock!

I have mixed feelings. I love the colors, the hearts were fun, and the yarn is soft and didn’t put a strain on my hands. There are a few things I don’t like. I used kitchener to close the toe and there’s a bump on the side I ended with. I’m not sure it would be irritating to the skin but since I haven’t tried it on with shoes, I don’t know if that would hold true. The sock is comfy on my foot when I walk around the house in it. But, I have myself convinced that if I’d done this toe up, I’d like it better. I also think I should have gone down a needle size. I used a US 2 and I think if I’d gone down to a US 1, they’d probably wear better. I don’t know if that would help the ribbing at the top. I tried these on several times while knitting them and each time, the ribbing stretched out a bit more. Overall, yes I’d probably wear them around the house and they’d be fine. But there’s this thing nagging me to rip it out and do a different sock on a smaller needle and toe up. The plan right now is to leave this one alone and do a toe up sock in a different yarn on a smaller needle. If it really is that much nicer, then I’ll rip this one and do it differently. For now, back to the blankie. Only 7 more squares to go!

This just in! Rumor has it that an offer is incoming on the house, though I don’t know exactly when. Hopefully it will be before the day is over. The Man is currently on a plane back to CA and I don’t think I’ll share that info until I see something in writing. No sense in getting his hopes up just to (possibly) have them crash and burn. Wish us luck. Cross your fingers, sacrifice spiders, or whatever it is you do.

Bragging rights: the dishwasher decided it no longer wanted to drain.  I noticed it yesterday, but we had 5 people looking at the house and we didn’t have time to look into it.  Hubby left and I was stuck with figuring out what was wrong.  I fixed it all by myself this morning.  Go me!

Are you sitting down? I suggest you do before going any further. What you are about to see may cause you to faint. Sitting? Okay.

My knitting mojo has come back with a vengeance.

What the heck is that thing doing on my needles? I don’t knit socks! Let’s pretend it’s a sleeve. Maybe it will have some hope of being completed if we pretend it’s something besides a sock. Not that it’s ever helped anything else I’ve not finished but come on, humor me for now. The pattern I’m using is Cairi’s Sweetheart, using the Seacoast merino/tencel blend (and it has a knot in it dammit) I bought in February. I started this on dpn’s, then switched to a KnitPicks circ and am much happier. I only started it last night, and I think this is the farthest I’ve ever gotten in such a short time span. I think it’s the dpn’s that drive me nuts. I much prefer the magic loop method. The KP needle is 32″ and I like them, but I’m thinking of springing for the new Addi lace needles in the 47″ length. Addi also makes theirs up to size 6 I believe, and the KP ones only go up to size 3. Unless I want to get their Options, and I’ve just seen too many people have problems with the connections on those.

Above the sock are some stitch markers that Beth gave me the last time we met to knit. I love stitch markers. They’re like yarn for me. I could collect them all day long. Thanks Beth!

The baby blanket is coming along. Or at least it was until that sock sleeve jumped on my needles. A picture of it would be boring at this point. You’ll just have to trust me when I say I don’t have too much farther to go. If I do a square a day, I could be done with the knitting part by next weekend.

I have a question for you sock knitters out there. I’m a little, uh, anal, sometimes. I picked a spot where one color ended and another one started as the starting point for where I cast on for the sock, thinking I can start the next sock in the same place and they’ll match. The colors are pooling, which doesn’t bother me in the slightest. It’s not like anyone is going to lift my pant leg and gasp in horror. Well, they might because they’ll be blinded by whiteness, but that’s not the point here. What I want to know is, if I’d started the cast on in a different spot in the yarn, like in the middle of a color, would it have made a difference? Would it still pool the same? I’m guessing it would, but does anyone know from experience? (Also, I don’t care if other peoples socks match or not. It’s just a challenge to see if I can get mine to match.)