Saturday, April 21, 2007

What a Tangled Web!



I thought I found a way to only re-do the cuff on my socks. I would put in a life-line right afer the cuff (no problem), then undo my knitting up to that point, then pick up stitches from my life-line and knit the cuff from the bottom up. Sounds like it would work, right? The snag: undoing the cuff is proving to be very time consuming and messy. See picture above. I think I knit a whole sock in less time than I've spent so far picking out the cuff. My consolation is that I will have knee socks that stay up when I'm done.

Saturday, April 07, 2007

All that work!

I was so excited to start knitting these knee socks I didn't take the time to check my gauge, or really measure my calf. Apparently, my legs aren't as fat as I thought. So while they look great if I'm not moving, they start inching down with every STEP (They're made from STEP sock yarn with jojoba and aloe vera). Remedy? Rip them out and start again with fewer stitches. The bright side is they will be quicker to knit and have a smaller number of decreases. I don't quite have the heart yet to start unravelling them, though.

Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Thanks, Wreatha!

I haven't had very much luck with internet swaps lately. As a matter of fact, I just sent the last package for an internet swap in which I received only one of three sends, and that one was from an angel assigned after my own pal flaked out. All this I have lamented during my Wednesday night knitting group meetings ('Hey' all you Chicks with Sticks!) several times. I decided not to participate in anymore online swaps because of these allegedly uncommon experiences (alas, all too common for me). So when my group decided to swap I was thrilled. After all, I know where to find any one of these people should they try to flake.

I put together a nice little package for my kit-ee expecting something similar from my kit-or. Imagine my surprise at the extra-special package I received from Wreatha. She, being sensitive to my lamentations, put together a wonderful gift. First, a pattern for legwarmers and a pattern for a scarf (she thought the yarn might work better for the scarf). Second, three skeins of Elizabeth Lavold yarn in a lovely shade of blue. Next, some matching ribbon (in case I chose the legwarmer's). Plus some beautiful blue bead stitch markers and ... homemade caramel! All that would have been great in itself, but the goodies continue. I love to read, so she included a mystery novel involving a knit store! In the book, I found a knit bookmark. And all of this bounty was in a vintage-inspired box with the Singer sewing machine logo on it. It reminds me of my Grandmother's treadle Singer every time I look at it. Thank You, Wreatha for a sweet swap!