just another day

Today has lasted forever. Wednesday has been our long day at school all semester, but with it getting dark so late it seems that much longer. I got a fair amount of studying done during my break at school. And after school I ran errands on my way to knit night. We're doing Operation Christmas Child at school and I knit a hat for our kid (pictures tomorrow after the ends are woven in?), but I also volunteered to get toiletries for the box so I headed to Dollar Tree.

Eventually, I made it to Whole Foods for knit night. Meg showed me her awesome shirt. She found this shirt as an XXL at Goodwill but couldn't pass it up because of the colours. So what did she do? Sewed zippers in the back of it! Love it! It's surprising that Whole Foods doesn't explode with all the genius-ness of knit night people in the same spot. I finally wove in the ends on my socks so we could ring the cowbell and show them off. I stood on a chair with my foot on the table (Captain Morgan-esque). We took a picture, but it was blurry. Instead you'll have to live with these pics. I'm gonna make Timm take better ones next week when I'm up there.


Pattern: Arch-Shaped Stockings by Meg Swansen


I got it from the Vogue Knitting: Ultimate Sock Book.

Yarn: Caron Fashion Right Sport Weight (Brown and Peacock Blue)
I got it from my parents' neighbor lady, Wanda, who had been interested in knitting once and bought yarn, lots of yarn. She then decided she didn't want to knit and stuck it all in trash bags in her storage shed. She gave me a bunch of yarn a few years ago. Then she passed away and now her husband keeps finding more and taking it to my parents.

Needles: Size 3 DPNs

I really enjoyed the first sock. It knit up really fast for socks because it was sport weight yarn and size 3 needles. The shaping makes it interesting, but the colour pattern is simple enough to memorize and be able to see where you're going. I was, however, frustrated by the vagueness of the pattern. I realize that I make up my own patterns semi-frequently and modify patterns even more frequently, but sometimes I just want to be told what to do. Especially with colourwork, because I'm a little less confident than I am with other techniques. There weren't a lot of details on what you should do with the colourwork when you got to different areas of the sock (such as the heel) and the toe shaping instructions were awful. I found myself looking at other people's project pages and pictures on Ravelry often to have an idea what it should look like. The first toe I got was ugly and square (see pics from earlier posts). I didn't like it and I didn't think it would fit in shoes well. I decided to do my typical toe decreases and see how it looked. I decreased every other row for half the toe and then every row for the second half. It turned out nicely, there was a little weirdness because of previous shaping, but I think I'm the only one that will notice it and it made a nice rounded toe. I ripped back to make the first one match and feel much better about them now. They really do have an arch-shape that makes them fit snugly. The only other issue I have is with the side of the heel flaps where I picked up stitches is very loose and a little holey. I picked them up the same way I always do, so I think it might just be the looser gauge?

I have a very exciting project up next in my queue, but I'm not buying yarn until I'm done with my test on Tuesday. You should be excited though, I am!