Thursday, 5 June 2014

Yarn spaghetti x 2 and an American Wife

What a week it's been. I managed some work on my sock design - knitting the foot from the chart I felt happy with. Then I changed it. And changed it again. In fact despite knitting at least four different feet with slightly different 'tweaks' I am back to the drawing board - the idea is there, but not quite translated into stitches yet, and that won't do. Part of me is frustrated, but there is another part - the sensible bit - which appreciates that with each incarnation, I am closer to what I want.... but I'm not certain quite how to get there within the mathematical constraints of a sock which I would like to be sized up and down. It will come. It's a good job I'm using inexpensive (Drops Fabel) yarn for my mock socks! 
Ripping socks and unfortunate snags
Feeling a little deflated,  I went back to the other project I've been working on using the lovely cotton/linen Bigarelle from Bergere de France, and threw it in my bag to take along on an appointment ...without even stopping to put it in a project bag. This isn't the first time I've done such a thing, but it's the first time the fabric has become mangled with things in my bag to such a point that the long snags were beyond repair. It now looks like this... again (I had already ripped it out to fix a little error which had caused earlier procraftination).
Ripping socks and unfortunate snags
For the last few nights it's hardly surprising that I haven't been in the right frame of mind to pick either project up and so I started reading a novel recommended by several members of my book club -  American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. 

Much has been made about the fact that this is a novel about a woman whose life bears an uncanny resemblance to that of Laura Bush (eg here, here and here). As a Brit I know little about "Dubya" and his wife, and am not sure that I really care about that side of it too much - it's just a darn good story. I'm currently at the point where 'Alice' meets 'Charlie' (George), and based on the reviews am expecting it to get a little more racy, but it's incredibly good and the main character so convincingly written that I am completely drawn in by her, and only wish I could sit and read all day. Obviously that's not a possibility for numerous reasons, including the Fit-along which is going great (I've managed 6,800 steps and 27 active/cardio mins already today - I'm hoping to double it before the end of the day). 

Following on from some discussions with numerous people and a general consensus on the facebook page, I've started working on a new short series of posts entitled 'demystifying toe-up socks' - it's going to include work-along instructions for making socks using the magic loop method (which can also be used for two-at-a-time) and lots of links to useful resources. If you haven't tried toe-up socks before and would like to, be sure to put aside some sock yarn and suitable circulars, and then stay tuned. 

5 comments:

  1. Urgh at all that frogging, must be very frustrating!

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  2. Oh no - that is very frustrating. Maybe a break is the best thing, then go back with fresh eyes.

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  3. How annoying, I know it is a process but hard to go through. What a shame about the other yarn too.

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  4. Hi, I'm not a very adventurous knitter. Mainly baby knitting. But I've tried to do some socks on 4 needles. Going to be brave and try on a circular needle!! Just seen your Mum on BBC 2 rerun of sewing bee.
    Sandra K

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  5. Oh wow, you have my sympathy on the yarn spaghetti, I had to post a remarkably similar picture last week (thought the yarn was far less tasteful in colour). As for that book, it's brilliant. I read it a while ago and loved it. I've just downloaded another by her onto my kindle so I'm hoping it matches up.

    ReplyDelete

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