Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Stockings with clocks again

Modeling long wool socks in the middle of August is quite an experience. I could barely pull them on, not because they are too tight but because they stick to my skin. Everything sticks to my skin in this weather, though.

As anticipated, the socks were done last night during the Battlestar Galactica marathon. It's funny how I fall asleep at virtually every movie UNLESS I knit. Most of the time I knit during movies not because I am bored or because my fingers fidget, but because I cannot stay awake otherwise. It could be the world's most interesting movie (cylons! spaceships! hot aircraft pilots!) and I will still be out within 5 minutes.

Digression over. Here are the socks:


As I've mentioned before, they're not quite knee length - I don't know whether Nancy designed them this way or it's just the way the decreases fit my strong calves or whatever, but I think I'm Ok with that and I love the way they fit.


Here is the prerequisite shot of my leg up on the heater (this is where I get the best light). You can see the "clocks" at the ankle. Together with the back seam, the clocks make it very easy to count rows and figure out how to make the socks match in length and shape. Why, you didn't think I actually used a row counter or kept track of rows in any other way, did you? When I knit, I like to knit, not write or keep track of stuff. For me, this is part of the appeal of Nancy's sock designs: you can learn them very easily and not have to fidget with a pattern, but at the same time they are not boring or completely trivial.



It's difficult to photograph the back of your legs, but here's my best try: an attempt to show the back "seam" and the shaping decreases.



Fun times. I've already started another pair of socks from the book, the fancy Chaussettes de Dentelle on size 000 needles. I still don't know whether I'm getting the right gauge, so I won't say too much about them. Naturally, I don't do gauge swatches for socks, it seems like a huge waste of time. I start the sock, knit for a bit then try it on. The sock is the gauge swatch.

Real life stuff: ironically, I am moving to Connecticut, again. I know I moved last year, so how does this work? Well, my partner was still living in Philadelphia at our old place this past year, and now he is making the move as well. Since some of my stuff was still down there anyway, and his stuff is my stuff... I'm not a big fan of moving, but it is a good excuse to clean up and give away things we don't need any more. We have a lovely new place in Connecticut, one that brings out nesting instincts I didn't know I had (no, I'm not pregnant).