Show off
Here's the full progression from blocked and shiny, back to one blocked one not for contrast, then back to fresh off the needles. Now...do I normally block socks like this every time I pull them out of the washing machine? No I very much do not. I do this (with the sock blockers and the carefully making sure the leg and foot are lined up straight and the gentle tugging to keep the top of the cuff straight) happens the first time and for photos or for gifting. After a regular wash, I just smooth them out flat (or flatish, [...]
Arbitrary
See, this is where the difficulty arises. The buddy on the needles had been intended to be the final friend. But he's not quite the right color for the beads (and I would have wanted to start adding beads a little earlier in the knitting process anyway). So now he can't be the last one, because clearly I need one with beads. But this dude was to have been the seventh urchin. And seven is a lovely number. Eight...less so. For whatever reason, eight of something will be harder to arrange in photos than seven (and will not be as chill [...]
Good news/bad news
So the good news is I found some beads. And the bad news is I found some beads. (At Fiddlehead, for anyone local!) So clearly I need to make at least one more little urchin buddy with beads on. To do otherwise would be just foolish. But it does mean I need to get a little more knitting time in before I can take these to the seashore for their photos. The real question here is...gray urchin with purple beads? purple urchin with purple beads? pink urchin with purple bead? which way are we taking this...
Missing
I am missing socks! Ask me your sock questions so I can think about socks without knitting socks! Socks were my first knitting love and the only thing I designed for a long time (I've written more than 100 sock patterns). And I miss them! But knitting at a good sock gauge hurts my shoulder these days, so I enlist the services of amazing sample knitters when I need them. But oh, oh I wanna think about them for a while. So send me your sock questions and I'll answer the most frequent/most interesting ones in this month's Q&A post. [...]
Nom nom
I long, in my very deepest soul, to hold this up in front of you and go 'nom nom nom' while waggling it around and showing you how very delightfully satisfying a shape it is. The limitations of still photography make this...challenging. But this might help, should you be so inclined.
Clasped
Clasped is out, and I should probably warn you away. I should probably tell you not to make one of these. In fact, yes, let me just go ahead and officially warn you against making them right at the start. Because once you make one, you're almost certainly going to want to make another. And once you show someone else what you've made, you're almost certainly going find yourself getting all sorts of longing looks or hints or outright requests to make more. Now to be fair, these are easy requests to say yes to (the knitting is simple and [...]
Crossover
I mean...it seemed like a sensible plan at the time. Because we all know blocking things is about sensible plans. Not at all some sort of Martha Stewart / MacGyver crossover act that would really benefit from a dramatic soundtrack and some creative special effects work. Now fess up, what's the weirdest thing you've ever pressed into service for blocking (or knitting in general if that's easier...but I wanna hear about stunt blocking)?
Good Adventure
Tuesday evening I gathered up both my courage and my knitting, left my house, and went to see Anna Zilboorg speak at the Camden Public Library. I almost talked myself out of it, for I am exceptionally good at talking myself out of things at the last minute, especially things that involve leaving the house. But I'd told people I was going and asked them to join me. And I'd sworn to myself that I was going to Get Better About Doing Things. So I put on my big girl pants (aka bright orange sweater) and Did The Thing. And [...]
And done!
There we go, much tidier and with buttons I like much better (they're nicely iridescent in person and pick up a bit of the pink of the sweater, much prettier in real life than in the photos)! The stitches will settle down and disappear even more the next time it's washed. And I'll wear the sweater much more often when I can wear it without constantly feeling like I have to tug and wiggle the front closed. This is something I often do to my cardigans (you can see I did it last year here) and I love it. It [...]
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