I did manage to knit the Mirror Sock far enough for my mother-in-law to try it on. I think the large size has not been test knit and I’ve found a few errors but it’s turned out very nicely. Thank goodness I had her try it on because it was a good bit too long and I had to rip back 10 rows. I hope it’s okay now because I didn’t get to the toe until after they’d left for the airport but I”m fairly confident it will be okay.
Look! Some knitting I can post about. These are going to be the Mirror Socks for my MIL. I’m using On Your Toes in a heathery blue for easy care. It’s been 3 or 4 years since I knit her a pair of socks and at that time I wasn’t so obsessive about noting measurements so I’m hoping to get this far enough along for a try-on when she’s visiting next week. It’s super easy on the hands and quick to memorize so I think it’s going to be a breeze and a nice break from test knitting.
The first Lotus Leaf mitten is nearly done. I think it is working out very nicely in black and white.
Our fall sock swap is fast approaching and at the rate I am currently knitting it's long past time to get busy with this. As usual, if I show colors I'll give myself away so we'll make do with black and white, okay? This was the first incarnation of the sock I am designing for my pal. When I saw who I had some ideas immediately popped to mind and I ordered yarn. I'd forgotten to look at my charts first though and when I actually started knitting I realized I needed a different weight of yarn so more was ordered. On the next attempt I realized if I included all the elements I wanted my sock would turn into a knee sock so it was back to the drawing board again. I'm working now on the third incarnation of the sock which looks nothing like this photo. I'm almost ready for the heel and things finally seem to be clicking. My goal is to get through the gusset before we leave on Tuesday.
I had some secret knitting going on back in January and February. I was making some socks for a sock swap which started among the members of my local knitting group and has just begun to branch out to include a few new folks each round. I could not show any color or pattern for these socks because I knew they’d guess immediately who my pal is for this round. The green means they are not for Kathy, purple means they’d be for Michelle or Debbi but the dragonflies is a dead giveaway for Debbi.
When I got her I knew that I wanted to do a dragonfly themed package with dragonfly themed socks. I began scouring my books and the internet for dragonfly motifs but really nothing came of it so I sketched out a dragonfly chart of my own. The blue at the top of the socks could be the sky, then the dragonflies are zooming above the green grass with watery zigzags below. I considered embroidering lotus flowers at the top of the cuff with yellow beads for stamen but I wasn’t sure she’d like that so I left them off.
Debbi has narrow heels and really loves the short row heel for her foot. I really can’t stand to knit the short row heel- I always get holes and I”ve tried LOTS of different methods to avoid such with varying lack of success. I poked about and folks seem to like a Dutch heel for narrow feet so I gave that a go and it snugged my heel quite nicely.
We had our little swap last night so these can at last be revealed. I hope you like them Debbi, they were so much fun to knit!
I won't tell you how many folks have finished a complete pair of these socks in the time it's taken me to knit just one but it's a lot. I finally have a mate for my Tropical Mer-tini test knit (which is the round one Sock Madness pattern). I knit these on size 1 needles (circs for the first sock, DPNs for the second) using Koigu KPPPM in colorway P603. These were a fun adaptation of the Drunkard's Path quilt pattern and had several things that were new to me. I don't think I'd ever done the Twisted German Cast On or an afterthought heel and the gusset was pretty radical. They fit very nicely though I do like longer cuffs. It's just as well Im not competing, they'd been waiting another week for me to finish a pair.
For dinner last night I made some interesting "enchiladas". I browned 1 pound of our CSA ground beef with 1/2 cup chopped onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 T cumin, 1 T chili powder and salt, to taste. In another pan I simmered 1 pound tomatillos, 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1 minced jalapenos and salt, to taste. Meanwhile the oven preheated to 400F. When the meat was cooked through and the veg was soft I used the meat to stuff corn tortillas, placed them in a pan, topped with 1 cup pepperjack and 1/2 cup cheddar cheese and then poured the veg over that. Bake off at 400F for 30 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown. Avocado and lettuce completed the meal.
Yesterday afternoon I finished up the fingerless gloves for Ms. G. I wrote up the pattern this morning since it seems Daniel will want these again and again. I forgot to measure gauge before he took them away but perhaps I can measure the black pair when he gets home and add that info to the pattern. It's available free on Ravelry here. I hope Ms. G likes them!
![Barefoot in the Park: A Comedy [UNABRIDGED]](
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"Barefoot in the Park: A Comedy [UNABRIDGED]")
