Sunday, October 15, 2017

Year of Projects 7: Week 16


After a lengthy hiatus I'm back to my Somewhere Socks. This week I finished the first sock and made a good start on the second. I'm motivated to finish these quickly as they'll make the perfect gift for a friend born at the beginning of November.

The yarns are scraps from my stash. The pattern sample is shown from a rainbow of colours  - which is consistent with the Somewhere Over the Rainbow theme of the pattern as part of the Socks from Oz collection - but I was curious to see how the pattern would knit up in a range of neutrals. Thinking ahead, I ordered my scrap colours so that the cuff, heels and toes would fall as Kroy black yarn, since it's nice and sturdy. Quite handsome I think, and Gavin agrees, so that's saying something.

The pattern is super easy; it uses slipped stitches to create the pattern rather than stranded colourwork. It goes quick too, but oh, all those ends! Two for every colour change, so 28 ends to weave in per sock. *sigh*

After "finishing" the first of my Tuxie Love socks, I asked a friend to try it on just to make sure I'd guesstimated the size right. DISASTER. She couldn't stretch the leg of the sock over her heel. NOOOOOO! The sock promptly landed in time out while I swallowed my disappointed and reasoned out how I planned to fix it. Now that a few days have passed I'm calmer and am thinking that I'll cut the cuff off the sock, and a row of still-to-be-determined increases, adjust the colourwork chart to knit over the increased number of stitches and then reknit the cuff from the bottom up. It was my own fault. I knit the leg on smaller than specified needles because my yarn was a very light fingering. I was asking for trouble.

On Thursday afternoon I dropped in on a local knitting group "Warm Up Haldimand" who meet on the second Thursday of each month in Hagersville. The info I found online indicated that the group knits for local distribution, so I thought I'd better cast on something suitable like mittens. Seems to me that sock yarn might be just perfect for mitts - it's 75-80% wool so it's warm and a good insulator, it's 20-25% nylon so it's durable, and I've got lots of it! The green yarn is a handpainted yarn that I bought impulsively. It's been sitting in my stash for years for two reasons: it insisted on pooling no matter what pattern I tried, and the colourway was so much prettier in the skein than knitted. Much nicer as mittens, I think! As for the knitting group, the ladies were all very pleasant and some quite entertainingly funny, so it was nice to meet some local knitters. I'll definitely go again!

All in all it was a pretty quiet week, other than the dishwasher fail. Turns out our cabinet opening is non-standard and the dishwasher I ordered will not fit. That dishwasher has been returned and now we're trying to figure out whether we can source a dishwasher that will fit, whether we can make alterations to our kitchen to standardize the opening to fit a dishwasher without rebuilding all the cabinets, or, whether we were just not meant to have a dishwasher. Que sera, sera. After all, hand-washing dishes for the two of us is not that onerous.

We had a furnace inspection done and it was confirmed to us that the built-in electronic air cleaner was kaput. We had been alerted to that by the Home Inspector before we bought, so the news was not unexpected. The technician removed it and replaced it with a filter assembly. Otherwise the furnace was given a clean bill of health, so that's great. And the filter for the new assembly is a standard size, so we can buy replacements at local hardware stores so that's great too.

I hope everyone's week has also been mostly great! See you next weekend!

8 comments:

Breathing Life said...

I love the socks and mitts. Sorry about the other socks not fitting over the heel. I have had that same thing happen with fairisle socks. Twice. You would think I would learn. Your solution sounds very doable. Please keep us posted once the sock gets out of the time-out basket.

Wanderingcatstudio said...

The Somewhere sock colours are perfect!

Anonymous said...

Oh my golly! Those Somewhere socks are GORGEOUS!!!

Leftycrafter said...

Love the stash busting socks, but so many ends to weave in.......ouch. So sad to hear the unpleasant news about the tuxedo socks. I hope your idea of a fix works out for you. The mitten turned out great. That yarn was meant to be mittens.

With the issues with the dishwasher, it makes you wonder where they got the dishwasher that was in there.

Sam I Am...... said...

I love those socks (except for all the ends) but that pattern in a keeper for scrap yarns....I actually thought it was one yarn and I was going to ask what yarn as I thought the colorway was stunning! You have a great color sense. I faved those socks for sure and plan on using it for scrap sock yarn if I have enough....they turned out lovely. So sad about the other socks! That is truly very disappointing. My mother used to tell me that...when you get frustrated with something walk away and leave it alone for awhile until you are able to come back with a fresh attitude and usually a fresh solution to the problem...it works every time!
Love the mittens and I see no pooling so maybe there are patterns that work for things like 'pooling'? It would be nice to have a list of patterns that are good for solving certain issues. You gave me 2! Thank you and I hope you find a dishwasher....I could not be without mine but I cook a lot and practically every day plus with the animals...it's like a family of 5! LOL! So glad you found a knitting group. I had a craft group I used to go to and they were very talented but very gossipy and nasty about people outside their group and I had to quit as I wouldn't be a party to it...it was a real downer! I don't go to church but they all did....go figure! Have a great week! Where are the pictures of your new 'digs'?

Lucy Bowen said...

Love the somewhere socks. Sorry about the gift socks, but if anyone can fix them it's you! Your knitting group sounds good, I wish there was one around here, but I have yet to find one.

Ella said...

And more gorgeous socks, and gorgeous mittens as well! I had the same problem with my mosaic socks (the not getting them over the heel part), which was even worse because I have very small feet so I only need extra width from the ankles up. It was quite some counting and rearranging and lots of math involved (and I suck at math) but I think I've finally got it solved. Famous last words, I know. ;-)

Stefanie said...

I like how that sock looks. I'm sorry they're too tight. The mitts look like they've been plucked out from a Monet painting.