It’s Furious Balancing

I gave these FO’s to my pregnant co-worker  on Friday (which was her last day at the office).  She was pleased with them.  Since her mother knits, she knows how much time/effort goes into a knitted gift.

The problem with Stealth Knitting is that you really can’t do a blog post until the gift is given.  My notes on Ravelry say that I finished the second pair a month ago!

Pattern: Infant Socks by Judy Ellis

Yarn: Shibui Knits Sock in the Lily colorway, 100% merino wool, approx. 70 yards

Needles: US size 0 (2.0 mm)

Size: Bebeh sized.  I really can’t tell if these are too big for a newborn or not, but considering how quickly babies grow, I know they will fit soon.

Mods: I cast on 36 stitches instead of the 40 the pattern called for, and did 2×2 ribbing instead of 1×1.

I made three socks for each of these projects; I just don’t have a photo of all three of the orange ones.

Yarn:  ONline Supersocke 100, 75% wool, 25% nylon, approximately 115 yards.

No mods, same sized needles.

These were an incredibly fast knit and might very well become my go-to baby project.  Knitted socks are (in my mind) more impressive than a plain hat or blanket, since it takes a certain level of skill to knit them.  They are also incredibly cute.  When I was showing them to some of the other people in my office, even some of the men were on the verge of squealing from the Cuteness of It All.

I’ve got another batch of Stealth Knitting underway, but this is Christmas Stealth Knitting.  You’re going to have a bit of a wait.

I’ve finished The Blue Wollmeise Socks.  The depth and intensity of the Blue Curaçao colorway is nothing short of amazing to me.

Information junkie that I am, I did look up blue curaçao in Wikipedia and discovered that the liqueur — made from bitter oranges — is actually colorless.  Further link-clicking divulged that Curaçao is an island off the coast of Venezuela, whose name may have derived from  the Portuguese word for the state of becoming cured (curação).  Oranges.  Sailors.  Scurvy.  You get the picture.

Pattern:  Hermione’s Everyday Socks; the link is to the designer’s blog, for those of you not on Ravelry.   I think this is a great pattern for just about any sock yarn:  semi-solids, wild handpaints, not-wild handpaints, self-striping.  The texture is subtle and the pattern is easy to memorize.

Yarn:   Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash in the aforementioned Blue Curaçao colorway.  Wollmeise is, indeed, Everything and All That.  These socks have amazing drape, which makes them feel and look “dressier” than any of the other socks I’ve made.  One significant problem with the Wollmeise, though, is that it is a Cat Hair Magnet.  I was constantly using the lint roller on these socks while they were WIP’s.  I couldn’t set them down without them sucking up all the cat hair in a ten-foot radius.

Needles:  Kollage Square DPN’s, US size 1 and 0.  I started with the 1′s, then switched to the 0′s when about 75-80% of the leg was done.

Size:  Women’s Small.  My shoe size is 6½, so I can get away with making a pair of socks AND a scarf out of one skein of Wollmeise.  I am shamelessly smug about this.

Mods:  Cast on 60 stitches instead of 64.  I didn’t do the garter-stitch edging for the heel flap which, in retrospect, was not the best choice.  There is one spot on one of the heels where my half-assed picking up of stitches sticks out like a sore thumb.  My half-assed-ness would be better hidden by the garter stitch.  I console myself with the idea that (a) I could have still had the half-assed-ness even with the garter stitch border and (b) no one will see it while I’m wearing the socks.

I started the next pair of socks almost immediately, using this yarn:

Those colors will help me cope with the awful sunlight and heat.  Three more months…  Gack.  Time to turn up the air conditioning.