Sockapaloooza: In All Their Glory!

Knitting finished, ends woven in! Just in time!! :) ...I really do hope the fit her comfortably!!!!! (fingers crossed)

With a sock band and a postcard, these should be ready to ship in tomorrow's post! YAY!!

Spectrum: Sidebar Images

Bethieee recently pointed out to me that people who watch my blog posts by RSS feeds are missing out on my Spectrum sidebar pictures (and coordinating wallpaper and stories...)


Here's one of my favorites from April: Yellow/Orange! (Not all the stories get quite so interesting)

And a sample of the coordinating wallpaper.

Sockapaloooza: Hands Much Better Today!

As expected, my burned hand healed up pretty well overnight. It still complains if I, say, reach for the toast (into the heat of the toaster oven)-- and that's perfectly understandable! .. but it's no longer red, and no longer vying with my knee for status of Most Painful Body Part. Situation Normal again.

Which means, Yes!! I got some knitting done today!! (No pictures, sadly... I was knitting instead. ;)

All I have left to do is the Toe!! (and then the postcard note thing and the sock band thing and the post office thing...) Then the knitting is DONE!! DonedonedonedoneDONE!!

happydance!

Staving off catastrophe, I should be done with the sock by lunchtime!! :) YAY!! (I'd cross my fingers, but I can't tension the yarn properly that way...)

Oh, and Laurie-- I won't ask you about the bagel if you don't ask me about the carrot, the sewing machine, or the bird cage. ;)

Hugs all!!

Sockapaloooza: Could I Really Be This Dumb??

Two rows finished today. No need for a photograph, really.. just imagine yesterday's picture with two extra rows. Very disheartening!

Why, you ask? ... and from the title perhaps you surmise all sorts of ripping and reknitting gymnastics resulting in a net gain of only two rows.

But no! Nothing like that, actually. I really honestly did only get two rows knitted tonight.

They were the two rows completed BEFORE the pasta finished cooking.

Note to self: Do not plunge entire hand into boiling hot water.

The three hours that have elapsed since this (should have been obvious) lesson have involved an ice pack.

So I am guessing you'd like a bit more background on exactly *how* a reasonably intelligent person like myself with a higher education might have missed that particular lesson. .. And it's not really so much that I missed the lesson as that I failed to apply it in real-time circumstances. My hand was faster than my brain.

Y'see, the pasta had just finished cooking.
I had the colander in the sink, waiting for the hot pasta.
(The sink was freshly cleaned, in preparation for the pouring of the hot pasta and boiling water through the colander)
I emptied the contents of the pot into the colander, picked the colander up out of the sink...
and noticed that the pasta water was not draining.
Decided I needed to run the disposal...
but thought I'd check for obstructions (like dishcloths and silverware) before turning it on.
Hence the hand in the boiling water: hand faster than brain. Ouch!

I got an ice pack on it immediately and have kept it iced for the past three hours, so it is only red (not blistered or worse) and it will be fine without medical attention (really this time! not like the knee...) but it still hurts a bit when I take the ice pack off of it (like to type), so knitting has not been my friend.

Ah well. .. there's still PLENTY of time, right?? (sulk)

Sockapaloooza: Race Against Time

I have time for only one post today, so I guess it's the daily update for the SockapalOOOza socks. On May 1 (if not before) I promise to get back to a wider variety of post topics!

I woke up this morning to the (could have seen this coming) discovery that I'd knitted 15 rows further than where the heel flap should have started. So I threaded a lifeline . (I'm really growing to like this little technique!) I threaded the lifeline through the row beneath the error, and ripped back with almost no worry of dropped and running stitches! (I'm always careful as I approach the target row because it's possible that I missed a stitch while threading the lifeline.)

I was able to pick up the stitches without losing any, and started the heel flap (remembering just barely in time to switch to the black yarn!)

.... This is the start of the slow dawning realization that my shorthand notes would serve very poorly as a pattern. I will need to dress them up a bit before they will be ready to share. ... At the moment, they might not really even qualify as good enough to jog my own memory! We'll find out when I get the second sock finished. (wait, did I slip that last stitch in the final row or not? where did I start the color join? How many rows?...)

A major aspect of the construction of a second sock is (for me) a matter of carefully examining the first one. I guess it helps keep things interesting... in a very Grecian comedy sort of way... (Oh look! I've kissed my mum! Oh look! I've put my eyes out! .. Oh look, the gusset is supposed to be ribbed! Isn't it hilarious?)

Despite the laughter and the tears, I've made progress. There's hope for the finish line yet!



(still showing the inside of the sock in a (patently hopeless) attempt to be clever and surreptitious!)

Oh! and Bethieee just pointed my attention toward the fabulous Sock Bands some very clever knitters have designed for the exchange! .. one more thing I want to do before the mailing date!

Indie, Thank You!!

A wonderful box arrived today!! I will share the contents in a later post. (after I've slept, after I've taken pictures... probably before I get around to post about my NorWesCon Sci-Fi / Fantasy Convention weekend (which I haven't forgotten about, btw.) .. and DEFINITELY before my knee surgery. (which I don't yet have a date for. Will make notes as more information becomes available. In the meantime--not refusing gifts of yarn. Soft cuddly cheerful "recovery's going to take awhile so I'll have lots of time for knitting" yarn. ;)

Thank you, Indie, I *love* it!!! absolutely love it. Everything in the box, really.. but the sock yarn!! oh how I love the sock yarn!!!

more on the contents of the box soon. :)

Sockapaloooza: No Picture Tonight

It's late. I'm exhausted. I could go dig out the camera, the sock, some half-decent lighting, take a picture, upload it from my camera to the computer, resize and crop the picture, upload it to my server, and post about it.

But it's late and I'm exhausted, so I'll let the picture wait until tomorrow.

I finished the colorwork rows today and was able to bring the sock with me to the comedy routine we saw tonight (a friend's cousin performing. Quite amusing. Very enjoyable evening!... He only dissed me a little bit for knitting throughout his routine. Helps that I maintained eye contact and laughed at his jokes and once even almost spewed water out my nose. Managed not to, though. Good thing. Wet snotty knitting would be truly humiliating! ;)

Knit the stockinette rows of the riser during the comedy routine. Nicely timed-- ended up the routine just about the same time as I'd have to put the sock away anyhow because the heel gets worked in the second color and I'd want to pay just a little more attention to the sock at that point than would be appropriate for knitting in the front row seating of someone's comedy performance. Not even a stranger, but someone who's a relative of someone I'd like to keep as a friend. ;)

So tomorrow morning I count the rows and find out whether I need to add a couple of rows or rip a couple of rows.. or rip a whole lot of rows because the tension changed dramatically while nearly snorting water out my nose.

As I read back over this post before hitting "publish" I realize that I'm even more exhausted than I would have guessed, and that this entry is potentially beyond the helpful aid of a simple editing job, and might need an entire rewrite to give it cohesion and make it make sense. If correcting grammar makes you happy... pull out your red pens and strike away.

I'm going to sleep. ;)

Sockapaloooza: A Little Progress Every Day...

If I'd realized at the very beginning just how long the colorwork takes compared to a standard sock, I might not have dreamed up my original flight of fantasy!! A couple of hours work today, only 3/4 inch growth. Argh!!

I *love* colorwork--designing it, charting it, working it, seeing it completed.. I just don't think I'm going to be doing any more on a deadline any time soon!

The colorwork band turns out to be a really worthy compromise. It's interesting enough to keep me focused and to give the finished socks some panache.. but as soon as the colorwork band is done, I can shift to high-gear and turn out the rest of the sock on a timeframe that seems more realistic for an exchange!

For this sock, I'm working on holding the stranded tension a little looser since its partner really fights going over the wide point of my heel. Even though my sock pal has slightly smaller feet, I'm not sure what her ankle flexibility is, so I am really hoping this won't be a problem for her.

Come to think of it, this is going to be a pair of socks you don't wear for any sports that might bring an ankle-turn because if the ankle swells you'll need to cut the socks right off. :( ... better the socks than the ankle, though. If you do turn your ankle while wearing the socks, PLEASE do feel completely guilt-free with the scissors! ... heck, my husband even had to cut off his engagement ring once when he injured his finger! (I like the concept of reasonable equality... and so we both gave each other engagement rings. :) ... we even got the jeweler who made the ring to mend it after the damage. You can still tell it's been damaged and mended.. and fixing it cost as much as simply replacing it would have.. and now that we've got newer rings it sits tucked away with my old 80's bangles and 90's single earrings...

whoops.. got carried away there. :) Cutting handmade socks to free an injured appendage is painful (well, in more than one way, given the injury..) but fully forgiven! (try to avoid injury in the first place, though.. Take the advice from my knee. It won't be quiet these days!)

(...and I love the mended engagement ring even more now with its healed scars. :)

Sockapaloooza: Plan C (and progress on Plan B)

My roommate Bethieee (bless her heart, I don't know whether this is proof that she loves me or mocks me! ...maybe both) came up with a Plan C for me, just in case I don't make the deadline with my Plan B socks.



So I do (..ahem..) "officially" have a pair of handknit socks that *could* go out to my sockpal. Unfortunately, they'd only fit a teddy bear.

If When I get the REAL socks done, maybe we'll keep this little pair for mementos on next year's holiday tree...

Which brings me to the topic of the progress on the Plan B socks:



It turns out I had to rip out the... Scared ya? .. fortunately not!

This is the cuff for the Second sock! yay!!! Nice, eh? :) Maybe just maybe I'll be able to finish this sock exchange in good standing despite the setbacks!! :)

And I did hear back from my recipient! She doesn't have 5 inch long feet after all!! on a re-measure, they came out to 9.5 inches long, which is good because that's about how long I made her sock, and she'd probably be frustrated if she had to fold 4.5 inches of sock toe under her feet every time she got dressed.

Wanna see the finished sock? eh? (nudge nudge) It's a beaut!...



A sneak peak at the *inside* :) ... I'll show the outsides later. ;)

Hugs all!

Spectrum: Yellow-Orange Sock Yarn- Out

I promised a picture of the yarn I sent out for my Yellow-Orange Spectrum Sock-Yarn swap! .. Here are pictures in skein and ball format. In person it reminds me of daffodils... in the pictures it looks much more like wheat. GabbyKnitter got my yarn over Easter weekend and has started knitting a lovely pair of socks with it! It's really neat to see the way it's turning out!



The yarn she sent to me, on the other hand, has begun reminding me less of daffodils and more of marigolds. Does anyone know a way to get that Inchworm song out of your head?



Speaking of seeing the way the yarns are turning out, I also dyed up two skeins of yarn for the two cactus-buckets story prizes. When Heidi got her yarn, she immediately started knitting with it, and turned out a fantastic hat in a weekend or less!! (Check the link-- it's amazing!) I had been worried that the colorway wasn't going to be the right one for her, but she swears she loves it (and I believe her... would YOU push aside other projects to work with a yarn color you hated?) .. and I have to admit that seeing the hat she made and how the colorway knits up makes me want to fall in love with it myself! :)



The second skein went to Laurie who, I have recently discovered, has a special fondness for Irises! This colorway is going to be perfect. :)

Sockapaloooza: Plan B -- day's progress

A picture of the Plan B sock (just beginning) on the right next to its inspiration semi-sock on stitch holders (needed the needle.) The new colorway is a bit pinker, but it really is quite fun.

Late yesterday evening Bethieee brought me the new yarn and straightway I cast on. I worked a short cuff (in the black) before realizing that I liked Bethieee's suggestion better and ripped it all back out to start a red cuff with a black-ground, red-motif colorwork band beneath.
This was a reversal of the color pattern on the original sock, but Bethieee had urged me to try it because the new black yarn is noticably thinner than the red and she was worried that the design motifs if worked in black would get lost.
But the black held its own-- in fact was still stronger than the reds for the motif. So I decided I would rip it back in the morning and went to sleep.



This morning I ripped back the colorwork band so I could work the motifs in the black, then started knitting the stockinette riser. As you can see, I made good progress! --which is what I will need to be able to maintain if I hope to finish both socks by the mailing date. Honestly though, it's time to sleep now, and my wrists are a little tired after so much constant knitting today. Must take care of the wrists! even while I work hard to make the deadline.

Sockapaloooza: Setbacks

So here we are with 8 days left before the boxes go into the mail... and I've realized I've made some MAJOR errors.

Biggest Error of all: didn't remember to make sure I was sizing the socks to the recipient's feet. I was knitting blithely along, knitting socks that more-or-less fit my own feet. .. More or less fit my roommate's feet. (her feet are a half size or so bigger than mine.) ... Totally forgetting that my recipient's feet are half a size or so SMALLER than mine! argh!!!

To fix the error and salvage this pair of socks, I'd need to rip all the way back to the gusset (at least) to decrease further. And still the heel might slip. .. It'd require some recalculations and a lot of knitting time. .. stranded, charted knitting time. Not easily transportable. Easily messed up if I lose track of the counting (which seems to occur much more frequently on pain-killers than it did before I started taking them.)



As for Backup Plan A: Trekking socks... well, I just don't think they're the right socks for this recipient! She loves bright colors and pattern and the Trekking socks have neither.

For two days I've been sobbing, desperate to send the GOOD socks, but knowing I'll never make it in time.



Enter Backup Plan B! : Entirely new socks- Koigu PPPM in reds and Gems Pearl in black. (My source for the Lorna's Lace colors is out of stock and I don't have time for a reorder. )

This time the colorwork will be only a band at the top. Gracious and lovely and much much quicker/less complicated. The rest will be the varigated red in stockinette or some such simple stitch, with black heels and toes. :) Yay!! I'm quite confident (read: "hopeful") that I will be able to get the easier socks done by the deadline (or very shortly thereafter, with much shame involved), they'll still be bright and colorful and pattern-y, and I won't feel like I've completely been humiliated by my own backup plan. These will be socks I will be happy to send to my recipient, and I hope she will forgive me for not getting the truly Fantastic socks finished for her!

Knee Injury: Update- MRI: Results

There are so many things I want to write about this week.. but it's important to put them in order of priority.

For those who have been waiting anxiously for these results, please forgive me the delay. In estimating when I would be able to post, I had forgotten to budget the time I would need to call family and friends directly and to talk to some of them (the ones that answered the phone).

There is good news and not-so-good news and good news and not-so-good news aplenty to go around.

1- I am *NOT* a wimp!!! :) I am so totally not a wimp.
2- I might well be a whiner, but it's pretty justified.
3- Pain and I have a very odd relationship.
For example- I know I'm in pain when I start feeling irritable at people for things I usually find endearing- like the way my husband kisses my forehead and tells me he loves me. :)
4- I have learned my lesson and next time I will be a much more open to immediate help and advisement and the seeking of professional opinions.
5- It is possible to have fun at a sci-fi convention even if you can't dance.
-...or even walk.
6- Heat and Ice and Rest and Elevation will not mend a blown-out ligament.

Evidentally, I have completely destroyed my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). I haven't figured out how to get the MRI pictures onto my computer yet, so images will need to wait. It's kinda hard to tell how to read them anyway. When I get them onto my computer, though, I'll share.

Completely destroyed. "Fully ruptured" is how he described it. "Couldn't have done worse to that ligament, really" is another turn of phrase I believe came up.

I have two choices: Reconstructive surgery or adapt to a sedentary life.

Surgery it is, then.

Fortunately, it's a pretty reliable, high-success-rate procedure. I can probably ask to be completely under while they work.

I should be able to start putting weight on it the day after surgery, and fully healed about 4 months after that. "put you back on the slopes for next ski season," he said.

It's not an emergency-state injury, though, so it may take a while before I'm scheduled. In the meantime, it's adapting to the current state of limited mobility and the constant pain, discomfort, and instability.

My basic, immediate feelings: Relief, Pride, Courage, Curiosity, Adventure.

I'm not a total whiner. I'm not a wimp! :) ... My sensei was apparently right years ago when he said: "She has courage, but no common sense. Be careful with her."

Again: THANK YOU!! A big HUGE thank you to everyone who asked questions about the healing rate, encouraged me to get a new diagnosis, and has supported me throughout this adventure. I simply can't thank you enough.

Hugs!

Week In Review

...or perhaps it's week in pre-view... or maybe it's month in re-view... or maybe it's just a summation of everything I thought I'd get around to writing about by now but still for some reason haven't managed to.

okay-here's the outline. (Some line items will be only a prompt to help me remember I want to write about them some day!)

• 1- I will most likely have minimal computer time through this weekend. I may not get around to updating blogs or checking other blogs or even e-mail. Depends on a lot of things.
  

• 2- .. but I do expect to be back next Monday evening. With MRI interpretation, even!! (My MRI results discussion appointment is scheduled for next Monday afternoon. If this weekend hadn't been a hectic one I could have scheduled a sooner appointment. As it is, I've waited this long.. I think I can wait until Monday! :)
  

• 3- A lot of packages left our house yesterday. Amongst them:
  

• Heidi's CactusBuckets prize
• Laurie's CactusBuckets prize
• Kelly's Spectrum Sock Yarn
• Zann's little giftieee
• Mia's thank you note
• Jewel's SP7 thank-you box!
• Trek's Flamingos contest prize (bethieee)
• Vanessa's Flamingos contest prize (bethieee)
• Karen's Spectrum Sock Yarn (bethieee) (got left behind yesterday-actually went out today)
  

They should be reaching you within a week.

We've had a bit of trouble keeping track of things since the knee injury (pain seems to diminish focus and concentration. hmmm... as does a disrupted schedule--which seems to have affected the entire household!)

So if Bethieee or I have made a committment to you that we've missed, PLEASE let us know! comment here or email (peacockschallenge at hotmail.com will do nicely) and we will set it aright. :)

• 4- SockapalOOOza:
  
  The pattern is progressing nicely now, but I'm starting to get bored. Can you believe it?? .. the pattern has gotten familiar enough to me that it no longer takes all my concentration to follow the chart, but because it is colorwork I will never be able to knit along brainlessly or work it accurately in the dark. :P .. that's why my backup pair of socks is:
  
  (backup socks 1: Trekking)
  
  already at the heelflap. Progressing quickly, and brainless enough to keep me from getting bored. :) This is my waiting-room project, my stuck in traffic while a train passes project, my going-to-the-movies- knitting-in-the-dark project. All the times I wouldn't be able to work on the colorwork project anyway.
  
  (backup socks 2: Spectrum)
  still a just a ball of yarn.. but destined for the needles this weekend! It's so luscious and such a fab color that I just simply cannot wait. Good thing I have another set of sock needles!!!
  

• 5- Tea Cozy and teapot (more later)
• 6- Forearm crutches (more later)
  
• 7- Pop-Up Paws (more later)
  
• 8- Fingerless Driving Mitts
  
  
  For my Mom for Mother's Day. Shhhhh! Don't tell her. ;)
  And yes, I developed the pattern. :)
  

• 9- Pysanky : I'll write more on the topic next week some time.
  
  
  Keithr designs an egg
  
  
  Finished pysanky almost ready to give away for Easter :)
  
  
  (A close-up--in Yellow-Orange colors for Project Spectrum: April)
  

Spectrum: Yellow-Orange Postcards

Yay!! These four orange postcards have all been sent to new homes! :)
Aren't they awesome? Wouldn't you like one of your very own?

Here's the plan:

I will be making postcards weekly, and sending each one out to a lucky recipient. That means a minimum of 4 postcards per month. I do not have the slightest clue what any of these postcards will look like, or what techniques I will use in creating them! I will be as surprised as you will. ;) .. I'll post an image of each postcard on the blog a week or so after it goes into the mail.

It's that easy. Each week I will put the new addresses into a vase and pull out as many names as I have postcards to send.

These addresses will be used for nothing else and will be destroyed at the end of Project Spectrum (Officially ends August 31. I'll be doing an extra month of "rainbow" in September.)

If you would like to be a potential postcard recipient, send a request to: "peacockschallenge at hotmail.com" with the subject "spectrum postcard."

Sockapaloooza: New Heel

I ripped out last week's heel and knit a new one. It's much better. :)



I adapted my colorwork pattern to add a row of small hearts underneath the one large heel-flap heart. This extended the length of the flap by just enough and works nicely with the overall pattern.



I knit the heel turn in 2x2 checkerboard. And instead of increasing by one stitch each row, I increased by two stitches each row. This helped control the rate of increase and gave me a much more heel-shaped result.



One last note- can you see where the ridge from the start-of-round-at-center-back stops? Not really well in a picture, so I'm not going to worry about it!

As to why it stops, well.. I suddenly realized, when I began to start the heel flap, that it would be really nice if I could work across the entire heel flap without changing pattern-row at the center back of Every row!

(to save you all the slow and painful realization that dawned on me... that'd be:
complete sock round to center back.
begin pattern row 1 to edge, turn, work pattern row 2 to center. Switch to pattern row 1 to edge, turn, work pattern row 2 to center. switch to pattern row 3 to edge, turn, work pattern row 4 to center.... ARGH!!!!!)

(doh!! now I guess I know why most designs have the whole sock start the round at a side "seam") And of course I didn't realize that this problem was going to exist until I'd already done the whole cuff.

... so I finished the round at center back, broke the yarns, and reconnected them at the side to start the heel flap. ... the result is that the center back has a ridge halfway down that then disappears.. but it's pretty subtle, so I will call it a quirk, laugh at my discovery, and forge onward. After all, I'm on a deadline, and I suspect the world will forgive me for being less than perfect on the way. ;)

On the second sock, though, I'm going to do the whole thing with the beginning-of-round on a side seam.

I have been hearing a lot of interest for this pattern from some of you! :)
This makes me very very happy. I feel Accomplished!! yay!!
So I will be planning to share the colorwork charts, and maybe the notes I take (if I remember to take any. ;) ...
If you're *really* nice I might even clean up the charts first, and not leave you guessing as to what goes where. ;)
... as for an actual step-by-step pattern, I'm not sure. I'll let you know later.

Hugs!

Spectrum: Yellow-Orange Sock Yarn- IN!

The Gabby Knitter dyed this yarn for Zarah's Project Spectrum Sock-Yarn exchange! Aren't I the luckiest to have been paired with her this month! :) ... The colors are *so* perfect .. in fact, they remind me of my daffodils! ... which in turn remind me of the skein of sockyarn that I dyed for Her for PSSYX! Isn't that hilarious! :)

She used KnitPicks' Dye-Your-Own (I've really been wanting to work with this yarn! Now I get the chance!) 100% Merino. I used Henry's Attic's Montana. She used the crock-pot method (I'm not sure yet what dyes), I used the stovetop method and Lanaset dyes.

The colors themselves are remarkably similar even though the skein she dyed has much more orange and the skein I dyed has a lot more pale yellow.

I'll add a picture of the yarn I dyed once I'm sure GabbyKnitter's received it. :)

** Oh! I should mention-- if you'd like to be part of this sock-yarn-exchange, it's probably not too late! .. details are found at Zarah's. (link in first paragraph). **

Spectrum: Yellow-Orange Books

Lolly had a great idea: (Are you up for a monthly meme - show your orange/yellow/green/blue/purple/neutral books in your shelves?)

so I bit.

Here's a good cross-section of the yellow and orange books (spines, anyway) in my shelves:



Who would have guessed there'd be so many knitting and crafting books in the collection?!

Knee Injury: Update- MRI- No Results Yet

...but I do have pictures.

The report on the pictures will be sent from the MRI imaging service to my doctor (in a couple of days) and then my doctor will give a report and an advisement of further action to me. I'm still in the waiting-not-knowing phase.

The only thing *I* can tell for sure from the pictures is that I do still have a knee attatched to my leg. .. of course, I was pretty sure of that already since it aches a lot and gets in my way. ;)

The MRI thingie itself was kinda neat. I enjoyed it. Like maybe a very very VERY slow ride at Disneyland. A comatose Space Mountain. Lots of strange noises, odd lighting, weird plastic contraption that straps you into place, and a soft cool breeze.

Also, it felt weird. .. like I'd imagine the bottom of the ocean to feel during a sonar mapping. Everything echoed off of the Inside of my knee/leg. Weird. But neat.

I almost fell asleep during the MRI (no knitting allowed--no movement allowed) but was a little too aware that if I did fall asleep, I'd probably move. .. plus I'd miss the rest of my Comatose Space Mountain ride. .. and at the price, you just don't want to ride again. ;)

Then came home and DID fall asleep for the rest of the day. It's evidentally exhausting to hold completely still for twenty minutes at a time. (initial scan was 30 seconds, longest scan was about 20 minutes.)

Sockapaloooza: Making it Easy...

I've just made it easier to find all the Sockapaloooza posts by linking to them from the sidebar (I won't bother to add this one, though.) ... so if you don't want to search through my entire blog looking for That topic, this perk is for you. :)

Sockapaloooza: Don't Get Too Excited....

...the heel flap is coming back out.

Several problems with the heel flap.. maybe it doesn't look too wrong to you, but it's annoying me to no end!



I *LOVE* the way the large hearts continue down the heel flap. :)
...but one large heart was too short
...and two large hearts is too long.
...so I have to rework the pattern a bit to give me one large heart plus a small one? or something.



I *love* the 1x1 checkerboard on the heel turn BUT...
...it works up at a different gauge, and spreads the heel too wide. :I
...I will try reworking the heel turn again with a 2x2 checkerboard instead... but...
........I worry that I may possibly need to diminsh the number of stitches in the heel flap to keep the heel from getting too wide. I'm hoping not because that would be a lot of lost work, but... I'd like to have socks that actually fit right at the end of it!



I've got a back-up pair of socks on the needles. I'm not sure they're much to crow about.. a simple ribbed cuff, stockinette stitch basic sock (my favorite sock pattern ever, it seems) from Trekking XXL 03 I had in stash. Because there is nothing special about them, I can take them anywhere with me and work on them when working on the colorwork socks would be difficult if not impossible. (like dark movie theaters.) Which means I can just about guarantee that the Trekking socks will get finished on time even if the colorwork ones don't. ... Should I get both pair finished, though, I'll be able to keep the Trekking socks for myself! :)

This "spare set of socks on needles" thing may also be my self-reassurance that I really do know how to knit a pair of socks! ... when I spent too much time reading Dostoyevski and Kirkegaard "for fun" I felt REALLY dumb. .. then I read Harry Potter and was much reassured that I could actually read. This pair of back-up socks feels eerily similar!

Knee Injury: Update- MRI

My MRI is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I should have the results pretty quickly after it's done.

I don't plan to post many details here- just the basics. So if you are interested in a more complete report, please drop me an e-mail, and I'll put you in the loop.

Thanks.

Project Spectrum: Grandma's Fabric-Orange

When my father's mother left her lifelong home a couple of years ago to enter assisted care living, her quilting fabrics were left to me. I have been stymied as to what to do with them - They are treasured mementos of my connection with her, of a passion for fabrics that we both share. They are definitely sentimental.. and she could even tell you which project each fabric was purchased for. There are colors that haven't been seen since the '60s. ... (... that didn't seem so long ago, once... but I just did the math. Ouch! I'm getting OLD!! ;)

Her collection is a representational cross-section of fabrics from well before my time to fabrics I recognize from the mid-1990's.

She had already cut much of the fabric into squares, rectangles, and other shapes-- laboriously traced by hand and cut with shears-- projects planned and set in motion well before the emergence of the self-healing cutting mat and circular blade cutters that have made quiltmaking so much more accurate and enjoyable for me!

Her design sense is more traditional than mine, her color choices very different. There isn't a realistic way for me to attempt to undertake the quilts she left unfinished.

But Project Spectrum seems a perfect opportunity to sort through Grandma's quilt squares again and share their beauty with the world. :)

Since April is Orange, we'll start there: