Friday, July 15, 2016

Poor Fashion Choices

The year was 1987, my baby sis is not even a year old.  Fashion was all about animal prints and bi-levels (mullets are what we call them today).  In other words this is a photo about poor fashion choices to which I say, go ahead and laugh I did. 

 
I hope we have both improved with age.
 


Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Sock it to Me

Lately, I have been knitting socks.  I stopped knitting socks for awhile because I hit a pattern that frustrated me so much that I stopped for awhile.  When I had jury duty in February, I took a new sock project with me to work on while I waited. I have found that no one seems to connect my bamboo size 2 needles with knitting.  In fact one bailiff asked me if I liked crocheting. I just smiled and said yes. However, my last jury duty experience required lots of sitting in court being asked personal questions, not knitting. 

I had my sock pattern, yarn, and needles all ready for some serious knitting all hanging out in a bag waiting for me to notice it.  I decided well heck I have these Mermaid Lagoon socks ready I should just knit them on up.  Once finished with the Mermaid Lagoon socks, I thought heck that was fun, I should knit another pair in this here Charybdis pattern.  And I did.

The Mermaid Lagoon pattern was not particularly hard once I translated the pattern for myself.  The yarn did an interesting color change from turquoise to tan made creating a cool pair of socks.  My only complaint is the pattern was designed for a medium size foot and leg.  My canoes and hefty calves did not love this pattern.  I upped the needle size and it helped, but you know the sock could have been a little roomier.

Mermaid Lagoon Socks
Roominess was in ample supply on the next pair of Charybdis socks I knitted. One of my knit night buddies had clued me in that these socks knitted up big.  I used another color transitioning yarn from my stash which made for interesting socks.  I kind of feel like I am walking around with muddy paws when wearing these socks.  I loved the Charybdis pattern, which is free on Ravelry.  Do want to warn that it knits up big, so do a swatch, the pattern is charted, but can be modified for a smaller foot or leg.

Charybdis Socks

The real problem with hand knitted socks is I have problems wearing them.  They come out so perfect that my clumsy, size 11s don't deserve to wear them.  Working on getting over that real soon.