awayuq

a ripper?

That last sock is now done. It’s about mid-calf length, and quite a nice sock, but I’m suffering big time from the one-sock syndrome. I got absolutely sidetracked on how to make a nice toe-up toe. I didn’t like the lack of height at the toe and the way my stitches formed little points when picking up around the corner of the starting strip. For several days I did no knitting except experimental toe-starts. There are now a bunch of little toe pockets with dangling ends wandering around the house. Finally I found one I could live with, at least for the next pair, and am now up to gusset increases on a bright green sock.

Meanwhile, I am reconsidering the grey shawl of the last post. The yarn is very nice yarn; it would go splendidly with some very fine and detailed lace pattern. Taking inspiration from my friend at Bestitched, I am considering ripping the whole thing, saving the grey yarn for something appropriate, and making the shawl according to the pattern with some nice heathered shetland weight or something similar. It’s just not right somehow as is.

no, it's not quite that bad...

It’s not true that nothing has been happening. It’s just that I haven’t had time to write about it. Here is a picture of a sock in progress--it’s been carried around in the pink purse to lecture after lecture and is finally complete at about half knee-sock length. I’m starting another one right away, because there sure are a lot of lectures! Mostly I am taking notes furiously, but sometimes I figure the knitting is as important as things that are in the reading anyway.

I admit it: when everyone told me I would have *no* time in grad school, I shrugged and said to myself well, we’ll see. As it turns out, I have *no* time. Adjusting back to student life after more than a decade takes some doing. I was a good student once, right? But it’s hard to go back to being at the bottom of the heap after having been independent, out in the world, earning a livable salary, and putting work out of sight at... well, ok, not 5:00 pm but at least 7:00 or 8:00. People tell me I’m a fast reader, but I could stay up past midnight every night reading everything that’s assigned. A couple people so far have hinted to me that in reality, no-one does *all* the reading. I need to find out more about that.

So far, the graces saving me are knitting in lectures when I can, and the weekly lunchtime knitting group of great and wonderful people. Besides the ultra-portable socks, I’m also working on a lace shawl (big surprise). It’s of fine grey wool and the pattern is “Summer in Kansas”, a nice design of leaved stalks with flowers. The pattern is written for size 7 needles and around shetland weight yarn; I’m using size 3’s with this very fine soft thread. Only one repeat of the flowers is given in the pattern, and unfortunately extending it isn’t entirely straightforward, because the shawl shaping doesn’t integrate exactly with the pattern. So at the beginning of every row I have to decide how I’m going to handle the leftover stitches, which is a bit of a pain; but it’s worth it to make the thing a reasonable size. I do like the stitch pattern, and I may even make another version using yarn closer to the size called for.

My next sock is going to be striped. Something wild.