pushing on

I decided to keep on going. Maybe that is Not Wise. I do like long socks. In the winter especially I wish for socks that will help mediate the temperature between the bottom of my coat and the tops of my boots. If they are long and they fit, that's ok. So I'll keep going and get used to the idea of wearing knee socks. What you see above is the original sock with the heel just turned. Also my attempt to prevent onesockitis. I am subject to particularly virulent strain, and you would be apalled at the number of hand-knit socks around my house that have no soulmate. I figure if I cast on for the second one before the first one is finished, I will have a much better chance of ultimately having a pair. I bought an extra set of dpns for this purpose. Let's hope it works.

Yesterday was a brilliant misplaced day. Someone shuffled the deck and we got a June weekend in the middle of March. I walked up the hill to my local library and returned a bunch of books and shuffled through their small shelf of knitting things. I found IWK's Scarf Style and Wrap Style. I know I am way behind the times here--these are books I would never have considered buying based on catalog blurbs, but they are surprisingly interesting. I am charmed by the capelets! I love the idea of a little thing to put around your shoulders. I have to pinch myself--I cannot, unfortunately, imagine myself wearing one. I think it would be cute, but capelets and backpack are not a winning combination. I wish I could ditch the pack, I really do, but ergonomically carrying many pounds of books around in a hand tote is simply painful. Also I have to wonder, what does one wear a capelet with? You can't wear it under a coat, you can't wear it over a coat, so it must be for those halcyon early fall or late spring days when it's not truly cold but you just want a little something. Counting up the number of those days I've had in the past few years when I had free time to go out in a capelet and didn't have to carry a backpack, I am reluctantly forced to conclude that capelets do not at present fit into my wardrobe.

But I still think they are adorable and quaint and I want one. I was wondering about making a matching skirt. Wouldn't a capelet and matching skirt make a charming suit? Somehow rather British 1930's -ish. Has anyone out there ever knit a skirt? Have you worn it? I am intrigued by the idea but it is a little hard to imagine a hand knit skirt that wouldn't look terrible unless modeled by a toothpick figure that didn't have to move.

Comments

[grumperina]

I giggled at the idea of you with your backpack in a capelet. hehe! However, don't listen to me - I just knit a sock that I never ever pretended I could or would actually wear :).

[Charlotte]

I think you'd wear the capelet in the summer in heavy air conditioning over any pretty summer dress. I have knit more than one skirt. Most of them were "straight" skirts but I've also done some that were a form of ribbing which "read" as pleats and one which is really swirly. I'm not a toothpick but a well-knit skirt that isn't too tight looks well on any size figure.

[diana]

First off, yes, yes, yes to knee high socks. And I imagine those particular knee highs with a pair of boots, a skirt, and a sweet little capelet. Oh, and sans backpack. (Yes, I was the one who suffered through grad school with the pounds of books in the tote.) As for the knit skirt, hmm, not convinced. What happens to the rear of the skirt after an hour of sitting?

[Emily]

Knit skirts can look good, but be VERY careful about yarn selection. If you sit down in a 100% wool skirt, you are likely to have an unwanted bulge in the back of the skirt when you stand up.