“Done,” as in finished, as in no longer in progress, as in cast off and on my feet!
But not “done” as in the four ends woven in. Sad, but true. I tucked them in for the pictures and will weave them in after I post this.
Yes, pictures!
Wanna see?
Sure thing!
Oh, but first, let me say how much better appreciation I have now for those of you who get such wonderful photos of your socks on your blogs, especially those where you’re wearing them. That is a feat. A skill and a talent quite worth noting, beyond the sock-knitting itself. Bravo!
What, me? Stalling?
Surely not.
OK, so here’s the first photo, taken by moi of my right foot/calf in the, um, right sock. (Duh, right?) Note the spectacular lack of photographic genius.
Oooh, sexy! Not.
Also not spectacular: my ability to work in the image-manipulation software on my computer! I couldn’t figure out how to get this thing to be upright without it squashing it and making my not-thin leg look like a stump, albeit a stump in a new sock!
The amazing pepto-pink backdrop is my ultra-cozy and completely unsexy bathrobe.
OK, so there’s proof that the project is finished.
What’s that? Where’s the second sock?
It’s done, too, really.
Don’t you trust me, folks?
= sigh =
Fine.
Here’s an even worse photo I took of both socks, on my legs. Sadly, my arms are not of the extendo variety, so I couldn’t get a good angle to avoid the scary whiteout of the flash on my leg. (Yes, they really are that pale.)
Aaaaaaaaaaa!! The glare! It hurts our eyes!
[Try blinking a few times, to help the blue spot disappear. Soon your eyes will return to normal. Sorry 'bout that, folks, but you were warned.]
In the interests of getting a decent photo, I pressed the BC12 into service. For a small favor, he agreed to take the camera and then to see if he could take a better photo than I did.
Wanna see?
Photo by the BC12, captured on the first attempt.
Unfortunately, even his photographic genius could not render more tanned my fish-belly legs.
Thanks, BC12! Now I know who I’ll get to take pics of the next pair I make. (Heh, heh, heh!)
Finishing the socks took about 2 hours today, and I think a total of about 24-26 hours. I didn’t keep a tally of the amount of time I knit each of the 11 days, so I’m guestimating.
BTW, these socks, which have 16-inch cuffs, could have been another couple of inches long, judging from the amount of yarn left over. Each skein (one per sock) has 230 yards/210 m. It’s Sock It To Me! Collection Essential 4 ply by elann.com, in color# 7860, which is a sprucey bluey green. The yarn (75% superwash wool/25% polyamide) is not soft to knit with, but not scratchy either, and I’m reserving judgment on the final product until I’ve washed and dried them.
I used an Addi Turbo Lace in US size 2. I didn’t realize it was the lace needle until a knitter at my LYS pointed it out to me, but that totally explains why the last time I used them I had sore fingertips. Those lace tips are sharp! This time, I avoided sore fingers by NOT using them to manipulate just-knit stitches over the end of the needle.
As for the socks, I like them, but I’m hoping the yarn will bloom a little in the wash/dry processes. It turns out that using a size-2 needle, when you knit as loosely as I, yields a rather meshy fabric. The stitches are larger than may be comfortable under the foot in a shoe or boot. After all, I only had 48 stitches per round (until the calf increases) and this is sock yarn, so you can imagine how un-tight the fabric turned out. [UPDATE: The yarn did soften and blossom upon machine washing and drying. Much less meshy.]
I’ve already ordered Addi Turbo circs (not lace tips this time) in sizes 1, 0 and 000, as I plan to make more socks. Possibly lots more. I have a surprisingly large stash of sock yarn for someone who’s only ever knit one other pair! (Not including one pair of pedisocks. I’m not counting it because of the no-toes thing. Pedisocks are more like fingerless mitts, only with a short-row heel thing instead of a thumb gusset.)
So, FO# 6 for 2009 is a fait accompli. On to the baby sweaters! (At least until the new Addis arrive.)
Total stash yarn used since Christmas 2008: 10 skeins
