...are sometimes not well planned at all :) Take the sock…please!
When I started this I was full of optimism about how nice and rather Victorian it would look, not to mention thrilled with the idea of inserting a design element into the purl troughs of the ribbing. I was a little wary of the odd number of stitches in both the ribs (seven) and the troughs (five) but I thought I could make it work.
As it turns out, they weren’t the problem.
Since I was making this sock for myself, I went with numbers I knew had worked in the past. On size 1 (US) needles, somewhere around 70 stitches would be about right for me. One rib and one trough added up to 12 stitches so 6 repeats of them would give me 72 stitches. Perfect! On this I based my cast on and worked merrily along, even achieving the elusive (for me anyway) 9 stitches/inch figure! But I had completely forgotten one very salient fact.
Since I last made a sock in fingering weight yarn on size 1 needles, I have lost 50 lbs.
The sock was going to be too big. Not falling down huge or anything, but sloppy. I like my socks to be, well, not tight - but snug. I want them to lie along the leg and foot closely with no rumples or wrinkles. I don’t want to take a step and feel the sock shift around my foot in my shoe. Yes, I did wear and adore my slouch socks back in the day but that was then. This is now :)
Well, shit fire and save matches :(
I couldn’t bring myself to tear out all the gingerbread - even realizing that 60 stitches on size 2 needles would probably be perfect - so I evolved another plan. I will make mitts - lovely, soft, merino mitts. It’s okay if they’re a little loose - they shouldn’t be too snug anyway. They will be one of the most feminine things I own and I will love them. I’m also imagining how they would look (come colder weather, of course!) over a pair of darker pink or even violet gloves. Could be pretty cool :)
I have started the thumb gusset and, thanks to Ann Budd’s The Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns, I know approximately how many stitches to increase (and when, and where) and how many rows this will likely comprise. I have even made a little chart on which to mark off the rows as I complete them. Yes, we’re still working in rounds here but it’s easier for me to think of the gusset stitches as rows. The patterns stitches are rounds. No, it doesn’t make sense :)
I did get hung up for an hour or so trying to find/make/discover a stitch marker that would work efficiently. My usual stitch markers went around the size 1 needle like a hula-hoop around a pencil. Eventually I remembered something and, digging through my bead stash, found a little bag of silver jump rings. They are just a little larger in diameter than the needle and work perfectly. They are also truly in the above photo (in the oval with the gusset stitches) but the flash has obliterated any trace of their presence :)
I feel ambivalent about this. One the one hand I feel like a real stoopnagle for not realizing or even considering that my calves and feet aren’t the diameter they used to be - duh! On the other hand, I’m pleased to have figured out a way to salvage the work already done and to be able to proceed on what I know will be something I’ll both use and enjoy.
But I still want a pair of pretty, feminine socks. Guess I’d better start figuring out what measurements are appropriate, hunh?
No trackbacks yet.
What a pretty pattern and congrats on transforming the socks.
Nature is so cruel! It never occurred to me that feet change size. I think the mittens will be gorgeous though,
Toni - Thanks kiddo! A mitt is fairly straight-forward, but I will post the pattern when I get this first one completed :)
Abi - Well, given my druthers, I guess I’ll go with the weight loss if I have to choose between that and new socks.
And I don’t! Once I get my dratted new measurements, I can make all the socks I like :) And, if they’re only 60 - 62 stitches aroubnd, well, then they’ll be that much faster to knit!
The very pretty mitts are a reward for the amazing weight loss. 
Well, it sucks to have to change your plans, but at least you’re doing so for an awesome reason!
Hi there! I am a longtime reader and wanted to finally say hello. I think you’re patterns are wonderfully creative. I am currently working on your Seaweed and Shells design and love how detailed it is. Keep up the good work! 
Rob - That’s a nice way of putting it :) I’m going to enjoy them regardless.
I take it you had the same ferocious thunderstorms there we had yesterday?
Colleen - I’m only a little disappointed - I can always do the socks at a later time. It’s not like I need them right now or anything.
Still got my fingers crossed :)
Emily - Nice to meet you :) I’m glad you enjoy the patterns - that’s what they’re there for! Please feel free to drop me a line if you run into any difficulties.
You are taking the disappointment very well, I must say. My typical response is to cuss, then sulk, then stuff the UFO in a drawer until my emotional attachment wanes enough to allow me to rip it out. Your approach is infinitely more mature and lady-like! (P.S. “shit fire and save matches” sounds like something my crazy grandma would say. I’m going to hang on to that one - it will surely come in handy) 
Becky - Believe me, I’ve done a heap of sulking and cussing in my time as a knitter. I think this time it was that the fascination with the process of making the tiny leaves and flowers overshadowed the final product so that, in the end, what it became didn’t really matter.
And that phrase? I didn’t acquire it from a relative (the only grandmother I knew was a blue-nosed, stiff-necked Puritan through and through) but from a Rita Mae Brown novel where I happened upon it all unawares and it just tickled the you-know-what out of me :)
And nobody has said anything about “stoopnagle”?
Laurie - Heheh - not until now :)
Okay, I’m up for it. WTF is ” stoopnagle”?
And I agree with those who say that mittens is the reward of sox that don’t work.
amaryllis
Yup, all the socks you could ever need - and you’ll have a variety of sizes so you can layer them or not have to worry if your size changes again. What is your address? I’d like to send you something for the Dulaan bag. (Um, you’ll have to make it into something as it is yarn in its natural state).
Hi Robbyn,
Thunderstorms. Flash flood warnings. Superhigh humidity in the times between thunderstorms. Rain rain and more rain. Hard to remember they were worrying about drought in May :>
Amaryllis - A stoopnagle (at least as the term was used in my house when I was growing up) was an idiot, a couple bricks shy of a load, not bright enough to pound sand and could screw up a one car parade. There was nothing threatening or frightening about such an individual, in fact they could be quite a cheerful presence even if they were dumber than a bag of rocks.
Since you asked about it, I’ve been thinking and I don’t believe I’ve ever heard the term outside the house I grew up in so I suppose it might just be family slang. Hmmm….
Rob - Us too :) In fct Myria and I were talking about the “drought” warnings of early spring last night. Does all seem very ironic :)
Excellent socks-into-mittens. That Yankee ingenuity must be at work! LOL.
I now have a new desktop and as Scarlett would say, I’ll never miss chat again, well not until the next computer crisis!
