There is a hole in my sock...

and I didn't want to darn it. Well I thought I did, the hole was noticed some weeks ago .. and the pair of socks sort of kicked around our bedroom for while. On the chair, folded on the foot of the bed .. never quite going away in the sock drawer .. but never moving closer to the waste bin either. These were older socks, perhaps amongst the first half dozen I knit. My knitting work book records I knit these early 2007, January 2007 in fact. Way back before nice sock yarn was available here, when Opal was one of the few choices in the LYS ... and I was naive enough to accept that. The final straw came Saturday, Bear and I were in tidy up mode, modeling a bit of 'saturday morning tidy up before we go out shopping' for the cubs. Bear asked, I explained that I didn't want to throw them, and yet couldn't face mending them .. and so he said he would throw them out for me.

No! That quick, a fast No!, but what to do?
I decided that they needed re-purposing, and so hacked off the leg section.And it was a bit of a hack, I didn't snip carefully along a line of knitting, or follow a thread, I cut ... with big scissors.


then I turned them into wristers for Poppy. I have weak plans to do something more 'proper' with the cut edge, perhaps overcast it with blanket stitch, or pick up the loops and knit on a cast off. But I don't know if I will, they are felted and will probaby do duty as wristers as is. A nice neat solution, and even better in that it makes her jacket seem less like the sleeves are to short (they grow so quick .. kids, any of you noticed that?).


Meanwhile, back on the needles, there is progress on the Peggy's, I'm nearly there. I have started the thumb hole, because the plan is that these leg warmers will do double duty as arm warmers with a thumb hole. I'm working the thumb section back and froth slipping the first two stitches to make a thickened i-cord border. I found 20 rows (10 chains up the edge) enough, and then worked 2 more cm of rib back in the round, before casting off in rib. Not far to go now. Which means I can ignore all my current wip's and plan something new and exiting ....

I've also been knitting, well struggling to knit with string. This week my Hand Knit Design Elective class starts at work, 20 degree students, a mix of year one, year two, and year three, all with me for 45 hours over the next 3 weeks learning to knit (if they can't already) and designing something. I've gathered up all my swatches and samples and such as examples ... but felt the need to provide an unused wash cloth. I chose a deep green/black/blue hemp string to make one in. That was not a good choice, the string is pretty but is a single and fairly highly twisted. The result is its hard to knit with and the fabric has a spring of its own ... the loops are twisty, the yarn bleeds colour .. my fingers and bamboo needles are now tainted blue. I've finished and cast off, and soaked it in water... whence it bleed and bleed and bleed and bleed. Its slightly softer, but not much, honestly it would make a great door mat, two layers of this and you would have a perfect door mat, outdoors. You get the picture. I'll still take it for show and tell with the students ... and perhaps it has a use as a home made loofa .... Lets just say its not my most successful knit.


And so what to knit next? Well I picked up a few knit magazines at the store, .. and this lovely hat appeals. Sort of a beret, but not lacy all over. Its knit on 4mm needles, and I was thinking either the silver green grey alpaca, silk merino (really a heavy fingering) or the pinky purple merino silk. Both hand-spun by me. You might have noticed the ball wound sitting next to the Peggy's above ... is the green grey ... so I think that might be it as the other is still in skein form. So I'm off to finish my daughters Peggy's and think about swatching for a hat. I guess I should delve into the wips in my basket, just to do a stock take ... shouldn't I?


ok ... off to work thumb holes, and drink tea and help a small anglo saxon boy with his viking homework speech. He wants to use Power-point .. oh my how sophisticated they become.

na stella