My sockpal got her socks! They fit her, and she likes them. Hooray!
My socks are here!
From Lydia in Elgin, Illinois:
They're gorgeous—there's a lot of dark red in them that doesn't quite show up in this photo. And the red is complemented by lots of yellows and oranges. It's not a colorway I would have chosen for myself in the skein, I don't think—but I really really like the socks! Thanks, Lydia!
Socks are finished!
I just sewed in the yarn ends, and steam blocked the socks (on homemade sock stretchers, fashioned from wire hangars). They're adorable! I'll post photos tonight—right now I have to go to my office and put in a few hours of work.
UPDATE: photo! Here's a close up of the lacey pattern. I hope sock pal likes them, and I hope it doesn't take too long for them to arrive... very far from Portland, Oregon!
Sockapalooza Saga
Let me tell you a little story about Sockapalooza.
This awesome knitter and blogger, Alison, sets up a gigantic sock exchange. I'm knitting a pair of socks for a gal who likes calf length socks. Someone else is knitting socks for me, and I have no idea what to expect. On May 1, we all ship off our socks to our sock pals, and then we'll get our socks from someone a few days later. Exciting, huh?
My sock knitting to date was of the bulky kind—thick wool that make for cozy around-the-house wearing. But I wanted to up the ante for my first Sockapalooza. So I looked up patterns that use actual sock yarn, and smaller needles. I found beautiful Koigu yarn, in this light green color, dappled with bits of yellow-green and rusty orange. And I got to knitting.
Then I fell in love with the sock. And I got selfish. Instead of knitting that first sock to my sock pal's foot size (which is about half an inch shorter than my own foot), I knit it to mine. I'm a bad sock pal.
I felt guilty afterward, and made Sonia model the sock—her feet are the same size as my sock pal. But the socks looked goofy on her. They were as ill-fitting as the tube socks I wore as a kid. Nope, this sock is mine.
So now I had one sock that fit me, and one more skein of yarn for sock number two, and no socks for my sock pal. What to do?
Go back to the yarn store of course. I got a different color in the same kind of yarn. This stuff's more of a green-blue. (P.S.: Do you know how hard it is to find a variagated yarn that doesn't contain pink? My sock pal does not like pink. Which steered me away from reds, too. She might define pink more broadly than I do.) I diligently started my sock pals socks—I'm not allowed to start the second sock for myself until these ones are done.
But I of course set the sock aside after about three nights of working on it. And I started a sweater! The sweater has a loooong, complicated pattern—it's hooded, there are cables, and there's a kangaroo pocket in the front—and I'm loving it. I'm re-using the yarn from a sweater I tried designing myself, on the fly. But that one was on the needles when Sean was sick, so I couldn't finish it. Now it's Rogue.
Finally, last weekend, I felt my impending deadline, and picked the sock back up. I've turned the heel on sock #1. I think I'm finally on track.
