Ahhhh....Bachelorhood

My Brother has been safely packed up and sent back from whence he came. Formal naptimes are being enforced once again, and children are decidedly less whiney and tantrum proned. Don't you love how they always pull out their worst behavior in front of company. Especially company that is child-free and therefore less understanding of ordinary child behavior. I know my Brother is now very happy to be free of the constant chaos that is a home with small children. I miss him already.

We had a busy week. I think I hiked more in the past week than I have in my entire life. And that is saying something. I used to go to Girl's Camp every summer from the time I was 12 until I graduated high school. In addition to the usual gossip, clothes sharing, and bad cooking that accompany a group of girls camping, we hiked, every day. But my Brother still managed in one week to surpass a six year hiking score. I hold no innate aversion to hiking. I had a great time, and I saw some really cool stuff. I got to go into a dry waterfall bed. How cool is that! I just think my butt has become accustomed to sitting in the convenient butt shaped groove my couch has acquired, while my hands stay slender and nimble from knitting.

But don't worry. Amidst all that physical exertion I did manage to crank out a FO this week.

Bachelor Socks



Pattern: My own, but I did steal the stitch pattern from KnitPicks Windowpane Seaman's Scarf

Yarn: Regia Silk, 3 skiens

Needles: 2 size 0 Addi Turbos


Review: These socks are brilliant! If I do say so myself.



My Little Brother is a great guy. But man, he's got big feet. These socks are huge. They took three skiens to make. I sent The Greatest to the Yarn Store to buy the yarn for me (he really is The Greatest isn't he). I told him to buy three skiens of black sock yarn. The Lady at the yarn store is an absolute twit. For Christmas last year he went in and asked for Laceweight Yarn, and they sold him Sport Weight, not even the same thing. I understand The Greatest not knowing the difference, but you would think someone who OWNED a yarn shop would know better. When the Greatest went to buy the sock yarn she tried to only sell him one skien. She insisted a pair of socks could be make with only one ball. I'm so glad he listened to me and bought three. 'Cause like I keep saying these socks were big.

So after acquiring the yarn (such a yummy wool/silk blend) these socks got off to a rocky start. I tried top down with one stitch pattern. I didn't like it. I tried top down with another, still no good, and my fingers were turning black from the yarn dye. I was really concerned about fit as well, it all looked so big. I decided toe-up was the way to go. I just felt it would be easier to control fit that way. Toe-up with a diamond stitch, ugh, don't get me started. Toe-up with a cable stitch, better, but not right. At this point I wanted to burn the yarn, buy my Brother a pair of socks, and move on with my life. But I was so fascinated that it's still knitable after all that frogging I had to keep going (and still black despite all the dye that was now living on my hands and under my nails). Finally toe-up with the Seaman Windowpane, PERFECTION. This was my first toe up sock with a heel flap. I think it turned out beautiful, and was not nearly as difficult as I anticipated (especially since I didn't have a pattern and was just trying to apply the theory from other patterns to my sock). I also did a series of increases up the back of the sock so it would be comfortable on the calf. All in all I'm very proud of them. I think the fit is nice. Although I did end up using the same number of stitches I was using for the top down sock, so I guess either way would have worked.



I hope my Brother likes them and wears them in good health!