Friday, November 21, 2014

Success

It was cold(ish) again today.

The sky was the most lovely moody grey.  The children feared it would rain on them as they walked to school.  But I knew better.

It rarely rains on the surface of the sun.

While I carefully wrapped the baby in a blanket to run to Lowes (another day, another repair to the sprinkler system) I didn't need a coat.  There was a delightful chill(ish) on the breeze, but a light sweater was all you needed.

And I've got an entire shelf stacked high with light sweaters for such an occasion.  Today I wore Walpole.  And I looked fabulous.  Nevermind the fact  that I haven't washed my hair in five days.  Which might be why there isn't photographic proof of how fab I looked.  In my defense, my hair goes to the bottom of my butt and takes forever to dry.  I'm too tired to deal.  See yesterday's post about being up from 3:30 to 5:00 AM.  Repeat uneartly sleep schedule for almost a year.  And yes, that means yesterday's pictures were taken on day four of unwashed hair.  Go ahead and scroll back down to look at them.  I'll wait.

I was rocking the slicked back look wasn't I!

Just keeping it real around here.  Maybe tomorrow I'll show you my dirty sink full of dishes.  Confession:  I don't have a dirty sink full of dishes.  I make the kids wash the dishes every.single.night.  Parenting has to have a few perks right?

Anyways...the chill(ish) in the air also meant it was time to bust out the hand knit socks.  And I just so happen to have a recently knit pair just waiting for this day to come.  It took some doing but I did manage to take some pictures of my feet.  No shampoo required.


Pattern:  Easter Bunny Socks

Yarn:  "Easter Bunny" self patterning sock yarn by knitpurlgurl.etsy.com

Needles:  Size 2



Modifications:  Not really a modification, but the main yarn self stripes into bunnies.  You use coordinating yarn to knit the ribbing, heels, and toes.  I was given green and pink coordinating yarn.  I decided to stripe them for the rib, heels, and toes.  It looks better in real life than it does in photos.  I do like how my heel turn is pink on one sock, and green on the other.  In hindsight maybe I should have knit one sock with pink ribbing/heel/toe, and one with green ribbing/heel/toe.  I probably would have loved that.  I'm starting to hate hindsight.

Review:  These socks are AMAZING!


This yarn is "self patterning" so as you knit the bunnies were supposed to magically appear.  I'm not a huge fan of gauge but for this project having spot on gauge was not just important but freaking vital to the success of these socks.

Luckily for me, I had spot on gauge.

Unluckily for me, my spot on gauge was useless.

I tried and tried to knit perfect little bunnies, but the pattern kept shifting to the left, leaving the bunny ears flapping in the wind, and making the faces look slightly melted.  Not a good look.

But I could not be defeated.  After all...BUNNIES!


The pattern suggests you should tug or tighten just a little to line up those bunnies.  I tugged and tightened my heart out, and magically...BUNNIES!


Worth every moment of frustrated tugging.  In fact, once I got the rhythm of it down, those socks flew off the needles.  I finished the second sock in one day.

True Story.

The Greatest saw me casting on for it during the Queen's first nap.  And later that night he watched me put on my finished socks.

"Wow, you are a really fast knitter!"

It came as a complete revelation to him.

It is like he doesn't know me at all.

Good thing he is so darn good looking.

Otherwise there are days I could cheerfully strangle him in his sleep.

2 comments:

Nancy McCarroll said...

Cute bunnies and worth the effort of tugging!

elns said...

YES! These socks are amazing, I had to pick my lower jaw up and show my pal. I'm glad you got the bunnies to work up for you. I've never seen such a thing!

You're my hero for getting your kids to do the dishes, all the time. I need to crack that consistency whip. I'm such a lame-o.