Lately I’ve been blogging so endlessly about spinning, one might think I have been neglecting my knitting. One would be incorrect. I most definitely have not been neglecting my knitting.
I have finished the Brown Garter Rib Socks.
Brown Garter Rib Socks knitted for my DH from Knit Picks Stroll Tonal in Kindling
My sock blockers are too small for socks I knit for the DH, but I think you get a pretty good idea of how great these socks turned out. And the most important thing is that the DH loves them. That’s really all that matters. 🙂
I’ve also started a new pair of socks that will probably be a gift for someone who is sock-worthy.
Show-Off Stranded Socks in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Birches
Yeah, that’s just the cuff in the picture, two inches of 2 x 2 ribbing instead of the one inch of 1 x 1 ribbing called for in the pattern. I prefer 2 x 2 ribbing on my socks, and I have settled on 20 rounds as being my perfect number. I actually have a couple of inches of the leg pattern finished, but I’m too lazy to take a picture of it right now, so you will just have to wait for an update from me. 🙂
Two great sock reports should be plenty of knitting content for one blog post, but I have more. Yes, MORE! The real star of my recent knitting is herself, The Spider Queen. The 3rd border is finished and the 4th begun.
The Spider Queen with three borders done
At this point, she looks like something the cat horked up. That is just the nature of lace knitting. It looks like a puddle of yarn vomit until it is washed and stretched to dry. That’s when the knitting gods and goddesses step in and, using a magic formula that I cannot begin to fathom, transform the knitting into something beautiful.
Of course, while I give the knitting gods and goddesses credit for the beauty of my knitted lace, it is I who does all the work, who puts in all the effort, who actually does all the stretching and pinning that makes the transformation happen. It’s my back and my knees that hurt during and after the process. Come to think of it, the knitting gods or goddesses don’t do jack. Everything that happens is the result of the metaphorical and sometimes literal sweat of my brow. Ha! All the credit goes to me, the knitter, the person who washes and stretches the lace! No gods or goddess are involved, no magic, either.
If you recall, I didn’t want to seam up the corners per the instructions for the shawl because I think the sewn seam looks, um, less than lovely, so I adapted a technique from EZ’s Stonington Shawl. I was a little worried that the corner wasn’t going to be stretchy enough, but those fears turned out to be groundless. Once the borders were joined, the corners stretched like crazy. All in all, I’m very pleased with the results.
The corner join unstretched
The corner join dry stretched
I don’t know whether I will have Her Royal Highness finished by the end of the month, but I should be darned close. I am enjoying making this shawl. I have yet to get bored with it, and that is unusual for such a large project. I think that working on borders individually and adding the edging as each border is completed breaks up the monotony of knitting seemingly endless rounds of border and rows of edging.
The Jamieson & Smith Shetland cobweb-weight yarn is wonderful to work with. It is very strong for such a thin single. My yarn has broken only four or five times so far, and only because I yanked on it way too hard. The knitted shawl is very, very, very stretchy. (Am I allowed to use that many verys in one sentence?) I am dying to get this shawl finished just so that I can see the magic transformation from hairball to lace happen. It should be a spectacular sight.
All Kinds Of Knitting 