ABB (All But Blocking) Thursday, July 21, 2011

I finished Allie's "Rain" socks yesterday, well everything but weaving in and blocking.  I am not sure I like the casting off method I used.  Casting off Toes-up Socks can be a bit of a challenge, because the cast off must be very loose so the top of the sock is stretchy.  The book by Melissa Morgan-Oakes (Toe-Up 2-at-a-Time Socks) recommends 3 different methods.  I chose the method where you add an extra stitch between each stitch on the last row, then bind of a double wide top.  It makes a kind of "frill" around the top of the sock that is supposed to disappear when worn.  We shall see.

These socks look so lumpy unblocked and unworn.  I have ordered some blocking tools from KnitPicks.com, specifically:  Sock Blockers.  Ok, I know I can make my own from some wire... and possibly just block with pins...  But well, I want official blockers!  So I will wait to get my new toys to block these socks.

Samantha wants a pair in the same yarn, but I have a birthday coming up for my great-nephew Zack, so I am going to make a quick pair of socks for him first.  He will be 5, and they should be pretty small, so a quick knit.  It took me 2 weeks to make Allie's, so Zack's should be really fast.  I'm not going to do any pattern, just knit them toes up with probably a 2x2 ribbing.  I got some nice orange striping yarn from Lion Brand Yarn Red Hots.  It's not the softest yarn, but it looks like it will knit up in a nice stripe.  And it is a fun collection of colors that a 5 year old boy should like.  Don't worry, I will buy him a dinosaur, too.  So far, I am working on the swatch.  It looks right now like 8 stitches, 11 rows, but I need to knit a bit more to be sure.  I want these to fit =)

About Life:

I have walked just around the block (1/2 mile) now Mon. and Wed.  On Wed., I was thinking that I would walk the other block (we live on a corner) and make it 1 mile, but as I left the house, my left sock traveled under my foot, and wadded up there.  I don't know about you, but I HATE THAT.  I kept telling myself that it wasn't that annoying, and that I could just keep walking.  But, I knew that I was walking just slightly weirdly because of the extra bump under that foot, and that I would ache in strange places because of that.  So I just did the 1/2 mile.  Excuses?  Reality?  IDK.  Well, I hope to do the mile today.  Of course, I didn't go right away.  I sat down to knit and write in this blog.  Excuses?  Reality?  It is gray but not raining...  I will walk the full mile today...

And on Buffy:  She has been raised from the dead.   This is such an interesting story-line.  I love that they returned her from Heaven, and that she now thinks of Earth as Hell.  Also, I'm on the episodes with the 3 "evil geniuses:  Andrew, Jonathon, and Warren.  Andrew is one of my absolute favorite characters in this wonderful show.  And I'm doing a quote from Spike (who is also sooo wonderfully written and acted), where he saves Mr. Giles, then says, " Did your life flash before your eyes?  Cuppa tea, cuppa tea, cuppa tea, almost got shagged, cuppa tea."  I so love Spike.



C. A. Losi
7.21.11