Yesterday is was 60 degrees F, and we spent a lovely couple of hours sitting outside with our neighbors watching the boys play together in the rapidly melting snow. This morning, the view outside my bedroom window looked like this:
And the view inside looked like this:
I'm not sure which one is better. Care to vote? :-)
The CT scan was negative for kidney stones, and I'm still in pain a week later. So Doc sent me for an ultrasound. They found some gallstones (apparently not "obstructing", which is good), so I'm off to see the surgeon for a consult to determine the next step. I'm a little dubious about the gallbladder thing being the leading cause of this pain, based on what I've read online about the location of gallstone pain (belly) and the location of my pain (sides and back). But we'll see...
I'm still working on my seacoast handpainted stockinette socks; and this weekend I cast on the second navy Koigu cable & rib sock. Photos soon...
The Pattern: Go With The Flow Socks, by Evelyn A. Clark, Interweave Knits Summer 2005.
The Yarn: Knitpicks Essential in color "pine"
The only real change I made to the pattern was a short row heel.
So where do I stand on my goal to finish my already started socks?
Not bad! Have a great weekend!
P.S. The antibiotics don't seem to be doing the trick; the CT scan was negative for a kidney stone. Thank goodness for percoset; and I'll see the doc again on Monday. sigh......
So it turns out that the general ickiness I was feeling last week turned around and bit me. Throughout the week, this one spot on my side/back had been hurting, and by yesterday morning, I was in a fair amount of pain. I finally made it to the doctor, who determined I most likely have a kidney infection. It's weird, though, because I didn't really have most of the symptoms you'd normally associate with a UTI. Nevertheless, after a couple of doses of antibiotics and some ibuprofen, I do seem to be feeling a bit better. If it's not a lot better by tomorrow, the doctor may send me for a CT scan to rule out a kidney stone. Here's hoping it's just an infection and the Cipro clears it right up.
Meanwhile, the Go With The Flow Socks are flowing (har har -- I crack me up).
And I've decided to send the blue Trekking socks to the UFO basket to think about what they've put me through. I suspect I'm going to end up frogging them and starting again. I just really don't like having two things that are supposed to "match" be that different.
Having been feeling rather blech this week, though, I needed some non-patterned, simple stockinette socks to work on, so I cast on these:
with this Seacoast Handpainted 100% Merino Superwash sock yarn. The label claims the color is "thistle," but on my monitor, it looks more like "bee balm."
Sometimes, you just need a super gorgeous, super soft, super easy stockinette sock to knit. Know-what-I-mean?
Alternate title: I am the Gauge Gods' Bitch
(All will be revealed by the end of this post...)
First the good news. I finished the Purple Trekking Feather and Fan Socks. Here they are drying after a lovely lavender soak.
And a leg close-up:
They were a big snug coming over the ankle pre-blocking, but I'm not too worried about it. The last pair of Trekking socks I knit (Mike's Manlies) seemed to loosen up a fair bit after washing. Hmmmm... Did I ever blog about those? I think I had them in my "WIPs" sidebar when last I was blogging. I'll fish 'em out of his sock drawer and post about them sometime next week.
Despite (or maybe because of) having enough sock yarn for about 40 pairs, I promised myself at the beginning of this year that I would finish at least some of the current sock WIPs before casting on any new ones. I counted a total of 7:
So far so good. I finished the springtime Koigu socks (they're in the laundry -- will post them later) and the purple ones.
The green Go With The Flow socks (by Evelyn Clark in Interweave Knits summer 2005) are coming along nicely. I'm using Knitpicks Essential sock yarn in dark green. I'm quite pleased with this yarn so far; it's the first time I've used it. It seems very elastic and soft, qualities I hope it will retain after washing. I had gotten past the heel on the first one, and have since picked it up and done a few more inches on the foot. It will likely be done in the next day or two and the second sock cast on.
And a detail shot:
Loverly, no?
And now we come to the titular sock project of this post: the blue trekkers. I mentioned previously that I like to knit both socks at once on separate sets of DPNs. A big reason I do this is because my gauge seems to wander considerably, based on my mood, time of day, location of Mars in my rising house, or whatever-the-he** reason. The closer together I work on two items that are supposed to match, the better chance I have.
Sigh......:
Sock on the left: 8.5 spi and 12 rpi.
Sock on the right: 9.25 spi and 13 rpi.
Need I say more?
I started this sweater just before our Christmas road trip to Michigan to visit Mike's parents. After working on it on and off throughout the holiday week, I finished it in mid January. Of course it's too big for Jordan to wear this year. Hopefully next winter it will fit. I think the sleeve increases are a bit too fast for Jordan. His arms are way skinny-minny. On his next sweater, I'll probably make the increases more gradual, and end up with a shallower upper arm.
The pattern was a Knitpicks exclusive, and I used Swish Superwash in the color "deep ocean." I machine washed and machine dried my swatch. It shrunk considerably in length, just like I had read in others' reviews. Also, it didn't really felt, but it did get that sort of pre-felted mushy look to it. So I decided to forgo machine drying in the future. I did machine wash (on delicate) the finished pieces and laid them out flat to dry before seaming it together. I think they did still shrink a bit, but not as badly.
Here's the sweater in it's entirety, and a shot of the sleeve showing the cable coming down the arm. The pattern called for all the cables to cross the same way. Of course I had to mirror them instead.
I used a tubular cast-on on the body and sleeves, and bound off the neck with a sewn tubular bind off. I've been using both these techniques on socks for a while now and I really like how they look on K1P1 ribbing. It's almost as though there is no cast-on or bind-off at all. The ribbing just looks like it magically begun and/or ended.
On the needles at the moment:
When one has been away from blogging this long, it's hard to figure out what to post first. I decided to restart with a bang and present one of my favorite finished objects.
I made this sweater for DH Mike about a year ago. Hjalte by Elizabeth Lavold, from Spring 2005 Knitter's Magazine, in denim colored Silky Wool.
I achieved gauge on my swatch with no problem, but this thing grew and grew and grew upon washing. I didn't stretch it out at all during blocking; just the opposite. I did my very best to pat it gently into submission. I guess the silk is prone to stretching. I've been considering putting the sweater in the dryer the next time I wash it. I'd measure it carefully before washing, then put it in the dryer on low heat for maybe 5-10 minutes at a time, pulling it out to measure again. Has anyone had any luck shrinking a stretched out sweater in this manner?
I had plenty of yarn left, so I don't think I was knitting too loosely necessarily. The yarn was very soft and pleasant to knit. There was quite a lot of "vegetable material" (straw? hay? twigs?) that I picked out as I went. The pictures don't do the stitch definition justice. The cables are much clearer in person.
I would definitely use Silky Wool again, but I'd knit a much larger swatch and block it better before choosing my final needle size.
One of my favorite features of this pattern was the cable detail around the neck and sleeve cuff. For the neck, you knit a long 6-stitch wide strip with a 2-over-2 stitch rope cable. Then you sew the long edge around the neckline, and pick up around the other long edge to knit up the neck ribbing.
For the cuff, you knit another cable strip, pick up along one long edge and knit the ribbing downwards, then pick up along the other long edge and knit the sleeve upwards. It's a simple technique that adds a really attractive detail. Best of all, you'll drive your knitting friends nuts trying to figure out how you knit that cable sideways in the middle of the sleeve!
I've been composing a great blog post in my head for two days now. Why in my head? Because 101 degree fever, aches & pains, and general misery are conspiring to keep me from gathering the FOs; taking, editing, and uploading the photos; and actually writing it down. Boo hoo. It's the weirdest thing. I don't have any cold symptoms, and I feel reasonably OK in the early part of the day. But I feel kind of weak and wobbly, and around late afternoon for the last couple of days, my fever has started rising. By 7:00pm I've had chills and fever and more general misery. Today seems a bit better. Hopefully by tommorow, I'll be ready to put together the stuff I really want to post.
P.S. Thanks for the comments. Anyone else out there?
I've been reading lots of blogs lately and have been inspired to start blogging again myself. Coming soon to Caren Knits:
If anyone out there actually still has me in their sights, post a comment so I know you're out there!! Check back soon for updates.
I believe I mentioned I've been on a bit of sock kick lately? (pun intended) I present to you as evidence:
The two on the edges you've seen before. The turquoise and pink are Koigu KPPPM stockinette with garter short row heel. The beige and blue are Lorna's Laces in the color sandridge, using a lace pattern from Kim Salazar's blog.
The new ones are:
Koigu KPM #103 (royal blue) in one of the 4 (or was it 5) stitch rib patterns from Sensational Knitted Socks, with a tubular cast-on, short row heel, kitchenered toe.
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cranberry, Vine Lace Socks from Socks Socks Socks, tubular cast-on, short-row heel, and kitchenered toe.
And don't forget the money shot! The color on this one's a little closer, but it's still a bit washed out. The actual color is much darker and not nearly so "hot pink"-ish.
Lastly (for now), some generic stockinetters using Meilenweit Multieffekt #3050.
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