The double agent (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} double_agent15) wrote,@ 2008-02-07 00:22:00 |
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Knitting and I are officially not friends with one another right now
It all started off fairly innocently.
Manna convinced me to cut my teeth on knitting socks
I quickly discovered the addicting nature of sock knitting, began collecting a stash of sock yarn, and may or may not have ended up being a member of 2 sock of the month clubs due to gifts either from Manna... or to myself after surviving stress filled weekends...
I knit up not one but 2 wonderful first pairs of socks
The second one even had a lace pattern in it.
I was enjoying myself
I bought more sock yarn telling myself how hand knit socks were gods gift to knitters, and I developed a master plan.
The master plan is to knit somewhere between 90 and 365 pairs of hand knit socks
For me
So that I don't have to worry about having clean socks on a day to day basis
And can do things like... was my socks once every 3 months and still have a clean pair every day up until then
I thought that this was a great plan
And then... December's sock kit came in the mail
Now originally we hit it off, there were new techniques to try, and despite it being colourwork which I generally avoid, we were doing okay with one another.
Then the realization that this could not be a travel sock project hit me.
Now, I am not monogamous in well.... any part of my life really, and knitting is no exception
I am definitely a polyamorous knitter. I have travel projects, travel projects for when I get bored of my travel projects, projects that I plan on coming back to one day, and long term work on at home projects like a blanket for my mom.
But I also have a short attention span, and I fully believe that the expectation that a sock can be knit in a week is reasonable.
I started these socks I believe January 14th.
I have struggled through sock one up until today when I finally finished it.
I have had serious tests of faith in my ability to stick with one sock during this time. The most telling of which was the unfortunate alpaca incident last weekend in which I cast on and work half a toe before realizing that since I don't have the foot of an elephant, and I like a tightly knit sock I was going to have to go out and get some smaller (yes I did say smaller than US size 1.5!!!!) needles in order to continue with my sock knitting.
I have gone so far as to put the sock away in my cast away and remnents upright drawer thing so that I didn't have to look at the sock while I contemplated other socks and see it pleading for its chance to be good for me.
Finally I decided that while I will finish sock #1 it will remain mateless until I am off school in a couple of weeks to give it the full time attention it needs deserves and craves, and set my teeth on edge, and went back to it for the long haul. Down the foot of the sock I went cursing all the way. Finally today I get to the toe and begin working the final rounds victoriously while January's sock (that only arrived yesterday so I'm not doing too badly) stared on in jealousy...
I cast off sock one of December being victorious even in my never attempted kitchener join and eagerly threw down my needles to embark ambitiously upon my next project. The coveted January socks with their redness and cables and beauty. Then came the first dilemma do I do them cuff-down as the pattern suggests or do I be daring and decide to do them toe-up. After some intense discussion with my partner in crime Manna (who might I add has abandoned her December socks without so much as a backwards glance in favour of Cookie A.'s Hedera socks) we have decided that she will covert the sock pattern to toe-up and will attempt it in that manner, while I shall trudge along in the as written cuff down manner.
Quickly I cast on determined to perform the magic that is 2 socks on one circular needle magic loop style in order to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome that has plagued me so horribly on these socks. I cast on sock number one and work one round of the pattern so that it is joined. Looking at this again I realize that I really did make a mistake as now I can't just cast on sock #2 on these needles, I need to cast them on on a different pair, work one round and then transfer them to the original set up. Ya... The fact that I figured that out logically was a pretty good sign that something wasn't going to go quite right.
So off I go, casting on sock number 2, working on joining it properly, even working that first round without any major incidents. Then I realize that in order to transfer the stitches how I need to, I need to transfer them to a waste string, and then pick them up in the opposite order. Sounds easy enough. So off I go, putting my stitches onto waste yarn. And then I go, to pick up my other pair of needles, and something bugs me as amiss. I look down at the size of the needle I am holding in my hand, and sure enough... it is the wrong size. I have pulled the stitches off of the wrong needle. So I go to put those stitches back onto the original needle, when I notice something strange about these ones too. The pattern calls for size 2.25 mm needles. The needles in my hand.... 2.5 mm. So, very calmly, I rip the whole mess of yarn off of both pairs of needles.
Tomorrow morning...
I shall attempt to cast on a simple pair of toe up sock in self-striping sock wool
No monsters should come and attack me for this, however, at this point, I'm not so sure that that will be true.
I would have cast on the socks tonight, but after I got downstairs I realized that I had left my 2.5mm needles up in the tangled mess of wool that is my January socks to be.
It appears that the sock honeymoon is over
We're just not going to talk about the past few scarf attempts either
It's better that way
I promise you don't want to hear about how alpaca has broken my heart twice in a row now
No I don't need therapy...
Just maybe some socks that actually keep their promise of being as fun to knit as they are to look at once they are finished
*sobs*
It all started off fairly innocently.
Manna convinced me to cut my teeth on knitting socks
I quickly discovered the addicting nature of sock knitting, began collecting a stash of sock yarn, and may or may not have ended up being a member of 2 sock of the month clubs due to gifts either from Manna... or to myself after surviving stress filled weekends...
I knit up not one but 2 wonderful first pairs of socks
The second one even had a lace pattern in it.
I was enjoying myself
I bought more sock yarn telling myself how hand knit socks were gods gift to knitters, and I developed a master plan.
The master plan is to knit somewhere between 90 and 365 pairs of hand knit socks
For me
So that I don't have to worry about having clean socks on a day to day basis
And can do things like... was my socks once every 3 months and still have a clean pair every day up until then
I thought that this was a great plan
And then... December's sock kit came in the mail
Now originally we hit it off, there were new techniques to try, and despite it being colourwork which I generally avoid, we were doing okay with one another.
Then the realization that this could not be a travel sock project hit me.
Now, I am not monogamous in well.... any part of my life really, and knitting is no exception
I am definitely a polyamorous knitter. I have travel projects, travel projects for when I get bored of my travel projects, projects that I plan on coming back to one day, and long term work on at home projects like a blanket for my mom.
But I also have a short attention span, and I fully believe that the expectation that a sock can be knit in a week is reasonable.
I started these socks I believe January 14th.
I have struggled through sock one up until today when I finally finished it.
I have had serious tests of faith in my ability to stick with one sock during this time. The most telling of which was the unfortunate alpaca incident last weekend in which I cast on and work half a toe before realizing that since I don't have the foot of an elephant, and I like a tightly knit sock I was going to have to go out and get some smaller (yes I did say smaller than US size 1.5!!!!) needles in order to continue with my sock knitting.
I have gone so far as to put the sock away in my cast away and remnents upright drawer thing so that I didn't have to look at the sock while I contemplated other socks and see it pleading for its chance to be good for me.
Finally I decided that while I will finish sock #1 it will remain mateless until I am off school in a couple of weeks to give it the full time attention it needs deserves and craves, and set my teeth on edge, and went back to it for the long haul. Down the foot of the sock I went cursing all the way. Finally today I get to the toe and begin working the final rounds victoriously while January's sock (that only arrived yesterday so I'm not doing too badly) stared on in jealousy...
I cast off sock one of December being victorious even in my never attempted kitchener join and eagerly threw down my needles to embark ambitiously upon my next project. The coveted January socks with their redness and cables and beauty. Then came the first dilemma do I do them cuff-down as the pattern suggests or do I be daring and decide to do them toe-up. After some intense discussion with my partner in crime Manna (who might I add has abandoned her December socks without so much as a backwards glance in favour of Cookie A.'s Hedera socks) we have decided that she will covert the sock pattern to toe-up and will attempt it in that manner, while I shall trudge along in the as written cuff down manner.
Quickly I cast on determined to perform the magic that is 2 socks on one circular needle magic loop style in order to avoid the dreaded second sock syndrome that has plagued me so horribly on these socks. I cast on sock number one and work one round of the pattern so that it is joined. Looking at this again I realize that I really did make a mistake as now I can't just cast on sock #2 on these needles, I need to cast them on on a different pair, work one round and then transfer them to the original set up. Ya... The fact that I figured that out logically was a pretty good sign that something wasn't going to go quite right.
So off I go, casting on sock number 2, working on joining it properly, even working that first round without any major incidents. Then I realize that in order to transfer the stitches how I need to, I need to transfer them to a waste string, and then pick them up in the opposite order. Sounds easy enough. So off I go, putting my stitches onto waste yarn. And then I go, to pick up my other pair of needles, and something bugs me as amiss. I look down at the size of the needle I am holding in my hand, and sure enough... it is the wrong size. I have pulled the stitches off of the wrong needle. So I go to put those stitches back onto the original needle, when I notice something strange about these ones too. The pattern calls for size 2.25 mm needles. The needles in my hand.... 2.5 mm. So, very calmly, I rip the whole mess of yarn off of both pairs of needles.
Tomorrow morning...
I shall attempt to cast on a simple pair of toe up sock in self-striping sock wool
No monsters should come and attack me for this, however, at this point, I'm not so sure that that will be true.
I would have cast on the socks tonight, but after I got downstairs I realized that I had left my 2.5mm needles up in the tangled mess of wool that is my January socks to be.
It appears that the sock honeymoon is over
We're just not going to talk about the past few scarf attempts either
It's better that way
I promise you don't want to hear about how alpaca has broken my heart twice in a row now
No I don't need therapy...
Just maybe some socks that actually keep their promise of being as fun to knit as they are to look at once they are finished
*sobs*
