in which I speak of hand-dyed yarn and frogged Waving Lace socks

In the week before mum arrived, I dyed some yarn. The acrylic that I dyed softened tremendously so I wondered if dyeing wool would do the same. DD and I bought a kilo (2.2 pounds) of white 8ply (DK) wool in Bendigo in 2008. I tried to knit with it but it was scratchy - certainly not soft enough to knit pilchers (soakers) for GS#1. It didn't really soften after being dyed and I am left with 200g of this. Wound up like that, I thought it looked like tartan so I'm calling it "Tartan Royale" (purple being the colour of royalty). On my monitor the colours are not as rich as they are in reality. The purple is very dark and the green not so bright. I think I'm going to knit a bag and felt it. Possibbly this one from my Ravelry queue. Of course, mine won't be striped like the one in the pattern. I'm just not sure what use I have for such a bag.

During that same week (the one where I visited the doctor because I had URTI again), I finally frogged those Waving Lace socks. You remember, the two socks I knitted several months apart when my gauge was completely different. Now they look like this:

Having already knitted this yarn twice (once into the socks shown here that were way too big) and the second time in two different gauges on the same needles, I am disinclined to cast on again. Maybe the onset of some cooler (less humid) weather will inspire me to knit socks! *sigh*

Socks!

Remember I was telling you the saga of the Supersocke Cotton socks, Versions 1 through 6? I had a few comments encouraging me to knit plain socks. I like plain; plain is good when knitting self-striping socks like these I prepared earlier!

So, I want to thank you, dear readers, for your input but I sometimes can seem a little perverse! I really wanted something to knit that was interesting but not too challenging. I am, after all, still recovering from Myrtle.

So, I found this pattern in Favorite Socks, which I got from my family for Christmas. Looking at it on the cover, did nothing for me but the picture inside seemed doable with my yarn. Only one way to find out, right? Bring on Version #7!




And this is how the pattern looks with my yarn [photo taken last Sunday before I went on R&R]. I like it. I know the subtleties of the waving lace pattern are lost but it's a lovely knit and I like the way way it works with my yarn. So forgive me, dear readers, for my perversity - hopefully by the time I return from R&R there will be at least one Waving Lace Supersocke to see!

Supersocke Cotton progress

I've stalled [again] on my Supersocke cotton socks. Please let me tell you the saga...

I cast on last year at the beginning of Southern Summer of Socks. They were my first toe up socks. I very quickly finished the first one and cast on for the second. But I had a niggling doubt about the finished sock so I took it to a Guild meeting to talk to The Guru. She said the sock was way too big for my foot and showed me by how much - at least six centimetres!! So I ripped out that first sock to the point indicated. I also had to rip back the second sock because I'd already passed that point!

A few days later I was told to stop knitting due to my frozen left shoulder so the socks waited patiently for me to recover. When I was allowed to knit again, I couldn't use small needles - it was just too painful. Then my right shoulder froze and it was back to 'no-knitting'! :-(

All year small needles have been a problem - it took me eight months to finish one baby cardigan! Eventually, I was able to use small needles for more than half an hour and I finished the Moda Vera Grey socks. I revisited the Supersockes, turned the heel and decided on a pattern for the legs. The first time I had knitted plain ol' stocking stitch but the pattern in this yarn is fairly subtle [though the colours are not] so I decided I wanted something a bit more decorative. Nothing too fancy - maybe just a small cable. I didn't want to use cable needles because the stitches are so small - if I drop one I can never pick it up without it unravelling to the round below [and sometimes further than that]. Overnight it came to me - a mock cable. I found this pattern - and on I went.

About half way up the leg I decided to try the sock on. The mock cable is a form of ribbing and the leg was looking pretty narrow so I was a bit concerned. I thought the idea of toe up socks was so you could try them on as you go but getting the sock on with those four dpns still attached was a bit tricky! Finally I pulled the sock over my heel and voila the leg stretched enough [maybe more than enough] to fit my calf. But...

The sock is a little too snug in the length of the foot and I'm not sure if they'll block to the correct size so I've stopped knitting to think about it!

That'll teach me to do a test swatch of the yarn before I start, won't it?