Darn That Yarn!

I tried to work on the second Garter Rib sock yesterday. I actually took it with me when I went to lunch with the girls and worked on it at the restaurant, but last night I was forced to give it up in frustration. Besides being 1.5 ounces short, the last half of that skein is a disgusting mess. Clearly, it had to come that way from the factory because the first sock, which I knit from the center of the skein, went beautifully.

Last night I kept running into cuts (where the two ends were not knotted together) and knots in the yarn, which wouldn't be so bad cos I know how to handle that kind of thing, but the problem was the cuts and knots were messing up the pattern. The first sock knit up in a pattern of stripes that go beige, brown, blue-in that order from the top down. The sections of yarn coming out last night were not knitting up that way. So, after coming to the third wrong colored stripe, I had a bit of a fit and ripped the whole thing out in frustration, logged onto the web, and ordered another ball of yarn. (I missed who done it on CSI because of that-stupid yarn.) I will have to take my chances on dye lot.

It's going to take some time for the order to get here. In the meantime, October is ticking away and I still want an O next to my name in the knit along. What's a girl to do? I started another pair. With any luck, I will get the first one done in time. No where in the rules does it say the pair has to match.

So, after doing some digging, and some unraveling because two of the colors I want to use were knit into a bit of sock that I started a few years ago then decided I didn't want to make after all so stuffed them at the bottom of one of my big knitting bags, I started the Buccaneer's Booty Socks. I discovered this free pattern (click on the pic to go to it), written by Anne Kuo Lukito, a couple months ago with great happiness and glee because I have a certain loved one who will absolutely adore them. They shall be a Christmas gift for her. This will be an incredible challenge for me. I've never knit a pair of socks where I changed colors (as in stripes), nor have I knit a pair of socks with fairisle. In fact, I haven't knit anything in fairisle in years. I'm more of a cables and lace kind of girl, or intarsia. I do love a good intarsia pattern.

I am going to make some changes because I do not have enough red to do the main body of two socks. So, I am going to make the body black and the heels and toes will be red. I'm using a much brighter red too.

I find myself stuffed full of questions about knitting fairisle socks. Like how to deal with the ends that will need weaving, where to start the heel, as in are the jogs in the stitch pattern centered at the back, or on the side somewhere, etc, etc? I will have to do some research in my books and on the Web. That's one of the things I enjoy about knitting. Even though I've been doing it all my life, there's still a LOT for me to learn.

If you have any advice on this subject PLEASE post it in a comment. I could really use the help.

This evening Frank and Sarah are coming over for dinner. I've got a boneless leg of lamb hanging out in the freezer that needs to be eaten (actually, I took it out last night to thaw). I love roast lamb. I don't get it very often because it's so darn expensive. So, if there's a sale (usually around Passover/Easter time) I will buy a couple and toss them in the freezer for later enjoyment.

I've asked Sarah to bring that evil Munchkins game so I can give it another try. We also have the new Transformers dvd to watch. So it will be an evening of fun.

Have a great day.