That's Two

Now I'm catching up. Earlier this month I finally finished a Sock of Shame, Sockdolager by Adrienne Fong, the qualifying pattern for last year's Sock Madness 7. Needless to add, last year's Sock Madness didn't go very well for me – I didn't even qualify for patterns.



Sockdolager as written has a new-to-me Fleegle heel. While I enjoyed learning a new heel, it's not a good fit for my Frankenfeet – it might be good for someone with a narrow heel and wide ankle. So I knit the second sock with the usual eye of partridge heel flap and French heel and am much happier with the fit. In the photo below, the Fleegle heel is on the left, the French heel is on the right.



As mentioned previously, the yarn is vintage club yarn that looked pretty, almost dainty, in the skein. It's a little surprising how dynamic the knit fabric is. I expected the welted chevron pattern would add discipline to the skinny stripes; instead it seems to have unleashed them!



Overall, I'm pleased with these socks and also pleased to have finished them. This is a year of tying up loose ends for me, and it feels good.

Ravellenics 2014 Recap

Continuing the catch-up: Last month there was a modest amount of Ravellenic crafting roundabout Exit 151. I crocheted three pinky granny hearts to use as hotpads because I was getting sick of all the snow. Which only seemed to encourage more snow to fall the day before Valentine's Day.



I picked at my old Scar socks, which were cast on in ::cough:: September 2007. Since then, there have been many, many attempts to complete them and many, many appearances with the year-end Socks of Shame. Here's where I started this time.



And here's where I finished. One pair = one less UFO, one less Sock of Shame!



That left me contemplating my almost-finished Betty's Tee (front view).



I love the pattern and the yarns, but the combination just wasn't working (back view).



So there was nothing else to do but frog (frogged view).



Thus Ravellenic glory was mine in three events. I claimed my event medals, but didn't bother with the technique medals available. The giant kerfuffle over human rights before the games made me realize I'm on Team Simplify rather than on Team Many Rules. From my perspective the stakes in a knit-along pale in comparison to the stakes in real life geopolitical crises, such as the crisis in Ukraine. Although I do enjoy seeing a Bobicus or three on my blog.



I ordered the 2014 Ravellenics pin, delivery pending. When it arrives, my Games will be complete.

Beginning

Happy New Year! As often happens this time of year, I've been gorging on Internet tidbits and factoids, such as the trend in English toward more use of progressive (-ing) tenses. Formal grammar is one of several school subjects but dimly recalled; happily, English Grammar for Dummies is available online to help burnish away the rust. In a similar vein, I've optimistically joined yet another knit-along, 14 in 2014. Last year was not so productive (there were reasons, of course) and I'm hoping the new year will be better, not least on the fiber front.

The goal of the knit-along is to end the year with 14 FOs. At first I thought about socks, then UFOs, then sock UFOs, then I thought perhaps a wider scope could be helpful. Although there's no lack of sock UFOs. Considering only the Singleton Socks of Shame, in 2013 no socks came down from the clothesline of shame, three went up for a total of 10 Socks of Shame for 2013 – not the most ever, but backwards progress.

Singleton Socks of Shame 2013, left to right: Meadowlands, Scar, Fawkes, Julesokker, Love Me Knot, Clouds, Chain Link, Bricks and Tiles, Sockdolager, Hanauma Bay.

The newest Socks of Shame, both Adrienne Fong designs, are particularly distressing as the designer has been suffering serious health issues since Thanksgiving. There are plans afoot (yes!) to send her get well cards and wee socks.

Thinking about Adrienne got me thinking about knitting. Learning a couple years ago that she rarely knits pairs of socks and rarely stresses about it made me considerably less anxious about my own great cloud of UFOs. I'd still like to finish them eventually, but thanks to her it feels less like the deadweight of expectation and more like a matter of volition on my part. It's a great gift to transform attitudes, and I'll always be grateful to her for that. I have the KAL to help me translate new attitudes into new actions.

So here's to a sparkling 2014 for everyone – happy, healthy, and full of fibery goodness and positive attitudes and actions!