So, I posted on the LJ Sock Knitters group about my frustrations with my socks wearing out and got some interesting feedback.
1. Apparently, 8 stitches per inch (which seems fairly standard in sock patterns) is, according to one commenter, way too loose, and will not result in a dense-enough fabric that will wear well. Hmm. Sadly, I like the 8 sts per inch fabric so I don't think I'm going to totally change what gauge I am knitting at (nice grammar there, KWAP).
2. Pure merino wears out more quickly than yarn with nylon in it. Yes, I knew this, and the socks that are starting to wear are not pure merino, they're knit with Felici, which is 25% nylon.
3. Perhaps your shoes are too tight? Hmm. This might make sense. I've been wearing my Calistogas a lot, and they do rub more on the heel. In addition, I believe that my three pregnancies may have transformed my dainty, elf-like feet into something a tad...larger. Thank god I've gotten over the vanity thing and now I'm pretty much mainly about comfort. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm still about the cute shoes, but just in a larger size.
My thought is that perhaps these Calistogas aren't the perfect shoe for me, especially in this size. (These brown ones are the replacements for my black ones that got all hoarked - I don't think I blogged about it here, but Keen's customer service ROCKS.) Perhaps I need some new shoes? I think I'm going to get these in the fall, in Soy. I think they're really cute, and I think I like them better than the slide version of the Calistogas. I like the ballet flats too, but they may have that heel issue. (I also love these, but I'm not sure they really GO with handmade socks, you know?) I'm also interested in these and these, but I think I'd have to see them in person and on before deciding. It's funny, I'm not really a SHOE person, you know? I tend to have two pairs (one brown, one black) that I wear all the time, and that's about it. I am in love with those slides though...I just wonder if they'll be warm enough in NE in the Fall.
All this to say, I did finish the Mini Mochi sock, did I tell you all that (you know, all five people who read this blog! ;) I'm trying to plug away on some other projects but it's tough when you're tired. I am sick of the Mini Mochi yarn, so I may start another vanilla sock out of something not so...annoying, before I come back and finish it. We'll see.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
It is almost summer!!!
We've been so busy here, it's crazy! Between school, friends, social stuff, and just life, I feel like time is FLYING. My oldest heads off to Kindergarten in the fall, so they're talking about it A LOT at school and I think he's feeling a bit anxious. He missed our K cutoff by a week, and I have to say that I am so happy about it. I think for him in particular, being one of the oldest is such a good thing. I am so glad that we didn't have to make the call, because it would have been a tough one. I can't believe I'm going to have a kid in real school! Amazing.
I have been doing some knitting. I did a few rows on the Falling Leaves sock. I finished the leg of the Mini Mochi sock. I am so not happy with how that is going. I did a sewn bind-off, which is what I usually do for toe-up socks and it did NOT play well with the yarn. Because the yarn has almost no twist, it's not strong enough to the sewing, and it BROKE, THREE TIMES. And since it's superwash, it (of course) doesn't spit-splice. I was so annoyed and frustrated that I ended up just knotting it. Annoying. Then I totally screwed up the picking up the stitches for the heel. I somehow managed to hook the loop from one side onto the needle (no idea how I did this, or even really what I did), so I had to end up SNIPPING it and knotting it. It's noticeable and I am not happy. I also somehow ended up with way too many stitches. Which is fine, I can use a bit of width there, as I also made this just a bit too snug (I should have done one more round of increases), but all in all, it's made me annoyed with the sock. It'll be wearable and the front is pretty but still. *I* know about the errors. Not my best effort, by far.
I've got a couple of other projects too, which I'm not feeling up to blogging about, so suffice to say, I've got a lot to do.
AND, a FB friend posted a picture of an adorable dress she made for her daughter and now I am totally wanting to sew for my daughter, so I'm in the middle of some sewing too.
I have been doing some knitting. I did a few rows on the Falling Leaves sock. I finished the leg of the Mini Mochi sock. I am so not happy with how that is going. I did a sewn bind-off, which is what I usually do for toe-up socks and it did NOT play well with the yarn. Because the yarn has almost no twist, it's not strong enough to the sewing, and it BROKE, THREE TIMES. And since it's superwash, it (of course) doesn't spit-splice. I was so annoyed and frustrated that I ended up just knotting it. Annoying. Then I totally screwed up the picking up the stitches for the heel. I somehow managed to hook the loop from one side onto the needle (no idea how I did this, or even really what I did), so I had to end up SNIPPING it and knotting it. It's noticeable and I am not happy. I also somehow ended up with way too many stitches. Which is fine, I can use a bit of width there, as I also made this just a bit too snug (I should have done one more round of increases), but all in all, it's made me annoyed with the sock. It'll be wearable and the front is pretty but still. *I* know about the errors. Not my best effort, by far.
I've got a couple of other projects too, which I'm not feeling up to blogging about, so suffice to say, I've got a lot to do.
AND, a FB friend posted a picture of an adorable dress she made for her daughter and now I am totally wanting to sew for my daughter, so I'm in the middle of some sewing too.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Guilt and Knitting (or lack thereof).
I have to keep reminding myself...the thing about hobbies is, they're for FUN. I don't get paid to knit, just the opposite really, so it's okay to take time "off" for having fun. I have the sort of personality that is way too loyal, so when I commit to something, I do it FULLY. Knitting is just not high on my list right now! It's been a busy busy month, and things aren't looking to calm down any time soon! All this is to say, really, I'm not knitting much at all. I did several more rows on my Mini Mochi sock, and that's about it. I don't know, some folks knit all year round, but I do find my knitting tapers off a LOT in the summer.
We'
ve had a couple of major milestones. DS2 turned FOUR last week. We had an in-school celebration on the day of his birthday (along with a field trip to the Butterfly Place), and we're having the kid party tomorrow. Thankfully, we decided to outsource, so we're g
oing to a party place. It's cheesy, yeah, but hey, I don't have to clean up my house or figure out what to do with 19 guests!! I just can't forget to make the cake. And my daughter. I can't believe she's one. Having a third was such a leap of faith (well, having kids at all is a leap, isn't it?
). I am so, so glad we did it. We were so lucky - blessed - to have her, and she's just a joy to me, every day. Not every single moment is, of course, but we get way more m
oments than most, I think. I was such an anxious first-time mom, and when my second came, not only was I completely sleep-deprived, I had a couple of major losses (my uncle dying, some friendships changing) that first year, and was just really sad for a long time. With her, we'd moved out of the city and I've been really happy here, I've got amazing friends in my life (both old and new), and I think, since I know she's my last, I'm just savoring it as much as I can. And, she's such a delightful baby. Not easy, exactly, she's very very active (just like her brothers), into everything and a bit of a handful, but she's such a sunny baby, I'm just so lucky.
We'
ve had a couple of major milestones. DS2 turned FOUR last week. We had an in-school celebration on the day of his birthday (along with a field trip to the Butterfly Place), and we're having the kid party tomorrow. Thankfully, we decided to outsource, so we're g
oing to a party place. It's cheesy, yeah, but hey, I don't have to clean up my house or figure out what to do with 19 guests!! I just can't forget to make the cake. And my daughter. I can't believe she's one. Having a third was such a leap of faith (well, having kids at all is a leap, isn't it?
). I am so, so glad we did it. We were so lucky - blessed - to have her, and she's just a joy to me, every day. Not every single moment is, of course, but we get way more m
oments than most, I think. I was such an anxious first-time mom, and when my second came, not only was I completely sleep-deprived, I had a couple of major losses (my uncle dying, some friendships changing) that first year, and was just really sad for a long time. With her, we'd moved out of the city and I've been really happy here, I've got amazing friends in my life (both old and new), and I think, since I know she's my last, I'm just savoring it as much as I can. And, she's such a delightful baby. Not easy, exactly, she's very very active (just like her brothers), into everything and a bit of a handful, but she's such a sunny baby, I'm just so lucky.
Monday, May 04, 2009
Whoa, where have I been?
Busy, but in a really good way! Last week, I got an email letting me know that I had made it off the wait list to a conference that I really wanted to go to. The course was on Meditation and Psychotherapy, and the main speaker on Friday was the Dalai Lama. Of course, I went. The entire conference was amazing, and I'm trying to figure out how to make some changes in my priorities. Doing is hard than thinking about doing, for me at least.
One part of the conference that was wonderful was that I got to go with one of my best friends, a fellow mom from the old 'hood, and I ran into another mom friend there, as well as a friend from my postdoc. So wonderful. I've been feeling really really blessed lately. I feel like my life is flowing over with friendship, family, and love. Not to mention so many material blessings.
Even with all of this, I've been doing some knitting, but, sadly, I think it may be translating out to negative knitting! I'm working on one project where I started it, and didn't get gauge. Started again, got gauge, but dropped a stitch. Started again, got some rows done and realized something looked weird, only to discover that there were 4 more rows of the pattern on the next page. *sigh* I gave up at that point, and tried again a few days later. I knit some, dropped a stitch and ripped it again.
I had the issue of the monkey that had to be ripped back and redone and I haven't had the heart to start it again, because somehow when I started it again, I started at the wrong side, so I'm half a row off and honestly I am not sure what to do about it.
THEN. I started the mini mochi vanilla socks again, this time on 2.5 mms, and I'm definitely liking the fabric much better. However, I noticed that I'd dropped a stitch, something like 15 rows down and just hadn't, you know, noticed. Okay, I had noticed but I didn't really see that it was a dropped stitch. I don't know what is going on with me and dropping stitches these days, it's not something that I do usually that often, but it's an epidemic right now! I'm actually really proud of myself - I got a very very small crochet hook and managed to manually knit the stitch up to the needle and it looks just fine!
So, I think maybe I'm just too tired to be knitting. I think the fact that I am finally getting some decent sleep (for the most part, not including the night my oldest was up from 2:00 am to 4:30 am with nightmares, except how can you be having nightmares if you WILL NOT GO BACK TO BED??) means my body is kicking and saying "Oh yeah, SLEEP! That's what I've been missing for the last year! Gimme more of that!!"
I feel like there are all kinds of wonderful things coming up, and all kinds of things that I'm super-excited to be doing...I'm working out to train for my part of my team's triathalon, I've got a wonderful new bookclub with some amazing women, I've got my group of friends in "the City" that we try to get together with regularly...my second son turns FOUR on Thursday, my daughter turns ONE a week after that...wow, life is just so full.
One part of the conference that was wonderful was that I got to go with one of my best friends, a fellow mom from the old 'hood, and I ran into another mom friend there, as well as a friend from my postdoc. So wonderful. I've been feeling really really blessed lately. I feel like my life is flowing over with friendship, family, and love. Not to mention so many material blessings.
Even with all of this, I've been doing some knitting, but, sadly, I think it may be translating out to negative knitting! I'm working on one project where I started it, and didn't get gauge. Started again, got gauge, but dropped a stitch. Started again, got some rows done and realized something looked weird, only to discover that there were 4 more rows of the pattern on the next page. *sigh* I gave up at that point, and tried again a few days later. I knit some, dropped a stitch and ripped it again.
I had the issue of the monkey that had to be ripped back and redone and I haven't had the heart to start it again, because somehow when I started it again, I started at the wrong side, so I'm half a row off and honestly I am not sure what to do about it.
THEN. I started the mini mochi vanilla socks again, this time on 2.5 mms, and I'm definitely liking the fabric much better. However, I noticed that I'd dropped a stitch, something like 15 rows down and just hadn't, you know, noticed. Okay, I had noticed but I didn't really see that it was a dropped stitch. I don't know what is going on with me and dropping stitches these days, it's not something that I do usually that often, but it's an epidemic right now! I'm actually really proud of myself - I got a very very small crochet hook and managed to manually knit the stitch up to the needle and it looks just fine!
So, I think maybe I'm just too tired to be knitting. I think the fact that I am finally getting some decent sleep (for the most part, not including the night my oldest was up from 2:00 am to 4:30 am with nightmares, except how can you be having nightmares if you WILL NOT GO BACK TO BED??) means my body is kicking and saying "Oh yeah, SLEEP! That's what I've been missing for the last year! Gimme more of that!!"
I feel like there are all kinds of wonderful things coming up, and all kinds of things that I'm super-excited to be doing...I'm working out to train for my part of my team's triathalon, I've got a wonderful new bookclub with some amazing women, I've got my group of friends in "the City" that we try to get together with regularly...my second son turns FOUR on Thursday, my daughter turns ONE a week after that...wow, life is just so full.
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