Relieved and have since Reconsidered

As the side bar indicates, I’m going with Lace for January. After such a disappointing first shawl, too small and too variegated to show off the details, I’m going to do something semi-solid for the next one. MMH and Lucy have suggested a knit along with the Twinning Stole pattern. At least that’s what I think it’s called. I’m leaning toward black (Misti Alpaca) or dark navy blue (STR) but I’m not certain. I have some wild Scheafer Nicole and Tess’s bunny feet that I’d love to have near my face but they are just too colorful to pair with a pattern with any interest, and then if there isn’t any knitting interest what’s the point? I’m thinking this weekend could be a good time to cast on for the next shawl. I’m sure I’ll talk more about it as I go along.

Did you know that since Christmas I’ve cast on 4 new pairs of socks!?!?! That’s crazy. I’ve soft of finished a pair (one sock of two different pairs). One of the pairs is the Baudelaire by Cookie A. All through the foot it was a smashing success. Beautiful design and memorized the pattern repeat the first time through. I was so confident knitting it and listening to Dragons of the Highlord Skies that I promised myself I’d knit another pair for myself, AND one for my mother! I was so pleased with the pattern that for first time in over a year I decided to follow the pattern exactly, including the heel instructions. And then the tears began. I knit the heel and started to wonder if it was going to be big enough to fit around my foot. As I knit another 4” of leg each round made it more and more difficult to fit until it was finally impossible. So I ripped back and followed the directions for “high insteps”. I’ve never had a high instep but it seemed like it could work since it added 8 stitches to the circumference, well beyond my usual stitch count for a sock. Again, the fear and the eventual conclusion that this wasn’t going to work either, after another 3” of leg were knit. R-I-P-P-P-P!!!! I was disgusted. Here was the perfect sock design. It is so lovely it looks like a piece of artwork and I can’t get it on. Forget about a pair for me, or Mum!!! I threw it down. The next day I opted to try it with a size 2.5 needle instead of my standard size 1.5. So 8 extra stitches and much larger needles worked! I am relieved and have since reconsidered knitting a second pair.

Also Cooking!
I’ve been cooking; Veggie Pot Pie and Chilean Corn Chowder are the most recent attempts. I’m stepping out of the box and looking for some really good go to veggie recipes that are healthy and aren’t too difficult. The Boyfriend is even getting in on it, making Irish Soda Bread. The pot pie was a definite success taste wise but it was an hours worth of work (that’s a waste of perfectly good knitting time).