A very good question

Pam asked a very good question in the comments of the last post. She wanted to know why the socks I made were so short. The reason is different for each pair, and I'll tell you why. Ben's socks are short because I hated the yarn and wanted to be done with them. So knitting from the toe up, I cast off as soon as I possibly could to get them over with. For my Parasol socks, it's a bit different. The pattern was written from the cuff down, and when you knit socks cuff-down you have to be very careful that you leave enough yarn to finish off the foot. Since I have large feet, I made sure to leave more than enough just to be safe. Thus, the short leg. For the ribbed pair pictured a couple of posts down, the blue ones that I'm obviously knitting toe-up, they will be much longer in the leg because I can complete the foot, then just knit away on the leg until the yarn is about gone. I'm working on the leg now, and I'd say they're at least an inch or two longer than the lacy ones so far, and still plenty of yarn to go. So those will be longer and more to Pam's liking. I personally don't wear knee socks, so they won't be that long, but they'll at least come up to the bottom of my calf. The ribbing is very stretchy too, and they look very nice when I try them on. That's another benefit to knitting toe-up: you can try them on for fit much more easily. Thanks for the question, Pam! I love to talk about knitting and try to get others interested in it. Socks seem like a pretty hard thing to knit at first, but once you learn the basics of their construction they are really quite easy and fun.

Just a few sock photos

First is a pair of socks I finished for Ben last month, but I just now got around to photographing them. He doesn't like the way they feel when he walks around...the yarn is a bit scratchy and the purl bumps on the inside definitely feel different than a machine-knit pair. But he concedes that they are much warmer! And second is a pair I just finished a few minutes ago. They're different from the ones you see partially finished in my last post. I had more fun with this stitch pattern, therefore I worked on them more. The other pair should be done later in the week if they kids let me knit while they're off school. That's all for this weekend!

Baby steps

Things with Ben are good this week. I hesitate to be more effusive than that because I know they can turn on a dime. We have made good progress with remembering homework materials, and so far no accidents. Things are going well with reducing computer and TV time, and everyone seems happy. I'm just going to roll with it and hope that any steps back will only be small ones. He's still not enjoying the writing exercises he is supposed to do, but today he did participate in writing what the teacher called "a friendly letter" without too much complaint. Maybe if they'd switch over and write "a heated missive" he'd be even more interested? Hormones kicked in today and I completed nothing other than the turning of two sock heels. Here they are from a couple of days ago, when all I'd accomplished was covering my toes: I'm now over halfway done and beginning to work up the leg. I like the fact that I can gauge my yarn usage better with toe-up socks than with cuff-downs, an important thing when you have size 10 feet. When you go toe-up, you can stop the leg whenever it looks like you're about to run out of yarn. You can't really make the foot shorter if you run out of yarn on a cuff-down sock. Well you can, but when you've got boats rather than feet you may end up giving away a pair of socks you were really looking forward to wearing. And hating the puny-footed friend who gets them, for a day or two. Other than that, not much. Taking the girlie girl to see the Hannah Montana concert movie tomorrow night...wishing I had an iPod and a pair of light-up knitting needles, but oh well. And starting to think about her birthday party. This year we're planning a bowling party with only 10 or so children, and a sleepover with one of her best friends afterward. Should be fun.