Crossing my Fingers and Toes

If asked, I usually describe myself as a Sock Knitter. Lately, however, that's changed. The last couple of pairs of socks I've knitted have really kicked my butt. I did a Cookie A pattern, Cusp, that had me knitting the same sock three times in order to get it right. I'm still not sure why I didn't just give up and start a different - easier - pattern, except that the socks did turn out to be well-worth the trouble they gave me. They were gorgeous! Unfortunately, I gave them to my daughter without getting a photo of the finished pair. Hopefully I can get her to send me a picture of them on her feet because the way the lace curved around from the back to the front was simply wonderful.

A normal person would have taken a break and knit something simple after struggling with the Cusp socks. Nobody has ever accused me of being normal.Which is why I cast on Mince Pie Mayhem, a sock pattern by Alice Yu. I've only recently discovered Alice Yu and her amazing designs. I have a list of her socks that I want to knit! (If only I could get the pattern for Deuce...unfortunately my laptop won't support Sockupied.) I only had to start over twice on these socks before I managed to get into the swing of the cables. Every other row has cables almost every other stitch, which means that I'm okay as long as I'm concentrating. As soon as I get over-confident, though, and start to think that I have the pattern memorized...sigh, it's tink*-time.

One of the things I really like about this pattern is the way the gusset and heel flap are done together. The gusset comes up along the ankle, rather than running along the length of the foot. You knit the heel flap, the gusset increases, and continuing to knit the instep all at the same time. My normal sock construction is to knit only the heel flap (ignoring the instep), then going back to pick up for the gusset and instep stitches. I can't wait to compare the way the construction of this sock fits with my normal construction.

Just in case you think that I spent all my time in April agonizing over socks, I did cast on - and finish! - a shawlette. Carolyn, in my Thursday knitting group, was working on a beautiful Wingspan in Noro Kureyon yarn. I love Noro Kureyon, and I just happened to have the exact same colorway in my stash that she was using. Now I could claim, in fact I have claimed, that I spur-of-the-moment cast on a Wingspan while I was up in New York after discovering that cabling the Mince on the subway was too difficult. The truth is, I packed my skein of Noro Kureyon in my suitcase because deep in my heart, I lusted after Carolyn's Wingspan. As it turned out, I'm not the only one to have stalked her project. Noro Wingspan has become unintentional KAL with at least one other knitter working on the same project (Pattern and Colorway!)

I've already worn my Wingspan to work, and there were a lot of compliments. You really can't beat Noro for the beautiful colors. And this was such a great carry-along pattern to knit, I'm tempted to cast on another one using the black/gray self-striping sock yarn in my stash.

First, though, I'll be casting on Hecate.  This is a For-Real KAL that we're doing (and not just another Oh-I-like-your-project-so-I'm-going-to-copy-you KAL). I found some of my hand-spun that will work nicely for this pattern, so I'm looking forward to getting started. I've also got a sweater pattern picked out that I promised to knit for my daughter, so I better get back to the needles!




*Tink - to knit backwards, undoing all the work you've just finished