Some of you knew this was coming.

I finished the first Gentleman’s Fancy Sock for The Husband. It was knit with Lorna’s Laces Solemate in the colorway Bigger on the Inside and it took over half the yarn.

“No worries, I’ll get more.” I thought in my usual ridiculously optimistic fashion. “I just bought it in December; it’ll be fine.” I called three LYS and no one had a hank, so I ordered some online, requesting the same dye lot if they had it. It came in the mail (different dye lot).
um. no.
It is more of a solid than a semi-solid and honestly, if the first one had looked like this, I would not have fallen under its spell.

Options:
A. rip the toes out the first one and do them in this new yarn (or a contrasting color) – so both socks match. I am very big on matchy-matchy.
B. make the second sock and just knit the toes in the new yarn and the socks won’t match, but they’ll be in shoes, so no one will be the wiser. except me. I’ll know.
C. rip out the whole first sock and redesign it – move the decreases down quite a bit so the sock is shorter and pray whilst I knit.
D. knit the second sock to see how far I get and THEN analyze how much to rip out of the first one and do the toes in a coordinating gray. This was Lisa’s suggestion.

Lisa usually knows what she’s talking about and I’m in no hurry to rip, so I’m going with D.

Ps. In happier news, today is my mom’s birthday. Happy Birthday, Mom! I hope you’ve had a lovely day!!!

Pps. Check out what others have finished at Tami’s Amis and Wisdom begins in Wonder and Natural Suburbia

I had almost finished the blue cowl and was working on the final border. I glanced at the pattern and worked 4 rows just like the first border and then read the directions for binding off. “Bind off loosely purlwise on the wrong side.” I sent Alicia a quick email about how I would need to bind off on the right side after completing the border.

She graciously responded that I should bind off on the wrong side so the number of rows would be the same before the first shell and after the last one. She was kind enough to write that it wasn’t that big a deal if I’d bound off on the right side. She was even more kind not mention that it sounded as if I had no idea what I was doing and was actually not qualified to be test knitting at all and maybe even should have my needles confiscated.

I looked at the knitting and looked at the pattern. um. HOW does one bind off on the wrong side after the border? I don’t get it. I’m not proud to say that I sent her a second email asking how I should bind off on the wrong side after the border. I know how knitting works and after a wrong side row, you have to do a right side row when knitting flat. It’s like gravity. That’s how it works.
That’s how it works if there are supposed to be four rows in the final border.


But.

If the pattern actually says that there are only THREE rows in the ending border, well, then, my knitterly friends, then, I think we all know, you can in fact bind off purlwise on the wrong side just as the lovely Alicia suggested from the beginning.
Yes, I bound off on the wrong side and sent her an apologetic email to tell her what an arse I am.

Ps. I’ll post a link as soon as she has this pattern out. This is a fun quick perfect for gifts knit and I want to share the love.
Pps. Check out what others have finished at Tami’s Amis and Wisdom begins in Wonder

This past May, I was spending quite a bit of time at the vet office. So, I cast on plain black socks for The Husband because that suited my mood at the time. When they had Sydney in the back running tests, I would occupy my mind with stitch after stitch and not think about worst case scenarios. Thankfully, Sydney pulled through and is ALMOST 100%.


Here she is doing her Monet impression with her stuffed dragon.


…and The Husband opted for purple heels in his plain black socks. This was super exciting because I’m not a plain black sock kind of girl and he is very much a plain black sock kind of guy.

A happy healthy dog and finished purple heeled socks for The Husband. My cup runneth over!

Ps. I ravelryed my details for the 12W size if you are interested in that type of info.
Pps. Check out what other folks have finished at Tami’s Amis and Fiber Arts Friday!