It was rather late Friday night when it bit me--the urge to knit socks. I have a some WIP socks in my basket, but they are patterned "fussy" socks that require thinking and fancy maneuvers. I wanted to knit simple, almost no-brainer, no pattern needed socks. I think the urge may have had something to do with the Townies sock knitting group I belong to. These folks are plumb crazy about knitting socks! They buy lots of expensive fancy sock yarn and knit amazing apparel for feet. But they are loads of fun and they are most respectful of us humble sock knitters.
I bought this colorful Regia (sorta pricey for me) sock yarn on sale at the KnP in January. The colors are fabulous. But I was less than thrilled with my inital swatches and beginnings of cuffs, so I relegated the yarn to the frog pond and started knitting lace shawls instead. A helpful Townie assured me the yarn was really great and a smaller needle size/higher stitch count would solve my frustrations. So I opened a new set of Crystal Palace bamboo dpns (2.25mm/US 1) and cast on using my favorite 2x2 rib cuff. When stretched out, I think a 2x2 rib has a superior appearance over the usual 1x1 rib. And since I dislike knitting ribbing, 2x2 is much more tolerable (less manipulating of the needles and yarn to form the knits & purls for us throwers). Ribbing is even better tolerated when worked in superior quality needles and these CP needles are smooth and sharp and totally awesome to work with (translation=much better than Clover/Takumi dpns). Two hours later when I was ready to kiss Miss Emme (the dog) goodnight for the last time and turn the lights out I had a very respectable start to a cuff. I convinced myself to stick with it and knit a cuff long enough to fold down rather than just a quickie anklet. After all, it was pricey yarn--no sense having a bunch leftover in my basket.
Fast forward to Saturday afternoon and time for my beloved Vols to play in the 2nd round of the NCAA tourney against Witchita State. I debated between the coral lace shawl (the lucky project in the 1st round game) or the Regia socks for my game time sanity activity. I decided to stick with the socks since I was already on a roll with them. The basketball game was very close--again. Too close--again! The ribbed cuff grew fast with the distraction of the game. The Vols went on a run late in the 2nd half. I was excited and knit fast. Then suddenly the ball stopped going down the basket. The lead melted away as only 2 minutes remained. Andre' Patterson fouled out. Ouch! Dane Bradshaw missed critical free throws. Oh no! The Big Orange went down! Moan, groan!!! Maybe I shoulda stuck with the shawl.
No comments:
Post a Comment