Thursday, May 31, 2007

FOs

As you may have noticed from the added photos in the last post, I finished the red Pinheads and Picot socks. They are super comfy, and even though today was a fairly warm day, I've been wearing them all evening. I just love how hand knitted socks feel on your feet, and whenever I get a pair done, I have to wear them right away. And talking about wearing your hand knitted socks, I ordered a pair of shoes that will allow me to wear them to work, too. When the weather cools down again, that is.
I think these will look very nice with wool socks. They are Red Wing Alexandrias -a brand I've never worn before, but they look comfy. Most of my shoes are SoftSpots, because they have really nice ones for wide feet. And I order all my shoes online, because so few store carry wide sizes any more. I could go on and on about this...

But there's something I've been wondering about when it comes to wearing your own handmade socks. Do you wear them to work? And do you have certain ones that you can wear to work and others not? (I'm thinking black or other more subtle colors that wouldn't be too obvious if you have any kind of a dress code.) I've wondered about this for a while, and would like to hear from you.

I also finished something else, namely the Clementine shawlette. I actually finished it over a week ago already, but didn't get a chance to take pictures, other than of the blocking.


I used sock yarn to knit this to get it a little heavier than lace weight. This took almost 200 g of yarn on 3.5 mm needles. I really enjoyed knitting it, it was fairly mindless with the easy to memorize pattern and all. I made a couple of changes to the pattern, though (hey, that's new! Who would have thought...) Other than knitting with a different weight yarn, I added two pattern repeats sideways, because with just 5 repeats it would have been way too narrow. I also added some short rows on the last row to make the join work better. The zig-zag pattern would pull otherwise, when you join it head to head. I thought I'd try short rows (very short, 6 stitches for each pattern repeat), and it worked. So the zig-zag is still a zig-zag even at the join.

Here's a couple of modeled shots, too. It works perfect for keeping me warm in my chilly office.



My husband says I look too serious... but look at those pretty skies and the slough in the back of our house getting all green! It's full of birds, as you might guess. So much so that we can't sleep with the windows open, because the birdies start screaming EARLY in the morning and wake us up.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I do NOT wear store-bought socks. I wear my socks to work (before I retired) and everywhere else. Our dress code was not too severe, so it was fun. Co-workers would come by to see what socks I had on.

I love your red socks and they should look wonderful in your new shoes. The shawlette is cool, too.

Anonymous said...

The Shawlette is very pretty - I have had the pattern "sticky noted" since I got it - I like your idea of using heavier yarn!
PS - I just finished my "Tutti Frutti" socks - need to take a picture - I love them...Thank you again!

Arianne said...

Your Clementine Shawlette is beautiful! I love the variegated blue. :)

I think your mod of making it a bit wider is a good one! I may copy it when I make mine! :)

Lisa said...

LOVE the shawl, socks and shoes. I'm a shoe gal myself and really love those ones.

Anonymous said...

I love the color of your shawl!

Cindy said...

Your shawl is beautiful! And so are the socks. I like wearing my socks and since I usually wear pants to work in the wintertime, it is like wearing a little secret on my toes! Sometimes the crazier colored the better.