Friday, August 14, 2009

My little corner of chaos

I have some vacation days coming up, and my intention, in addition to turning a few UFOs in to FOs, is to do a serious clean on the house.

But I got a little jump start on it today when I came home, looked at my couch and saw this:
Plus, my back's been on the fritz again, and Dave gets cranky when I stretch out on his/Tux's love seat and says really mean things like, "Well you could stretch out on the couch if you'd only clean up your mess."

I swear sometimes I'm dating my mother - it's weird.

Anyway, I got ambitious and now it looks like this:Actually, right now it's covered in cats, but they only came out after I put the vacuum away. (Please excuse the yucky, stained couch.. it was free and I needed furniture)

And after all that cleaning (and an emergency trip up to Mom and Dad's to help them eat the crap load of Chinese food Dad bought) I even managed to finish my Wollmeise sock. (Of course it's now 1 a.m. and I really should be in bed I have to be up in six hours)
Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of your own foot? I managed but you should see the outtakes.

I really wish you could see the true colour of these socks. The blue isn't so blue... it's an incredible mix of dark ultra-marine, and a rich deep aqua. When I get the other sock done I'm going to try taking some pics in natural light.. maybe then I'll be able to show you because this picture really doesn't do it justice.
A few notes about the design.

I really love this stitch pattern. It's a simple two row repeat, nice and easy to memorize.

I do, however, think it would be better served in a longer sock. Now I don't have enough of this yarn to do that... but I am working on Mom to test knit the pattern (she has a whole Wollmeise stash... though of course it can be knit in any sock yarn) so with any luck, I'll be releasing a long and short version in one.

This has nothing to do with the pattern itself, but one of little things that kind of irked me was the yarn. It's a nice yarn the colours are gorgeous, but all around the cuff, and the heel, it has a nice thin stripey pattern, but as I finished the decreasing for the instep, it started to pool. At first it was pooling with the purple/red on the underside and the aqua on top, but then it started this weird pooling swirl.

Now I know that's just the nature of hand-dyed yarn and there's not much you can do about it. My only worry is the second sock.... what if it pools completely different? I don't mind a little difference, I'm not all about crazy symmetry and matchy-pooness, (the stripes on my red ankles socks don't quite match and it doesn't bug me) but what if it's all crazy different. Mom made me a pair of socks, and one was striped and the other was pooled.. it was weird. Has anyone else had that happen?

5 comments:

lexa said...

I have to keep fleece throws over the ends of my sectional sofa in the living room. The cats absolutely loved it for a scratch post and have the ends tore apart right to the wooden frame. Of all the furniture I've had that's the only one they've done that to. It's the most comfortable thing to sit or lay on, and I can't afford new right now, so it has to do.

Love the socks! I made Dad a pair out of cheap Bernat Sox, and one sock pooled like crazy. The second one didn't quite stripe, but it was much different from the first one.

Minding My Own Stitches said...

If they pool I frog them. I just don't like it, it's just the way I am.

Jenn said...

Usually I have the pooling once I hit the turning of the heel and gusset and number of stitches change. I can't think of a time where one sock's pooled and the other has not though, they usually pool in the same spot around the ankle bone. :-)
The pattern reminds me of one of my fave patterns called broadripple, it's a freebie on knitty.
They look good though!!
I live with my mother somedays as well LOL I know how you feel.

Walden said...

I usually have a similar situation as your couch. Only mine is my computer desk and the surrounding floor space. My boyfriend tells me that I would be able to accomplish more at my desk if only I'd clean up my crap. :) Even when I do clean, it only stays that way for a couple of days before I am buried in craft stuff again.

Alisha said...

Your corner looked fabulous before and after. Made me smile. It is neat to see where creativity takes place!