Knits for appendages

The Color Affection shawl is totally, completely finished – blocked, ends woven in and all – but not photographed.  So you can continue to anticipate its unveiling…

In the meantime, I started a couple of smaller projects.  The first is a bit unusual for me – Plain Jhaynes fingerless mitts by Anne Hanson.  These are knit from LACEWEIGHT yarn, but they only require a tiny amount of it – the largest size calls for 200 yards.  Aren’t they dainty?I had the cutest, tiniest, 25 g ball of Yakaboo (40% yak, 40% merino, 20% bamboo), which is laceweight, and I thought this was just the thing for it.  (I bought this yarn at MDSW 2011 and it came with a fingerless mitt pattern from Still River Mill, but I found the pattern to be indecipherable and gave up.)  I’m working these on my usual sock needles (2.0mm, US 0) and they were coming along quite speedily until I got distracted by another top secret project that you’ll hear about next month.I’ve just finished the thumb gusset increases – the thumb stitches are between the purple markers in the photo above.  I think these will feel awfully ladylike come fall.  They are soooo lightweight and super soft.

I also needed a new sock-in-progress (after finishing the Warm Willow Socks) but I wanted it to be fairly simple.  I picked a freebie that was a promotional release advertising one of those Wendy Knits books, called Diagonal Lace Socks.  This is a toe up sock, which isn’t usually my thing, but in the spirit of leaning into my discomfort, I decided to work it as written.  Until, that is, I saw the toe featured in the pattern.  It appears to have been fitted to Fred Flintstone’s foot!  I opted for Lorilee Beltman’s pleasingly rounded toe (frankensteined from the Our Paths Cross pattern) instead.  See the difference?  Stubby vs. round:

The more I contemplated this stubby toe, the more it bothered me.  You have got to see one of the photos from the pattern.  This one shows the model’s whole body (not just her feet) and she is the epitome of long and lean.  Yet, she’s reclining in an extremely awkward position, and her socks end with these little clubs.  It just looks WRONG to me!Good thing I’m okay modifying patterns.  I had to change the sizing, too – the “medium” size was 66 stitches in circumference, but it was just too big on me.  All those lace holes make the fabric loose and stretchy.  So I ripped back, revised the chart, and am working the sock over 60 stitches now.  I’m not very far along but that’s because I spent some time frogging and reknitting.

Oh, and I had to perform an Emergency Cast On on Saturday – I didn’t want to go to a baseball game without knitting, so I cast on for a pair of Felici Sportweight socks.  I didn’t end up knitting at the game because it turns out that minor league baseball is actually pretty interesting*.  I felt better for having it in my bag, though.

*For one thing, the visiting team’s name was the Flying Squirrels (from Richmond).  YES!