Yopping Update #28 - You'd think by now I would learn

 Before I get to the title of this post I want to post my finished Topsy/Turvy doll.  I am so ridiculously proud of how she turned out.  Now that the Christmas decorations are put away, she alone is adorning the piano - and she makes me so happy every time I see her. 

After all the sewing together (which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be,) I turned to my tried and true cast-on when I can't think of anything else to knit - socks. 

Since CinnaofDoom posted her new sock pattern last week, Say Yes to Pie, I thought I would give it a try.  It had an afterthought heel which I think I have never done, or maybe once long long ago, and it was for a shorty sock which was good because I only had a 50g ball of Felici.  I knew that wasn't enough wool for even a short pair of socks so I rummaged around in my stash for something to use on the heel and cuff. 

Well, it was all going along swimmingly until I got to the beginning of the cuff for the first sock.  I decided to put it aside and start the second sock to make sure I didn't run out of wool.  For some odd reason I decided to make sure the striping on the socks was going to match - which proved harder than I thought as I unravelled the remaining wool looking for a good beginning place.  I found it (after a lot of dyslexic which end is which moments) and knit up to the place where you put in the contrasting yarn to hold your place for the afterthought heel.  

This is where things became a little sticky.  I realized I wasn't going to have enough yarn to knit the 2nd sock to the same place as the first.  So, I frogged the first sock back to where the 2nd sock was - about 2 inches and then the nasty process of picking up the stitches again.  I had to break the remaining yarn into its individual colours and then split each colour into two equal lengths.  So, yes, I know, now I have a lot of ends to sew in.  By the time I ran out of wool I was at the cuff, but now the stash I had chosen didn't seem to be consistent enough.  I unravelled it (because it was also self-patterning) until I got to a colour that would work, and after 5 rows of that I finished it off with 5 rows of grey in my stash that matched the grey of the self-striping Felici.  I bet you think all this is why the title of my post is 'You'd think by now I would learn'.  But no....keep reading.

I finished both socks with a stretchy bind-off as suggested by the pattern and then started the first after-thought heel.  

The heel itself was easy but unpicking the row to pick up the stitches was awkward and seemed to take me forever (by the 2nd sock I had perfected  doing this - but for the first sock I was a slow learner).  

So, first sock finished!  Ta-Da!! I tried it on, worried that I might not have place the heel in the right place and I had.  Double ta-da!!.  However, the cuff was much too loose.  No problem, right?  Just unpick the cast off and re-do.  Well?????  

The problem was I had already woven in the end.  I KNOW I shouldn't weave in any ends until a project is completed, but I guess I was over-confident.  I mean I have knit at least a hundred pairs of socks.  

Well, let me tell you.  I am brilliant at weaving in ends. Brilliant!  After at least 30 minutes I finally thought I found the end, but really I had found the join for the final grey which meant I ended up having to re-knit the last 5 rows before doing the cast-off.

I was determined before going to bed to fix the cuff of the 2nd sock before starting the heel.  It proved someone easier because I eventually found the cast-off end, but it still wasn't a lot of fun.  Today I just have to cast-off again, and finish the heel. 

So there you have it - words to the wise 'Don't weave in any ends until the project is done!

I am very proud of my matching stripes though - so there is that!.  It is a great pattern, easy to memorize the textured part, but next time I knit with Felici yarn I will purposefully aim for fraternal socks!

I have been walking everyday averaging about three miles a day.  I have been taking pictures while walking as I sort of photo log of my days.  Today I think the picture was a beautiful metaphor of life.  

Life is full of 'rooty' bits

I also came across this a couple of days ago - the face on this little rock is the perfect face of determination.

Determination, or WTF?

I figure after my sock fiasco I am going to just bite the bullet and tackle another General Hogbuffer pattern - Slippery Slope Socks.  Let's see if I have learned from my mistakes.  

Hope everyone's week is safe and if there are 'rooty' bits in your path may you have the courage to just keep putting one foot in front of the other.  

Or as Dory says 'Just keep swimming'. 

One more thought - is it grey, or gray?  

Yopping Update #27 - Ready for Pride

 

Happy New Year.  I am ready for 2021 having celebrated its arrival with a very cold dip in the 7 degree Celsius ocean waters near my house.  It. Was. Cold.  A wonderful way to embrace the new year. 

I gave myself the twelve days of Christmas to finish my Rainbow Pride spin, but then I realized that it would be possible to finish it by December 31, and then I could apply the yardage to my stashdown.  I was off and running. (Well spinning)  On the 30th I spun most of the day to finish the last few ounces, and then I plied it all.  I ended up with 172 gms of 3ply yarn - probably sport weight - 364 meters!

Now to find the perfect pattern - and then I will be ready for Pride 2021.

On the knitting front I worked on all the pieces for my Topsy/Turvy Doll.  As of last night (and 15 little pink flowers later) I was done.

So now the sewing together starts - oh joy!  I am changing the pattern to have both the Cinderella as servant doll and the Cinderella at the Ball doll to both have happy faces, and to both have brown hair.  It doesn't make sense to me that when she gets ready for the ball she is suddenly blonde!  Okay, enough - off my soap box now.  (Although I don't think making the Cinderella before the Ball as constantly sad was a good choice either). 

After finishing the knitting, I catalogued all my remaining Brava Sport so I know what I have for my next baby blanket.  

And, drum roll please....after finishing the knitting for the Dolls, finishing my spinning, and going through my stash and picking out some cotton I wanted to donate I.....made my stashdown goals for 2020.  I didn't buy any new fibre so I got my fibre tiara, and I used up 13,300 yards of yarn so I got my yardage tiara (the goal was 13,200 yards).  I actually knit or crocheted much more because I had to take into account my online wool orders.  

I also am happy to report that both parcels finally arrived at their destinations.  My son's just before Christmas, and my daughter's just before New Years.  Hooray.  

We celebrated the New Year three times.  Once Croatian time, then Edmonton time, and finally in our own time zone.  Three times the fun. Some bugling, some pot banging and a wee bit of sparkling white wine along with some lox and cream cheese.  On New Year's Day our son once again joined us for dinner via skype.  It was a different Christmas and New Year but it was lovely all the same. 

Dear Grand-daughter turned two - and I am sure she thinks Christmas just rolls into Birthday and then into New Year celebrations.  I am glad that we got to be a part of it all thanks to technology. 

So here we are - the beginning of a new year, half way through a Year of Projects, and hoping and praying that this year will be safer and healthier and that once the vaccines are more accessible we can travel to loved ones and hold them tight. 

Unless of course....

Just kidding!