Wednesday, January 12, 2005

toe-up socks & a silly cow

Current WIP: I'm knitting toe-up socks for a change of pace but I'm still using my trusty 47" size 0 Addi Turbo circular. How much abuse can it take before it breaks? Stay tuned. FYI: The instructions in the Magic Loop booklet for the figure 8 cast-on (onto a single circular needle) are brilliant. That's worth the cost of the booklet.



Before casting on I looked at the stripey knee socks, my only other pair of toe-up socks, to count the number of stitches in the cast on -- and noticed a hole near the cuff!



Better than a hole near the foot. A stitch was secured with a safety pin before it dropped too far. After close examination I determined that a single stitch broke and the strand below it also looks weak, it's ready to break. Do bugs eat so daintily? I don't know if the sock snagged on something sharp or if an insect munched through 1.5 strands and then stopped. The latter seems improbable but what do I know. There's only this one spot of damage, both socks were stored together (and by "stored" I mean they were folded over and sitting on top of a box in my bedroom for the last 2 years). Any insight?

I almost started a pair of stripey socks using black and variegated yarns but decided it was better to use the Regia yarn mom gave me for Christmas. See, she's visiting this weekend and I'd like to make it clear that yarn is a lovely thoughtful very much appreciated gift. This is the first surprise yarn I've received as a gift, it was very exciting to find it under the Christmas tree. The message I want to broadcast is: "I love wool sock yarn, I love it soooo much that when you give it to me I am compelled to use it right away because it's so fantastic. More yarn please." Actions speak louder than words.

Tell me, which would you rather receive as a gift?


Christmas 2004 gift

OR


Birthday 2002 gift

No kidding, my parents gave me the cow a few years ago for my birthday. (When my friend saw this photo he asked, "Do your parents hate you?") Later I saw this line of costumed cow statuettes in a Hallmark store for ~$25.00 each. *thud* Apparently they're considered collectible. Uh, if anyone wants to trade the clown cow for some yarn my e-mail address is in the sidebar.

1 comment:

General Ginger said...

Um, this one is a no brainer: I'd take the sock yarn over that crazy cow. Perhaps you could put that cow up on ebay and advertise it as a collectors item? I'm knitting some socks right now in a very similar Regia yarn as yours. I truly love the way this yarn knits. Regarding the hole in your sock, perhaps you walked into the room, set something down on top of the socks and it snagged when you went to retrieve it later. Nah, its probably just aliens. ;)