Tomorrow the Mess Girls and myself are going to a ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC FESTIVAL!
*devil horns and tongues in grotesque displays*
Does this make me “one of those Moms” that takes their 10 year old to punk shows and is “friends” with their teenager? God, I hope not. Actually, I’ve been reading related blogs and such and see that this is an at least 10 hour show. I’ve already told the girls that in order to up my “cool cred” points, I’m bringing some knitting to work on between sets and during bands that suck ass. If any of these little poseur punks try to give me attitude for being a boring old lady, I’ll just have to punch them in the throat or kick them in the head. Don’t push me, I could do it. Really.

I have a pair of socks here that need some obedience training.

These are the basic toe-up, short-row heel socks I’m knitting for Little E. I’ve done the heels three times now and now I think I need to frog completely and start all over. Bastard socks!

First of all, these are the first short row heels I’ve ever done. The first attempt, I was having trouble with the wrap and turn instructions I was following. So I googled, Ravelried, and Knitty-ed and found a few tutorials and suggestions. I decided to use this tutorial from Knit Picks. My second go was much more successful. But when E got home from school and tried them on again, I discovered that her 10 year old feet grew while she was away! I swear I measured twice but they were just a “scosh” too short. Seeing as she is growing a few inches every time she leaves the room, I thought it best to frog and reknit the foot a little longer. My third attempt at the short row heel was quite nice.
Last night she tried them on again. Lo and behold, she grew overnight again. They are much better than they were a few days ago, but still a tad snug. Because I’m a good mother and all that bullshit, I’m going to have to frog them completely and start again. She loves this yarn and colorway and is really looking forward to wearing these socks. That kind of encouragement doesn’t come along everyday from our long suffering families. But I am reconsidering the heel. I did the short-row initially because I thought it would be quicker. Ha! I think a flap and gussett heel is a little roomier, we’ll see.

In other “knitting for the kids” news: Little E also picked out a ball of Patons Classic Wool in Wedgewood a while back and asked for a shrug out of it. Yesterday after I gave up on the socks and wasn’t in the mood for thinking knitting, I picked up the ball and a pair of size 10 needles along with my stitch dictionary and started to swatch.
I really like it but E thinks she’d like something a little more solid. So I may frog this swatch and just do a stockinette stitch shrug on big needles with a 2×2 rib edge for her. But I do like this stitch pattern so I may grab a ball or two of stash yarn and see what I come up with for a bed jacket/shrug in an adult size.

*photo credit: Jen at Wool & Company*

As mentioned in today’s podcast, I finished some projects this week. Most significant would be these damn socks. I still love the combination of colors and the knitting was entertaining and something new. But just past the halfway point of the second sock, I lost interest and found the two-handed knitting was cumbersome and took too much concentration for thoughtless summer knitting. So they had been put aside until this past week. When it was all said and done, I only had about two pattern repeats to complete before the toe. Details about how I messed them up on the second sock can be read on the Wool & Co blog today.

The reason I picked them back up was because I needed the needles they were on so I could cast on another project. Little E had picked out some sock yarn at the Midwest Fiber Festival that she really wanted me to knit some socks for her. (Photos coming later) As of this typing, they are almost up to the heel turn. I’m knitting them using Magic Loop, two-at-a-time, toe up. They should be done by the end of the week.

Another new project on the needles is a circular shawl from Wrapped in Comfort: knitted lace shawls with the Briar Rose Fiber Angel Face that I also purchased at the Midwest Fiber Festival.
I know this is going to work up beautifully, I just have to keep myself motivated to continue knitting thread-like laceweight in an almost impossible to read pattern. When I say “read” I don’t mean the written pattern or chart, I’m referring to “reading my knitting.” Typically as I’m knitting a lace pattern, I can usually figure out by looking at the stitches on the needle and figure out where I am in the pattern and what line is next. After a few repeats, I can usually proceed without having to refer to the chart for the most part. But either because of the particular pattern I chose to work from this book or because of the nature of this super fine yarn, I haven’t gotten to that point with this project yet. It may also be the ten row repeat that is hindering me.