Friday, January 05, 2007

sock or tacky afghan?

I report, you decide.

This is the sock that I've started for my Sis's birthday gift (it's safe to post; she doesn't use these newfangled internets). I really shouldn't be knitting it just yet, since her birthday isn't til the end of the month, but I can't help it, it's fun. The other things I *should* be knitting include a little afghan for the cat to keep his hair off HWWLLB's favorite chair, and a baby sweater. Yes, another new baby. The breeders just won't quit, I tell you!

chevron sock in progress

So is this sock ugly? Really, be honest.

Sometimes I look at it and it's fun! So cute! Stripey! Chevroney! Lacey!

Other times I look at it and it reminds me of the extremely tacky 70's afghan in my mother's hall closet. We used to make it into a tacky tent in the living room when we were small (in the 70's) and play campout. Tacky campout.

I am torn, but I can't stop knitting on this sock because it's a really fun little lace repeat, so much more interesting than the never-ending garter stitch of Simon's afghan. Also, the afghan is being made with cheapie yarn, which does not feel as sweet and silky on the fingers as this nice Meilenweit sock yarn does.

The other project, the baby sweater? Ugh. Don't get me started. Well, okay, I'm started now, so I'll tell you about it. It is a very cute design, which I have designed myself thankyouverymuch, but something very bad happened. The gauge swatch lied. Lied!

After knitting about 2/3 of the sweater, it just looked big. Bigger than a newborn really needs. So I measured and checked gauge and as it turns out the gauge is not 4 stitches to the inch, it's 3.5 stitches to the inch, and so now I have a sweater perfectly sized to an 18-month old. This is not to imply that I don't know any 18-month olds (boy, howdy!), but rather that what I meant to knit was a newborn sweater.

This will probably all work out fine in the end, once I order more yarn and knit the smaller version (as long as the baby doesn't grow in the mean time - is that too much to ask?), and I'll be able to post nice accurate sizing instructions if I include this sweater on a Free Pattern Friday. But, but... I don't feel like it! I've already done this once! It is so hard to knit the same pattern twice, I just don't have the attention span.

So it's back to the sock. In fact, I think I'll pick it up now, it's looking cute and stripey to me at the moment. Or is it...?

5 comments:

  1. I like 'em, but my tastes aren't particularly mainstream

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  2. Cute and stripey all the way. There's no earth tones, and it can't be 70's tacky without burnt orange or avocado.

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  3. Cute and a little bit funky! I would love to wear them. If your sister is very conservative in her clothing choices, they might be a bit much, but for the average/mildly adventurous dresser, they're fabulous.

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  4. Yup - there has to be burnt orange or avocado green to make it a tacky 70s afghan. You're in the clear!

    I like it.

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  5. Those socks definitely have a 70's afghan feel but they may not look that way after a blocking. It's something about the yarn that's giving it that look. I think the colors and the chevron are nice for a sock.

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