Well, I'm having second thoughts about giving the Regia Mermaid Sock to my sock swap pal. I think the yarn is working out pretty well for the pattern, but I'm starting to have sizing issues.
Here's what happened. When I cast on for this sock, I figured it could be for me, plus I have a relatively commonly sized foot. So I just used my measurements, or whatever I thought my measurements might be. Keep in mind this happened while riding in the car, with no tape measure handy. So, I guess I was going on memory? Hmm, that may have been my first mistake.
So when I got my sock pal's info, I glanced at the ball-of-foot measurement, and glibly said, "Yeah, that's the same size as my foot. These socks will work for her." (Second mistake.) Then later I had sceond thoughts. So I measured my foot. 8 inches around. Hers are 8 1/4", pretty close. Then later, I measured mine again, just for good measure (no pun intended), and it was 8 1/2". What????? Yes, I've gained some weight lately, but 1/2 inch around the foot? After a bit of messing around, I discovered that my left foot is 8", and my right is 8 1/2". How's that for strange???
Well, anyway, long story short, this sock fits my left foot perfectly, and is a bit snugger than I would prefer on my right. Scratch that. It feels fine on my right, but the fishtail pattern is a bit more stretched out than ideal. I think it would look better on a slightly smaller foot.
With some yarns, I would just frog it and start again with a few more stitches. But this Mini Ringel yarn has such a short stripe repeat, and I don't think it would work for a larger circumference sock. In fact, I was almost hoping her foot would be smaller than mine, so I could start over with fewer stitches to make the stripes a bit wider.
So my latest plan is to finish these socks, but for myself. And for the Sockapalooza socks, I will buy a new yarn, something more luxurious. I do still plan to use the Mermaid pattern, though, if I can find a striped yarn that I like. I actually saw some on Etsy the other day that I thought would be perfect. Unfortunately, at that time I thought I was set for yarn, and didn't take note of the seller. So hopefully I can find it again. I'll let you know when I decide.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
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1 comments:
OK--I know you don't need any more suggestions for what yarn NOT to use, but I tried the mermaid sock in Lorna's Laces seaside and it is not turning out--the colors are pooling to form vertical stripes. It could be totally cool, except it really doesn't look that great and I need to tear it out. Most of the hand-dyed yarn is either hand-painted so it has a mottled effect knitted up, or it is space-dyed and will probably spiral when knitted up. For stripes, you'll want to go with a self striping or self patterning yarn. STC Tofutisies seems to knit up with very short stripes (at least the sample at my lys did...) Austermann Step is another striping yarn that comes to mind--the stripes are not all uniform in size and that could look very interesting in this pattern.
My sockpal has also given me free reign in knitting her socks, and it's a little daunting! Since she hasn't made any specifications, I'd say go ahead and knit her something you would like--it's personal, it's genuine, and at least you'll be able to say you really enjoyed the knitting.
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