The Magic Of Miters

I've pulled out an old WIP, and am currently knitting on the Swatch Your Step socks, from Module Magic, by Ginger Luters. Goodness, I like this pattern! I especially love that no matter how wrong the sizing looked while the sock was still in pieces, it fits me PERFECTLY! I don't know how Ginger did it!

Here's a really bad picture of the first sock. When I get #2 done, I'll post a better shot.



When I started these socks, I had done very little sock knitting. And I wasn't a connoisseur of fine socks yarns (AKA sock yarn snob) back then.

I general, I have no problems using a good quality acrylic yarn. It fits my budget better than most wools, and my laundry habits, too. In fact, most of the items I have made were from acrylics, cottons, acrylic/wool blends, or cotton/acrylic blends. That pretty well describes my stash, as well.

Except for my sock yarn stash.

I truly believe that sock yarns need to be from natural fibers, because of their breathing and wicking properties. I've knit a few pairs of socks (mostly slipper socks) from acrylics and highly acrylic blends, and they make my feet hot. Ick. So now my sock yarn stash is wools, wool/nylon blends, and a ball or two of Cascade Fixation (cotton and elastic, I think). I still prefer my sock yarns to be washable , but those are not too hard to come by these days.

Anywho, these Swatch Your Step socks were started before I figured out how bad acrylic is for socks. The two yarns I'm using are:

1. DGB Confetti Superwash (75% Superwash Wool, 25% Nylon) This is the multi-color, in grey, white, and brown.
   
2. Bernat Hot Sox (60% Acrylic, 40% Nylon) Color is Jet Hot, which is just plain black.

Why would they make a yarn intended for socks from mostly acrylic? Why???

I really don't understand this, and I'm frustrated at myself for using this yarn in such a beautiful sock. The whole thing made me think twice about picking these back up to finish them. But I love the pattern and fit so well. These will probably be used as slipper socks, although I may try them in shoes---they'd be a nice color/pattern for work. We'll see how hot they make my feet.

I definitely want to make these again, using a nicer yarn. Some of the Knit Picks yarns come to mind, since I think they have solid and variegated sock yarns in coordinating colorways. Lorna's Laces, as the patterns calls for, would be really nice, too. Hopefully, I'd be able to come up with a combination that works a bit better than this black/brown, too. (This DGB yarn knit up looking much more brown than it looked in the ball. Surprise! I like it, but wish for a bit more contrast.)

Health Update

I think I mentioned in my last post that I was having sinus surgery. I recovered very, very well from the procedure, but when I went in for my post-op visit last Friday, the doctor found something he didn't like, and did some more work on me. Right there in the office. With locals. With me awake.

That's where this story goes bad. The office procedure was extremely painful. By Saturday, I was running a fever. By Monday, I was super-congested, and my mucus looked infected (I'm guessing you know what I mean here; hoping to keep this blog as booger free as possible.) This week has been really miserable, and I've been much sicker than during that first week. Hopefully the antibiotics that the doctor prescribed yesterday will make a difference quickly.

I've done very little knitting since the surgery. During the first week or so, I was still dripping a bit from the nose (really, that's normal!), and I didn't want to get any blood on my knitting. Then this week I've been in a lot of pain, and not up to much knitting. I did get a few rows in on the mitered sock, though.

ETA: The person for whom I made the Mermaid Socks, for Sockapalooza 4, has not blogged about them yet, but I did get an email from her, saying she had received them. And apparently, they do fit! Great! I'll link to her blog when she posts about them.