Dear Jan,
Though I did not show any restraint at all in buying yarn (how much would you pay? But wait, there’s more!), I did hold myself to one knitting project on this trip, my second sock in the Kai-Mei pattern. With barely an inch done on the cuff ribbing when I started the trip, here is what I landed with in Dusseldorf.
By the time Chris and I had finished business the next day in Copenhagen and sat down for a beer at the airport, I had made further progress.
And with judicious sipping of that beer, by the time we made it to another (smaller, this time), I was even into the heel flap.
We might as well have made that second beer a larger one, because we never got off the ground that night. A baggage handlers’ strike meant we scrambled for a hotel room for all of about 5 hours sleep. But we eventually made it to Munich, and my sock made it into the foot motifs.
You know from the last post that I knit on the sock while at Rohrspatz & Wollmeise, even finding the Kai Mei pattern in the sock yarn wall hanging.
And by the time I was on an airplane bound for Amsterdam, the knitting was finished.
Coming home to this almost finished me, but instead, I grafted my toes and finished the socks. The left sock seems a titch more snug than the right one, perhaps from having pulled the right one off and on several times to fit it, perhaps because jet-lagged knitting has a different gauge. I’ll get them blocked and see what I think then, but in the meantime am hoping I don’t have to find the ends that I wove in ever so nicely.
Summary: Pattern - Kai Mei by Cookie A. Yarn - Knit One Crochet Too Ty-Dy sock yarn, colorway 1631. Size 0 needles. I cast on 72 stitches instead of the 66 suggested in the pattern, and at my gauge 78 stitches would have been as good or better. The diagonal pattern across the foot causes the sock to skew when not worn - not a problem, but do carefully note the sides of the sock before you start decreasing for the toe.
Now what shall I knit? It seems there is still time for warm sweaters…
Love,
Ellen
Jan and Ellen are identical twins who have always had an innate fashion sense. Crafting is an integral part of their lives and they stay stitched together sharing their love of knitting, family and community.
April 16th, 2011 at 11:59 am
That sock certainly got to go to some fun places! And it turned out beautifully (thus validating my theory that travel helps us all to grow up nicely). That pair may need to move up my queue sooner rather than later…
April 16th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
They surely turned out nicely! But then who wouldn’t if knit with friends and beer?
I just suggested to Dale that he could ply me with beer and sock knitting. I need to pick out some socks to work on for my trip. I’ve got some already started, but think they’ll be done by then. Maybe…I do have a number of patterns whose notes are stacking up and will be too cryptic to do anything with if I don’t get busy on converting them into actual patterns for publication!
April 16th, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Sounds like quite a trip! And really, what is that snow doing on the ground? Doesn’t it know it’s mid-April? We had flakes falling today in Madison. At least the wool sweaters know they’re appreciated…