Winter encounter with a buck

Yep, that’s me feeding a deer in January. We became fast friends over the winter, on those freezing cold days  when no other human was crazy enough to go out hiking. Well, there is another human crazy enough…my husband, Erwin. We are co-workers and we like to get together at lunchtime and get some fresh air and  a little exercise. Luckily for us there are wonderful hiking trails nearby the office.

Anyhoo….that is not what this post is about. It’s about a knitalong (KAL) that I’ve signed up for on Ravelry. One of the sock groups I am a member of there, Yarnissima, is starting a KAL, and we just got notification of the start date:  APRIL 4th.

The pattern for this KAL is Spina di Pesce

Spina di Pesce kit from Yarnissima

The Spina di Pesce kit uses wonderful Wollmeise yarn. But, what the heck have I just gotten myself into? I have NEVER done a toe up sock. I have only knitted on dpns…not circulars.. Geez, I’ve never even done a pattern …for my entire knitting career (about a year and a half) I have just knit self-striping yarns, going round and round, and round …

Now, this is where my deer-friend comes in - I think I now know how those critters feel when they are caught in the headlights — frozen in their tracks — fearful about what is going to happen. Knowing he/she should move out of the way…but, kinda brain-numbed and can’t move…

I don’t know why I’m doing this…but I do know (does that make any sense?). I have to move beyond my box of this self-striping, plain knitting thing…Yet,  there may be an easier way to ease into it. But, like everything I do, I’ll throw myself right in…

Last couple of days I’ve been searching the internet for info on knitting toe up, and magic cast ons, and knitting on two circular needles.  I’ll have to sit with some practice yarn and figure this out before April 4th. Today I ordered a toe up knitting book by Cat Bordi  from Knitpicks, (along with some circular needles), and hopefully I can get a grip on this before April 4th comes along…

In the meanwhile, I’ll  go seek out my deer-friend and see if he has any sage advice for me.

Thinking about that KAL...

Yep, I’m in trouble…deep doo-doo…
I was happily knitting along on the Apple Laine socks and have encountered a big tangled wool mess….Spent most of last evening trying to unravel it. I gave up and started on a new pair of socks.
What’s on my needles now? OnLine Supersocke - colour “living”. Not sure who these socks will be for — but, I need to knit and couldn’t deal with hitting the snag with the other pair on my needles.

Shakespeare (1564-1616)

from Macbeth

A dark Cave. In the middle, a Caldron boiling. Thunder.

Enter the three Witches.

1 WITCH. Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d.
2 WITCH. Thrice and once, the hedge-pig whin’d.
3 WITCH. Harpier cries:—’tis time! ’tis time!
1 WITCH. Round about the caldron go;
In the poison’d entrails throw.—
Toad, that under cold stone,
Days and nights has thirty-one;
Swelter’d venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i’ the charmed pot!
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the caldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting,
Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing,—
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
3 WITCH. Scale of dragon; tooth of wolf;
Witches’ mummy; maw and gulf
Of the ravin’d salt-sea shark;
Root of hemlock digg’d i the dark;
Liver of blaspheming Jew;
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Sliver’d in the moon’s eclipse;
Nose of Turk, and Tartar’s lips;
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver’d by a drab,—
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger’s chaudron,
For the ingrediants of our caldron.
ALL. Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and caldron bubble.
2 WITCH. Cool it with a baboon’s blood,
Then the charm is firm and good.

I have been following a thread on a Yahoo socknitters group about whether one should match the 2nd sock to the first when using self-patterning yarn. So far, it looks like about a 50/50 split. Some people strongly believe that the socks should match, others go out of their way to not match. So far, I’ve tried to match my socks - it’s been pretty easy. I just take notice of what colour I start at, and then I make sure I start the sockinette part, heel flap and toe with the same colours. Being that I like symmetry, I like the look of the matching socks. With that being said, I just made a major change to my thinking with the Opal Harry Potter socks that are currently on my needles (see my post re: on my needles now) A complete pattern is about six inches before it repeats. With my sock formula, I would have had to discard about 4-5 inches of knitted yarn to “find” the colour/part of the pattern where I started the first sock. I just was not prepared to do that! So, I’m really venturing out of my box here by just starting with the yarn where I finished up the first sock — and these two socks will be totally different. Can I live with this? I’ll have to wait and see if I can. I may have to grin and bare it.  I’m not sure I could give away, as a gift, a pair of mismatches though.