I Block Sock

I block sock.

Block, sock, block!



Sock is blocked.


Yes friends and family (OK, family), I am actually getting into blocking things. I made sockblockers. I.e., I cut foot shapes into cereal boxes, soaked the socks in hot water and wool wash, put em on the sock blockers, hung them on a hanger to get full air circulation, and left em there for a few days. They actually dripped some dye, which I guess makes sense because the color is so deeply saturated, but I wasn't expecting it. Afterward they were REALLY soft, though a little pilled.

Also am making progress on Sheli's bag:


Finished one pocket, am close to done with the other. I made a mistakey on the first. Didn't purl a row at the flap, which makes it easier to fold over. But I'm not undoing it, so whatever. We will deal. On the second pocket, I got really annoyed with carrying the colors along for the million stripies so I decided to just do a few solid blocks. It'll look cool when it's done. So after the pocket, I have to do the loong icord handles, and then felt. I'm a little worried about the felting! Since I've never done it before. I kinda wanted to do it before I left Cleveland but I don't know if it'll work. We'll see. I'm excited though... excited for it to shrink! Because it is sorta huge.


My main project lately has been my Play With Fire sock for the Ravelry KAL. It's been giving me issues. It's a fun, challenging project, but ripping out and re-knitting for swatches makes the yarn messy. So I'm going to rewind the ball before I start so the fuzzy part is at the end, so it should end up being part of the foot, and less visible than the leg. I made a cool cable chart that is supposed to suggest flames, with a thickening entwined cable (from one to three stitches and back to one) and two smaller "flames" at either side (one to two to one stitches). But now I don't know if I should make it a side panel-- which is what I originally wanted to do-- or put it on the front so that the main cable can continue smoothly down the foot. Overall that seems to be the better idea but I am sad to let go of my side-panel idea. However, the side panel would require another inside panel and I was having trouble figuring out what it should be without making it look kind of random. It'll probably be easier and look neater to do a front cable and then figure out something for the back. It will be a pretty simple sock. The only challenging part is that the cable chart is 53 rows long. It's not a hard cable at all, it's just a long repeat.

OK, so I've got to nail it down and start the sample, and it should be cool. I am SO excited to see other people knitting something I designed!!!

In other news, tomorrow is my last day of the internship. We are doing a "dyeing day" at Shannon's-- hand-dyeing our own yarn! I am totally psyched for this.