Humble Pie...and birthday cake

I had a huge  piece of humble pie this weekend. Hell, I had the whole pie, then went back for more. How's that you ask? Don't think you can knit a pair of socks in 12 days unless you know what you are doing!

The socks from Hell, I  will dub them. I almost gave up, but, being the perseverant type, I did not. So I ripped, re-started, ripped. I finally got the circulars  and did the magic cast on with that and it went so much easier!

So working on the short row toe without leaving holes was not fun. I finally gave up and said, I will live with the small gaps. I will be the one wearing them, so it does not matter (when did I become a perfectionist?). Until I tried them on. Only a few inches beyond the toe.

These socks would have fit Bigfoot and still been loose. What was I thinking? I still knit on for a few more rounds until the image of these huge, drooping socks plagued me. Why bother knitting them, and then  not wear them because they don't fit? Am I that lazy that I can't rip out and re-start (for the 10th time!) [as a side note, KP's Imagination seriously holds up to repeated rippings and knittings. It does not affect the yarn at all!]

Ok. When I went by the measurements in the book I was shocked. According to the chart, I had an Xlarge foot. Now, I may not be dainty, but I always considered my feet to be average, if not slightly on the small side. But Xlarge!! So I cast on for the large size, and it was still too big. Ha! I guess I get some satisfaction out of that.

So instead of 32, I went down to 22. What  a difference 10 stitches makes. I guess as a knitter, we know what works with experience. No book is telling me the size of my foot, despite tried and true measurements!

There has been progress. And as fast as these are knitting up, I think I could have them done in a few days without the interruptions of having to knit for swaps.

I did go for a different short row technique. The yo thing was just not working. The gaps were too big, I kept losing my place... and the other link from a previous post also left holes. Sigh. I was almost considering going back to the wrap and turn or something that was hole-free.

See? no holes! Maybe not the best pic. I used the Japanese short row technique.  (YouTube vidoeo)It's so simple.  There is no counting, since you can clearly see what needs to be knitted together.  I got the toe done in about 15 minutes. Seriously. I don't know if I was relieved to have finally found a method that works for me, or if I was angry that it took 3 days to discover a method that would take only 15 minutes.

Moral: train. If you want to do a project on a time limit, but not sure how to do it, then train first. If I would have trained, I would have one sock done. Oh well, guess that's life.  Maybe no gold medals for me, but I will settle for a silver or bronze.

It was my daughter's birthday on Sunday. She turned the big 08!! Wow, hard to believe #2 is 8 already. How time does fly. The day I had her, the hospital was full of babies and mommas. I think there were at least 10-15 births that day. Enough that I had to share a room...let me tell you, that is not fun to share a room with someone after giving birth...but that's another story.

We made her cake. It's an ice cream cake that I found online. Ice cream sandwiches, whip cream, chocolate and caramel syrup. I let her decorate with sprinkles. She loved it! I may have started a tradition. And the good thing is that it cost less than $10.  I know an ice cream cake from DQ would be at least $20 (for a small one!)

Now off I go to knit some cloths, then back to the socks. I will hopefully get the heel done sometime today, without any holes!! If  there is significant progress, I will post tomorrow.

Oh yeah, dishrag tag is closed. I am on team 6. Sorry all the other teams, you may as well just bow out now, since we're going to win. LOL.