Sooo slooow socks

I think it is fair to say that the Pomotamus socks are quite possibly the prettiest socks I have made so far. It is also only fair to note that they are the most time-consuming socks I have made as well. I am still not done with the first sock of the pair, and I have been working on it for several hours each night. I suspect that at this rate my mom will get one completed sock and an IOU for the second one on her actual birthday. Ah well.

It does not help that in order to get gauge I went down to US 1’s. The pattern calls for 72 stitches on US 3’s, but that makes absolutely no sense, because 72 stitches on US 3’s is huge. I make socks for myself on US 3’s but I only cast on 56 stitches for my usual sock formula, and even then sometimes the tops are a little loose. Plus, I knit tight, so my 56 stitches on US 3’s is the equivalent of using US 2’s for the ‘normal tension’ knitter. Luckily I bought an assortment of extra skinny needles for the lace doily, so I had the 1’s available and so far they seem to be the perfect size, which is good. The pattern is simply gorgeous and goes perfectly with the yarn I chose, and the sock is stretchy enough to fit, while still being tight enough to avoid slipping down the leg. I am definitely going to make myself a pair when I’m done with this set for my mom (although I may make the leg a bit shorter, and drop 12 stitches and a pattern repeat in order to move it up at least one needle size, if not two!).

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Tonight was knitting night at the library and we had a full crowd. One of the other knitters brought along her completed Irish Diamond shawl from the Folk Shawls book, which she did in a gorgeous heathered maroon. Another of the regulars and I admitted that we have been drooling over that pattern for far too long now, but it’s so large it’s been a bit daunting to tackle (although the woman who brought her finished one in, as well as another woman who is currently working on one, say that once you get going it actually goes surprisingly fast). Plus there’s the whole issue of needing to buy yarn for it…but then I remembered that Stitches West is just a little over a month away, and I do much better at these sort of things if I go with specific projects in mind as opposed to just letting myself buy random yarn because it is pretty. So I think that I will use Stitches as the perfect shopping opportunity to find some lovely yarn for the shawl. And then after Stitches, we may have ourselves a tiny little knit-along.