An FO Post Way Past Its Time

Eventually, I get around to things.  A couple of posts ago, I told you about receiving yarn for a pair of socks, and promised an FO post for them.  This is the promised post, and it is extremely overdue, as the socks are my last FO of 2014!

Back in August, when I opened up the package containing this yarn, The Tim said, "That yarn would make great socks for me."  I am pretty sure I gave him a dirty look, but I do remember saying, "Well, I'm not sure this is sock yarn," to which he replied, "You told me that pretty much any yarn can be sock yarn if you want it to be."  Great.  Once out of a bazillion times, he actually listens to what I say!

Anyway, fast forward to October 2014.  Our anniversary was at the end of the month, and The Tim is a hard person to buy a gift for, because if he likes/wants something, he'll generally just go ahead and get it.  Which is nice for him, but leaves me racking my brain for ideas.  So I decided that I would go ahead and use the yarn to make socks.  I had a whole month, no big deal.

Except that at the same time, I decided to make a pair of Halloween socks for myself.  Still, it all seemed quite doable.  And I got started on both of them and was happily knitting along.

Then life and work intervened.  After a couple of weeks, I realized that it was likely that neither pair would be even close to finished before the end of October.  So I put the Halloween socks aside, and decided to concentrate on the Kidney Socks, because The Tim's birthday is in November.

Then they became a Christmas gift, since it was clear they weren't gonna be finished by his birthday.  I zipped along, and then just  near the end of the second sock, my osteoarthritis started acting up.  So I had to take about a week off from knitting, though I could do other holiday things, so it was fine that way.

Well, the good news is, the socks were completed.  Yep, at approximately 7:45 a.m. on Christmas morning, I finished grafting the toe of the second sock, wove in all of the ends, and popped them into a gift bad I had waiting.

They were a big hit, but when The Tim expressed surprise about receiving them, I mentioned his comment when I opened the yarn.  He of course didn't remember anything ...

Project:  Kidney Socks
Pattern:  Classic Socks for the Family, by Melinda Goodfellow (my go-to basic sock pattern)
Yarn:  Verdant Gryphon Eidos, colorway The Kidney Heist
Needles:  Size 1 1/2US
Modifications:  Not anything major, I just decided to make the leg longer than the pattern indicates.  I always feel that regular socks that are not knee socks are lower on the leg than I would prefer.  So I added an inch and a half.  The Tim reports they are comfortable, and that he likes the length.  I love the way they turned out, and the yarn was just wonderful to knit.

I'm glad that we both like them, because it was ridiculous how long it took me to make them!  I was determined by December though, that one way or another, they would be a Christmas gift for 2014.  Phew!

But No Cigar

As in "close, but no cigar."  At least not yet.  I got going pretty quickly with my knitting in January, finishing my hat at the beginning of the month.  Having successfully completed it, I was really motivated to finish my Emerald Hedgerows socks.  I started them back in July, and then I put them aside to concentrate on some other things.  I really want to finish them, as I would like to actually wear them, you know?  So I picked them up, and was going along pretty well, until my stupid arthritis flared up, and I had to only work on them occasionally.  So January ended, and they were still underway.  But there's hope, as I am at the beginning of the foot on one sock, and this far on the other one:

So I figure that unless I forget how to knit, I should have them finished by the end of February.

And at the moment, I'm swatching for what I think will be my next project, Agnes.  (Though I'm not sure why I'm tackling another sweater, since my last couple of attempts have failed.  I guess hope actually does spring eternal ...)  I've read some of the notes from others who have knit it, both on blogs and on Ravelry, and I think I'd like it to be a little bit longer and not really as flared out at the bottom, which are fortunately both easy modifications to make.  I bought the yarn and the pattern a couple of years ago, so it's about time I got moving on it!  For the sweater, I'll be using this:

(Puffin, from Quince & Co., in the Gingerbread colorway)

The contrasting pockets will be the same yarn, but in the Parsley colorway.  From everything I've read, this sweater is a quick knit, and goes smoothly.

We'll see about that ...

Ready to Return

I haven't had much to say lately about any knitting projects.  That's mostly because since May, I've been wearing a hand brace on my right hand, due to "extreme arthritis," as the doctor called it, in my right thumb joint.  It hasn't been that I couldn't knit, it's just that it was extremely uncomfortable.  So I'd knit a few rows/rounds, and that would be it.

Yesterday, I returned to the doctor for a follow-up.  It does feel better - for instance, it doesn't wake me up at night! - but the doctor pointed out that because it's arthritis, it won't ever be cured.  The idea is to make it bearable.  So his instructions were to wear the brace at night, and if it gets really bad again, but otherwise to take naproxen twice a day and it should be OK.  I'm gonna be trying that "plan" starting tomorrow, so I hope things will be OK at least most of the time.

Most of all, I'm hoping it will mean I can knit more.  The good thing is that it will likely keep me from overdoing it, because if not, OUCH.  But I've been itching to knit a bit more than I have been.  I currently have a pair of socks started, and of course, have said that by the end of the summer, I want to finish my Narrangansett sweater.

I'd cross my fingers, but I don't wanna tempt fate ...