A possibility

I had a test last Thursday and another one yesterday, so  both my knitting and this blog were ignored for a while.

Just as I was debating about what to do with the sock cast-off I came across Andrea's tutorial. With this method, you create a "hem" on the sock without casting off. The instructions are in Spanish, but the pictures are self-explanatory and I don't believe a translation is necessary. I'm not saying I'll use this cast-off method with the current pair of socks,  but id does look like something worth trying.

You'd think I would get back to that pair of socks, but today I came across an interesting knitting challenge.

First, let me tell you that my pooch has an eating disorder. Yeah, I know, he's weird. Dogs are supposed to have an insatiable appetite but not mine. He's very picky about his food and he refuses to eat unless he has an audience. Both his vet in Mexico and his vet in the US say I shouldn't worry about him being underweight, since he is very healthy for a 14 old dog. Still, his lack of heft causes a little clothing problem:



That's my dear pooch wearing his size XS raincoat. Can you tell it is not long enough? But I had to live with that because the S size is too wide and wobbles from one side to the other, making him dirty the sides when he does his business. I just got him a new coat with velcro straps, and I thoght I'd be able to adjust the width. But take a look and notice how the velcro flap is hanging between his legs:



Of course, I'm planning on returning this coat to the store, but if I get the XS size it will be a very short coat. And this poor doggy needs all the coverage he can get, not only because he doesn't have much body fat, but also because he grew up in the tropics and he absolutely hates the cold! With the raincoat, I had to settle for the short one, but why should I settle for a short coat when I could knit one that actually fits? Hmmm, because I have a bunch on UFOs waiting for me to finish them? Oh, that's not a good excuse, is it?

Two unfinished socks

I interrupted work on  the first sock and started making the second one while deciding what to do about the cuff. The original pattern calls for 2x2 ribbing, which I don't know how to cast off with the kitchener method. I could do single ribbing and do a kitchener castoff, though I'm not good at it, or I could cast off the way I usually do, which is not as pretty, but then I can do whatever I want at the edge.



The truth is, I don't like the kitchener bindoff. I've tried it with two pairs of socks and while I can say that it's stretchier than my regular bindoff, it's also wobbly. It's also a lot of work (due to my twisted stitches) and I'm not sure it's worth my time.

Green yarn

I was asked what type of yarn I was using for my jaywalker sock. It's something called Paton's beehive from my grandma's stash. I still have lots of it.



The stuff must be at least 20 years old, long before beehive became an acrylic  baby yarn, recently discontinued. This is wool, that's why it's not yellow anymore. I dyed it almost two years ago using powdered drinks.

Remembering how fun that was,  I felt the urge to dye some more of that yellow yarn, this time using food coloring , a used tea bag and vinegar. Of course, the winding around a plastic bottle  into three connected hanks was more or less the same as before.



I was aiming at teal, pale green and olive (thus the tea bag). But I didn't do a test first, I was happy to get to work hoping for nice results.



As it turned out, the teal section is almost undistiguishable from the pale green, and the olive green turned out a little too brownish. I should have been more careful with that tea bag.



I'm still going to use it, but don't ask me when. Probably within the next couple of years.

My own foot

It's never easy making these pictures, but using a webcam makes it even more challenging. Please forgive the bad quality and admire instead the beautiful jaywalker pattern that I kind of adapted from MagKnits eons ago.



It seems that I only get inspired to work on this sock whenever the spouse goes on a trip (that's the reason I cannot use the good camera). If that's the case, I should hurry up, because he'll be gone only for three days.

Socks

Yes, I have a pair of finished socks to show. I'm ashamed to see the amount of wonderful projects so many other knitters have finished in the time I took to finish this particular pair of socks. But the weather is still nice enough for flip-flops, so I shouldn't complain.


I find it funny that there is now a pattern for flip flop socks available in knitty.  I wish I had had that when I started.