Making the cut

I am (smugly) pleased to report that this year the hand made Christmas present tally came to

2 scarves

2 cowls
2 rejected hats

1 tiny sweater

1 patchwork quilt

and a new wardrobe for Daphne

I also put together a kit for DD2 to knit a cushion, I'm counting this as a handmade present because the yarn is from a lovely indie dyer, the needles from the Lantern Moon cooperative and instead of a pattern I made a tiny cushion to illustrate what I had in mind.  I also included a promise, that I would finish the cushion myself if it proved too much.  More of the cushion and some mother daughter bonding later (and an explanation of what constitutes Daphne's wardrobe)

The reason for modest ambitions in the hand made present department was, as you may recall, last year despite knitting right up to Christmas Eve there was much that I had left undone.  The UFOs included one pair of socks knitted up to the instep increases and yarn for another pair that never got done.

So as well as being determined not to get into such a frenzy this year I have also resolved to finish some of the many projects I have in hand and make up a large proportion of my stash before buying more yarn (this must be a generic knitters resolution, I wonder how many people reading this have resolved the same?)

So beginning with the socks.  JTH has need of comfy socks so I decided to complete the half finished pair for him, no need to worry about the third pair, I seem to have used the yarn for something else.

But it was not till I began to check how long the leg needed to be that I discovered how long the feet were.  It's a big advantage with toe up two at a time socks is you can try on as you go, it's only a shame I didn't think of doing this before increasing for the instep.  The socks were clearly far too long in the foot.  However JTH suggested I carried on, finish the socks and wash them as 'they are sure to shrink in the wash'.  Well there was little hope that there would be enough shrinkage to make these babies fit (particularly as the yarn is Rowan super-wash wool).  The problem being that when I began these socks I intended them for someone with a shoe size of 13 not 10

If they were to be wearable at all they had to be shortened by nearly two inches and the toe re-knitted .  I could have drawn a thread at roughly the place that the new toe decreasing needed to start but instead I decided to cut off the toe and pull back the cut part till I achieved a complete row of stitches to pick up.  

Quick but messy, scattering poodle clippings of curly black wool all over the place!  But now the re-modelled socks fit quite well

Are these the first pair of Toe Up (and down) 2 at a Time Socks, I wonder?

Happy New Year (do please let me know your knitting resolutions in the comments section, I'd love to know)

xx

c