Not so Happy and Branching Out

Believe it or not, I really have been knitting.


Here's my Happy sock.

I started this one so I would have something plain when we went camping. Right before we left I realized that despite having double digits worth of WIP's, none of them would be good for camping. Camping projects need to be plain, small, and able to dry out in case they fall in a river.

So I started this sock, it's toe up, so I knew I had a while before I got to anything difficult. I started the first 10 rows or so of the toe, read the pattern to see that I knit until it is 1 inch past "the point where the foot attaches to the front of the leg." And then I put it in the camping bag.

I worked on it over the weekend by the camp fire, and in the rain, until it was past the point where my foot attaches to my leg, and then put it away until we got home. When I consulted the pattern again I saw that it also says 5.5 inches for a women's size 9 (and I am an 8). I measured where I stopped and it was much more than 5.5 inches so I ripped it back. Then I made the heel and tried it on again to find that it was WAY too short.

Huh?

Now I realize that the pattern says "work even for 5.5 inches" so I guess that means 5.5 inches after the toe. I'm not familiar with patterns having you start from after the toe, that makes no sense to me. But anyway. I cannot tell you how NOT happy I was with my Happy socks when I had to knit the same damn piece of it not twice, but three times.

Once I got the thing the right size it was a breeze. I like how the stripe works with the lace. I find it fairly difficult to find a stitch pattern that looks good with a strong yarn pattern, and picked this one especially for that. I made it considerably shorter than the pattern calls for, but in every other way I followed the directions. Really, I think I did. Don't anyone pass out on me. Oh wait, I cast on 20 stitches instead of 12. (I do not have pointy toes.) And, um... I increased up to 60 stitches, instead of 56. (I have wide feet.) But really, that's not that much, is it?

Overall I give the pattern a thumbs up. Just watch out for the wording on how long the foot is. It's not wrong, but it's a little misleading IMO.

And here's some progress on my mom's Branching Out scarf. The yarn is so completely soft I can't believe it (it's Baby Alpaca) I almost have the pattern memorized enough now for it to be TV knitting. Then it will be done in no time.