rainy friday...

I tried to capture the sheets of rain falling just beyond the overhanging roof of my work building... but...you can see the dusky light and not the raindrops.



It would be a good day to stay home and read (reading Eclipse) and create something.

create something like...... Victorian bedsocks?



Pattern: To Sleep, by UnravelingSophia

Yarn: 2 skeins Koigu (greens), 1 skein Kid Seta

Needles: DPNs size 1.5 (2.5 mm)
DPNs size 2.0 (2.75 mm)
Circular size 3 (3.00 mm)

You can see that the sock toes are big and round. This isn't because my toes are big and round!

These socks were designed to take into consideration all the usual problems with bedsocks. Toes that are too tight or touch the tops of my touchy toes are annoying when I'm falling asleep. I always kick them off. But the ankles on these stockings, as you can see, are much tighter. This is because my non-heeled socks always fall off my feet during the night and I get cold again. And the calf of the stocking is both a lighter fabric and a looser knit once again, so I don't end up with those funny looking bands of red around my legs overnight!

I was young when I inherited this very big, very old and very cold house I live in. And it sounds like this is going to be a very cold winter. My plan is to make as many as I can of those comfort items that were common in houses before the advent of central heating...

Catherine approves:

This vest....

I have been making This...(<--- Ravelry link)



It used 3 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Chocolate, a deliciously soft deep brown, almost solid...but even though all three skeins were from the same dye lot, one had faint mocha stripes and the other two were the depth of a smooth bittersweet 75% cacao bar... the colour is most accurate in this photo:



I added lots of inches to the length, but otherwise followed the pattern as written (not an easy feat since it gets a bit vague around about the mid-point of the writing), even to the tiny needles - size 2 - except that I had to change the bind off. The pattern specified the Russian bind-off (knit two tog, slip resulting stitch back onto left needle, knit two tog,, repeat) and I was tempted - the name intrigued me. But it was ultimatly non-stretchy and I had to unpick it and use the sewn bind-off.



I'm sorry now that I didn't get an action shot before I sent this off in the mail as a birthday present. I was so focused on getting the colour right in the camera and showing the vintage pin that seems just perfect for this slightly vintage-y vest. This pin belonged to my oh-so-cool aunt when she was a teenager. She was so stylish - wore all the latest trends, I heard she was even a go-go girl, what-ever that is! Some kind of a dancer I think, that wore short skirts and white knee-high boots. Anyway.... this pin was hers and then mine, and now my little sister's...



I also had an addition to my knitting cupboard (er....pile-o-stuff-by-the-couch is more accurate)... a set of Habu knitting needles from Japan! Have I shown you these yet? There is a pair of every size, starting very small, and each is colour-coded by its glossy gum-ball finial. They came in the padded travel case with a sizing ruler in both Japanese and English. And...very cool...the ruler has a little 'blessing bell' on the end of it attached with it's traditional red ribbon; every time the bells chime, a prayer goes up to Buddha. I hope its a prayer for my WIPs!