coming back to a much-loved pattern, the wowie-zowie sock!
If I haven’t said this lately: Ravelry is awesome. Right? Not only are most of the people wonderful, the resource itself is amazing. I find a pattern I like, then I look at the photos and project notes of everyone who made it – look for people my size and shape, how does it look on them? See how it looks made with a variety of different yarns – and with the yarn I’m considering. I learn about the modifications people made to it, the problems they ran into and how they got out of them. Just amazing. How did we ever knit before Ravelry? I guess we were just all alone and knitting in the dark. Much less fun.
So, one of my ravelry friends (hi Margaret!) gave me some sock knitting tips for my Wowie Zowie sock since she’s knitting them too (and using the same yarn, but a different colorway, so very lucky for me), and tonight I’m going to cast on again with the same yarn. I was making new-knitter mistakes, misunderstanding just how much yarn 8 extra stitches per row can consume, and underestimating how much yarn my few rows of ribbing were taking up. It’s a close fit, anyway; the pattern uses 460 yards per sock, and the balls contain 480 yards. Not a lot of room for adding to the pattern. In addition to my newbie errors, I’d somehow missed the close fit which would’ve made me much more cautious with my modifications. I’ll also try to lighten up a bit and not knit so tightly, for heaven’s sake.
I’m thrilled! I particularly loved that yarn with that pattern, and was entirely smitten with the interaction between pattern and color changes. In fact, I was thinking about how much I’d like to wear them with a skirt so they’d be visible to everyone. Show them off a little. Feel happy when people say “hey, where did you get those amazing socks!” because I expect people would actually ask me. That kind of thing happens to me.
come back to me, lover sock....
Isn’t it great when you’re in love with the things you’re knitting?
…LOVE the yarn … LOVE the pattern you’re knitting up
Looking forward to seeing the FO 
On her own blog, pip just wrote a post titled..Fyberspates -
well you can count on me showing it off, that’s for sure!
Hi Lori – thanks for the shout-out – one other little teeny correction – the PAIR takes 460 yds, not one sock ;o) so, technically, each sock should take 230 yds …
also can’t wait to see how the new attempt looks!
ah – my bad, for typing so quickly and sneakily at work.
love the socks! and, of course i love ravelry. i WAS knitting alone and in the dark until rav shined a light in
On her own blog, gibknitty just wrote a post titled..Open- The Sunday Creative
rah rah ravelry, such a wonderful place for us all! i sat in the dark too (which was bad for my knitting
)
Ravelry is one of my most favorite places to hang out…
Glad you are going to retry those socks!! The yarn looks beautiful!
On her own blog, Sara just wrote a post titled..Ten on Tuesday 20…
me too!! i can’t wait to get started/re-started on the socks, and see how the colors play out. it’s fun to have something that fun to knit. i hope your garden is thriving!
I’m so happy you’re sticking with that combination! And boy do I ever agree with you on Ravelry. It just doesn’t seem as though it could ever end now that we’re all so deeply committed to it.
I was just thinking the other day how lucky I am that I almost always feel that whatever I’m knitting now is the best thing ever! I do feel that way about my Tequila and Coffee socks. And it is so much fun!
On her own blog, Anne Campbell just wrote a post titled..A Short Post Tonight
yeah. these are great times to be a knitter, this ravelry era. i’d feel that way about those tequila and coffee socks, too – they’re really dazzling!