pepperknit

I hate having secret knitting in the works, because really, if you can’t blog it, is it worth it? I just spent a bit of time knitting something for a designer, and I hope I’ll be able to share it with you when it’s made public. Not taking a single shot of the completed project was really weird, but I packed it up and delivered it this past week.

There was also another secret project, and I can tell you guys about it now, but it’s not directly knitting so it will wait.

Happily, I was working on some secret knitting that I can now share.

The pattern is my own—and is not what I’d originally intended. The legs of the socks were supposed to be an intricate, elaborate, jaw-dropping design of interlocking cables. I’d charted dozens of variations, settled on my favorite, and knit it up. But the dang things wouldn’t fit over my heel—even though I’d added stitches in order to accommodate that! I do know how physics works!—and so I had to simplify, or else I never would have hit the sock swap deadline.

As they are, the cable is Hartshorn from Barbara Walker vol II, and I may yet write these up for public consumption. It was fiddly to get the dang things to work, so you may well need some guidance. My tentative name, already dubbed on Ravelry, is Spidey Sense. I’ll of course let you all know when I’ve worked out the buggers for various sizes—these are quite tailored to the recipient’s feet (luckily, the same size as mine).

The yarn is Neighborhood Fiber Company. The color here is not as vibrant or “green” as it was on the skein—when I washed them, blue dye started pouring out and didn’t really ever stop. In fact, it stained the drain on my bathroom sink bright blue and even left blue stains on the towel that I set them out to dry on. Perhaps if you’re using this brand of yarn, a vinegar rinse would be in order. Also, at the center of the skein (I knit the two semi-simultaneously from opposite ends of the ball) there were a lot of jagged spots in the yarn—areas with little bits hanging off that looked as if the yarn had been broken and felted back together or something. I don’t know what that was about. In some cases I skipped ahead in order to avoid the questionable parts, weaving in additional ends, and in others I just knit on, tucking the stray bits to the inside. I hope that wasn’t a foolish decision.

If I can set aside what I wanted them to be and take them for what they are, I have to admit, I totally love them! I hope Sukyong, who unfortunately couldn’t be at the sock swap party to receive them in person, does too. They went in the mail yesterday!