MG: quiet as a mouse...

a warm mouse... wearing stranded stockings. working hard and stressed over my research, but i have norwegian stockings to keep my toes toasty.


i had trouble getting adequate photos until Kitty Kitty suggested placing my feet directly against the windows. thanks, Kitty Kitty.




Norwegian Stockings:
pattern-in Folk Socks by Nancy Bush. yarn-knitpicks Palette in Bark (1.5 balls), Twig (less than one ball), and Sky (just a teeny bit). needles-3.3mm (japanese size 4) clover mini circulars; 3.25mm (US3) clover bamboo DPNs for cuffs and toes; 2.75mm (US2) clover bamboo DPNs inner halves of the elastic casing. modifications-knitted casing and elastic in the cuffs; my own color pattern for the heel flaps; adjusted number of gusset and toe decreases for fit; 3-needle bindoff for toe closure rather than a bellybutton gather.

i love my stockings. first fair isle; first gusset heel; definitely more colorwork stockings for me. thanks to Eunny for the inspiration. thanks to Jess for piquing my fair isle interests. and a big thank you to MJ for the knit-along.

going to be hermitic a while longer to battle me, myself, and i on research. hope you are well.

MG: exquisite craftsmanship of the mundane

gapless gussets (no, not hapless)!! yay! gusset tips that worked for me: knitting instead of slipping the first stitch of the first row on the heel flap. picking up the extra stitches from behind and below the slipped edge (thanks, Kelly!). avoiding long floats adjacent to the slipped edge (thanks, Geannie!)

i'm reknitting the foot of the first stocking. there should be an FO before the week is out!

been reading the history sections of Nancy Bush's Folk Socks. passages like these make me want to devote my knitlife to exquisitely wrought stockings:

An exceptionally beautiful pair of silk stockings were worn by Gustavus II Adolphus... during his coronation in 1617... There are 25 stitches 32 rows to an inch [25 stitches to an inch! -mg]... The tops are turned down and are lined with white taffeta and have holes for attaching the stockings to breeches with ribbons. (page 15)

"The knitting of stockings gave many peasant laborers an independence they could not have had otherwise. Most mastered their skill and worked for themselves." and "Thirsk estimates that, in the sixteenth century... somewhere between 9 and 11 million pairs of stockings had to be produced every year." (page 19)

In good weather, knitters would gather together under the trees for parties, called veilles, where they would sit in circles and socialize, knitting all the while. In winter, they met in each other's homes to prepare wool and knit, while chatter and merrymaking continued. (page 25)

i don't pretend to comprehend the hardships of these knitters who knitted stockings for necessity, for survival, but it's wonderful to learn the facets--economy, warm social spheres, and loving craftsmanship when time was usually a dire possession--of the importance of socks; to infuse that respect into my knitting, myself, who has the luxury of knitting socks for pleasure.

until very recently, i wasn't a sock person. loved ones have mocked my shunning of socks. i've been known to trudge sock-less, in open-toe shoes, out onto a dusting of snow. but i'm falling in love as i knit. and i'm reminded i cared for socks once--when i was little girl and my mom brought back varied and fancy socks from overseas. bows. ruffles. long. short. multitudinous in color.

i guess what i don't love is the stringy, white stuff of mass production that is the prototype of modern socks. they never fit me; i'm always tugging, adjusting, fussing. somewhere along the line, i became disenchanted and desensitized by the over-abundance of the bland not-enough. i'm learning socks are more than that. :)

MG: meet skewer octopus

that's my norwegian stocking--second of the pair--ready for a closed casing. four DPNs on the regular stitches; four DPNs on the provisional cast-on. eight DPNs awaiting the mini-circular to knit the two edges together, to create a tummy for the elastic. after:

MG: slump

i'm afraid Kitty Kitty and i are suffering from post-olympic blues. potential projects look lackluster, and nothing seems quite exciting enough. even our usual admire-this-FO, drool-over-that-yarn, gawk-at-this-pattern sessions over IM are wilted and uninspired.

my norwegian stockings comfort me a little. i've settled on a yarnhand setup that pleases me. the main color sits towards my fingertip, the constrast color towards my palm; i like to pick the MC over the CC.


this gusset heel has been frogged many times, so many i've lost count--at least a half dozen. many factors involved: my very first gusset heel; color pattern alteration in the heel flap; sizing for my particular ankles and feet.


even after good advice from Kitty Kitty, the gusset pick-up is full of gaps. it's the best version so far but still substandard. any gusset heel wisdom for me?


two unresolvable issues. one, i moved the "seam" to the inner leg rather than the back by continuing directly from the leg to the heel flap. this is a mistake. breaking the yarn permits better control over tension. two, the slipped stitch edge is now hopelessly stretched. i think i will finish the foot for now to test the toe construction. perhaps i will knit the mate first then reknit this.


Mellowtrouble Andrea came for a visit last week. we perused Carolina Homespun and Lacis together. we spun. we knit. we ate a lot. it was our first meeting face to face and also my first experience meeting a fellow knitblogger. random thoughts:

in addition to owning a delightful appreciation for knitting and spinning, Andrea is thoughtful, fun, and very simply a good person. well, you know this from her blog. knitblogging enables us to defy geographical distance and find kindred spirits.

it's strange and wonderful to feel at ease with someone who is sitting on your bed and spinning on your wheel, someone you just met that morning. blog posts and email correspondences do allow us to know each other. there is honesty and revelation in the words we write, perhaps surpassing the small-talk we pad ourselves with in the company of acquaintances.

there is nothing quite like seeing the creations of another knitter/spinner and watching them in action. i saw and touched Andrea's yarn and lace leaf sweater and fair isle bag in person (all beautiful). they inspired and enriched me. and i learned a more efficient hand position for Navajo plying just by watching her ply.

MG: progress

progress photos on projects you've already seen. hope it's not too boring. i've been happily spinning and spinning and spinning the wensleydale. i had spun mostly undyed combed top, so dyed roving seemed to require a frustrating amount of wrangling and tugging at first. it's dripping out of my fingers more easily now. (closer view here.)


oops, my yarn is getting thicker. the photo betrays my impatience. spinning thinner yarns takes more time; there are hundreds of yards and hours of spinning in these four ounces. the ball of roving is diminishing visibly now, and i'm a little too excited about finishing and plying--because i wanna see what my yarn looks like!!! have to refocus.

i love the colors that are emerging--inky mauves, muted pinks, silvery purples. i'm a little worried about color distribution though. no more of the dark pink in the fiber i have left.


norwegian stocking is coming along. i kept the blue. every feedback (here and in person) was pro-blue, which caused my eyes to see the colors with a different perspective (i.e. without the lens of what i wanted it to be). might be a response bias in the blog data though. :) these will be my fun norwegian stockings, and i'll make a fancy pair later on.


it feels like i've been knitting ceaselessly--like a little addict--but i'm only at the ankle of the first stocking. i guess there were two froggings for tension issues. those vertical lines are unforgiving. i have both yarns in my left hand, and it took a while to figure out my perfect yarnhand setup.


at an ebb though. for fitted ankles, i switched to 2.75mm (US 2) DPNs, which turned out too snug. that little section has been ripped, and stitches need to go back on needles. but during test fits, the way the motifs stretched at the calves bothered me more and more. i think the yarn is thinner than i'd like it to be; it looks anemic when stretched. maybe it'll puff with wash. if not, i could always donate them to where they'd find better legs to fit them.

MG: keep going?

that's the start of my Norwegian Stocking for MJ's KAL!! it's an addictive knit. skipped lunch today b/c i couldn't put it down. there is a problem though (isn't there always with me?), the tint or shade of that blue isn't quite right. i was hoping for a subtle and muted effect, but this particular blue in combination with the brown and beige is screaming a bit. thinking about ripping back and using beige instead.


float-side out. wondering why the cuff is poofy and dense enough to stand a little? there is elastic in there, encased with a knitted hem (Marnie has a great tutorial here.) there were 9 DPNs involved in the hem-turning, but i'm pleased. it's clean finishing, and my stockings will be well behaved.

MG: stocking swatching

i'm participating in MJ's Norwegian Knits-Along as one of a gaggle knitting the Norwegian Stockings from Folk Socks. it took me a while to get things together enough for my foray into fair isle colorwork, but i'm ready. i made a little 30 stitch swatch in the round last night, with 2.75mm and 3.25mm needles.



returning to berkeley is returning to spring, seeing home with fresh-from-frost eyes:


it's warm enough to read or dream under a tree, but the ground is too mushy--rainy season earth.


i don't tire of pondering the blue blue sky with a brightening moon.