She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands. --Proverbs 31:13

6/08/2006

I have tried to post about this sock 3 or 4 times, and haven't been able to. I have found that when this happens, my posts go from very detailed and explained to a bare boned explanation of what is going on. We are currently at the bare bones description. I finished knitting the sock leg on monday. I was pretty excited about it. It looked good, and I was really happy about how it had turned out....until I tried it on. I had tried it on and made sure it fit after I finished the heel, and maybe once more half way up the leg, and things were fine, maybe a bit tight over the heel, but I could get it on. After completing the leg, I could get it on after really pulling hard, and being afraid the stitches were going to pop, and getting it off was even harder. Something obviously had to be done.

So I ripped it back. I had a few options; Rip it back, and try to rework the leg somehow so it fits better, rip it back past the heel and make it into mittens, complete the one sock and make it into a Christmas stocking. I put it aside for the night to think about it, and realized that if I did make a complete pair of Fair Isle socks, I would rarely get to wear them. It is just too hot in OK. I hardly ever get to wear the wool socks I have now. I have Fair Isle mittens, and i get to wear them maybe once or twice a year. So what did I need?

Fair Isle Slippers. I will get a lot more use out of these than any of those other things. This particular yarn was just too thick for a set of useable socks here. I do still have the thinner yarn though, and, I think, an idea for knitting a pair of Fair Isle socks that are thin enough to wear here, and still go over my heel in an acceptable manner. And, the truth be told, as I was knitting this, I could see every mistake, every little quirk that made them not my best effort for fair entry. Now I can finish the second slipper, have a useable item, and a blank slate for what I am taking to the Fair!

We have had a lot of blessings this week as well. We found out on Monday that Sean is going to recieve even more scholarship money than we had anticipated, about 500 dollars more. That's a lot of money to us. Then my twin sister, Jody, called and said that they were going to be visiting in August! I have so much to do before then. It's a good thing I am still doing the Clean Hearts Clean Home Challenge, I am really going to need it!! I also discovered an amazing homeschool blog called Holy Experience. It is uplifting and gives me something to think about every day. We are back on the homeschool roll after VBS, and it is good to be getting things done. We are concentrating on geography, spelling, reading (of course) and history for the summer period and everybody seems to be having a good time. They love the maps in Geography. Well, I gotta be going. I am going to a spinning thingy on Saturday and have to get stuff ready to go and back cookies for everybody and their brother today. I wish someone would pay me for this stuff.  Posted by Picasa

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yea Sean!!! That is great. You guys are in our thoughts and prayers....miss ya. I bet you are counting the days until August. Wish we could all come out there. luv ya ~ lori

Laura said...

Yippee for Sean's scholarship money - $500 has been a fortune to us in similar situations. We once moved across the country to start at a new college thanks to an $800 scholarship. We could never have done it without that.

The FI socks - I REALLY hear you. They make a VERY thick and very unweilding fabric that wouldn't fit into any pair of shoes I own, nor even my clogs, I don't think! They'll be so perfect for slippers or just house socks.

I have been amazed at how the wool socks that I have made resist DIRT! Have you noticed that?? I made a pair of merino wool socks for Emeline that she wears a LOT in the house - even out onto the porch - and they never seem to get dirty on the bottoms!? Her cotton socks are black after about five seconds of walking around on my wood floors and you don't even want to see them after she's been on the porch (might as well throw them in the trash) but her wool socks still look as good as new. It's amazing and such a testament as to why I want to make more and more of these socks for my family!

Okay, I'll shut up now. Glad to see you're getting back to things after VBS. :)

Jill said...

Missed you a lot, Jan

CelticCastOn said...

love your slips! The will definatley keep your tooties warm inside :)

Anonymous said...

Your Fair Isle slipper looks great. I would never be brave enough to try anything like that. And just wanted to say that I have started to knit the silk yarn and it is wonderful! I love how soft it feels and I can't wait to wear it. Thanks so much!

Holly said...

I'm glad you found a good solution to the sock dilemma! They will be great as slippers :~)

vanessa said...

great slipper solution, and i love the colors :-)