Gifted sock yarn socks # 2 - Hundertwasser socks.

I'm back! Did you miss me? I bet you didn't even notice, that I took a tiny Spring break. :o) I tried to stay away from the Internet, boy that was hard. If you are not actually physically away from a hooked up computer, it's just magnetically drawing you close, at least that's how it is with me. Anyway, I've been knitting my test shawl for Maggie's shawl. It's done, and blocking now. I already know that I have to change some things, but little things. I didn't realize how hard it is to design a shawl from A-Z, with no help from E.A. Clark's little booklet. I'm terrible at taking notes. I've made several pages of notes, with chart drawings, and so on, and as I started to knit the actual shawl yesterday, I had trouble remembering, what the heck I meant with all my doodles. But more of this, when it's all done. I'm here to talk about my Hundertwasser socks:

Don't think they are anything special? Au contraire! I made these 2-at-a-time on one circular needle! YES! I liked it too. I was not faster however, didn't think so anyway, but my mom, who just started knitting socks on 5 DP, finished one pair, and hearing of this magical technique, wanted me to explain it on the phone, in about five minutes. "And is it faster too?"she asked ever hopefully. Nope, when you think about it, how can it be.You knit 2 socks at the same time, instead of one. She was disappointed to hear that. That's my mom, always on the lookout for shortcuts. :o)

I did not do the tutorial socks in the book, but started right away with these plain, and simple socks, but really, with those colors, what else could you do? No stitch pattern could bring out those gorgeous colors any better. I wanted it to be simple. I think this is the first pair of socks, with the exact same amount of rows. I don't count the rows with my other socks, I know I should do it, but I don't. Well actually, I think if I remember correctly, one sock is half a row shorter, it's just the way the technique works.

I did not have major problems, even without checking the errata for this book, I could work it out, because I was not new to sock knitting. I later discovered that what I thought was an error in the tutorial, really was one. The only time I got stuck for a minute was picking up the gusset stitches, there I was thinking I knew it all, and did not read the instructions properly, so entirely my fault.

I'm definitely going to knit socks with this technique again, especially with plain socks, when the yarn is busy enough for stitch patterns. But of course I could knit some of the gorgeous patterns from the book, or any other for that matter, but right now, I don't' want to. I still like my double point needles too much, to cast them away for good.

Specifics:

yarn: gifted by Hannah, Opal, 75% wool, 25% polyamid, 100g ~ 425m, colorway - 1434, In Variation nach Hundertwassers Werk 637A - Wartende Haeuser. I had left overs.

That's the painting, which inspired the sock colorway.

needle: one 2.5mm circular addi turbo
size: US 9.5, I cast on 60 sts for the cuff, decreased to 56 sts for leg and rest of the sock
technique: from book: 2-at-a-time socks by Melissa Morgan-Oakes
start-finish: February 22 - 25
destination: Hannah's feet


For the dog lovers:

How is Biko doing, you ask? Well, she's doing fine mostly, but at the end of the day she still is sore, almost every day, that's due to her being too wild, when outside. Even without playing fetch, she's just enjoying herself in the snow too much. In the evenings, when she's climbing the stairs, she yelps sometimes, or when getting up. I hope this discomfort will disappear too. It's been six weeks since her surgery.
That would be Sam underneath my legs, happily snoozing, while I knit. As soon as there's a pause in the click click click, his head comes up, and he's ever so hopeful that we'll go outside now. I must say, he's a very patient dog.

And what would a spring break be without some delicious cake? I saw something similar in a magazine, and since I like strawberries so much, I wanted my own version of it. I've used store bought angel food cake. This has been the second time I used store bought stuff like that, but I've never baked angel food cake myself. Anyway, I know it would never win a beauty contest, but this was not for show, but to be eaten right away. I've made the strawberries happy by letting them soak in sugar and some balsamic vinegar (I wish I had a bottle of real old balsamic vinegar. Once I made a reduction with regular balsamic vinegar, and it was divine, can't even think of how good the real deal must taste).

And yes, it's real whip cream, no fakey, fakey stuff. This is a wonderful combination, and it didn't last long at all. I'm kinda getting into baking again, I'm just sick of how the store bought stuff tastes. I think I have to look into how to bake Angel food cakes, because I liked this combination, but don't want to use the store bought stuff, if you know what I mean. So, now that I've watered my own mouth, I'm going to pour another cup of tea, and try to remember the taste. I think I'll bake Sacher Torte today, just because. :o)

PS My Blog Anniversary is coming up in April! :o)