Necessary Indulgence, Handknit socks: what NOT to do

So, we've established that I like to knit socks, especially when I travel. I was excited to knit my sock on our trip to Paris since it had been sitting idle since February. I never really knit the same sock pattern, so as I knit and the lovely pattern reveals itself on the sock, I am enthralled and wonder how stretchy it is with all those fancy stitches between the ribs. Feet are funny in that they have a heel and, as such, comfortable socks need to stretch over that heel. So, with all that work put into knitting those little stitches, sometimes I am eager to see if /how the sock fits. So eager that I try said sock-in-progress on with knitting needles still attached. 

Do you know what? US Size 1 wooden double-pointed knitting needles aren't as bendy as you'd think! 

Do you hear the sound of my heart breaking?

Also, they are difficult to fix with tape or glue...

This doesn't work as well as you'd think/hope/want.

Had I been at home, I would have gone to my stash of needles and just taken the fifth needle (yes, they sometimes throw in a fifth needle for larger-diameter knitting and for cases just like this!) from the set out and knitted on my merry way. BUT, as I was in Paris, I sort of was stuck. I knitted with a glued needle for about four rows before it snapped again. (Can't really tell you how amazed I was  that I was even able to do this for that long, but I was inordinately excited.)

Most yarn stores in Paris do not stock knitting needles as a matter of course. Since sock knitting is not as popular there, small size dpns (double-pointed needles) are very difficult to find. Many years ago, I did  find some dpns for sale in an odds and ends jar of a now-shuttered Anny Blatt store in the Marais area of Paris. They are the best dpns I own with the perfect tip and finish. They are metal and strong and somewhat bendy. They were not the needles I was I was knitting these socks with. I was knitting with the colorful wooden Knitpicks needles (they sort of match the yarn, I'll use those! yeah!). I moped for what seemed like an age, actually looked in our kitchen for a suitable bamboo skewer to no avail and then had the bright idea of looking in my weaving storage drawers.....

voila!

This photo is more exciting than it looks.

By the way, this is how you're supposed to try on socks-in-progress: 

1. put the live stitches on waste yarn
2. set working needles aside 
3. pull on! 

Simple and painless...trust me.

Diagonal Rib Socks designed by Ann Budd from Interweave Knits webKnits in Regia Design Line by Kaffe Fassett color #4256, yarn purchased at Le Bon Marche, Paris, ca 2005.

Paris Journal: Will knit for Barbie?

When you're in Paris you expect the odd accordion or saxophone player playing "Strangers in the Night" in the metro, but this one was new to me. As I walked to the Boulangerie Landemain on the rue des Martyrs for my mid-day baguette, this woman was sitting on the sidewalk, knitting. On the ground in front of her were a coffee can holding scissors and a handknit-dressed Barbie seated on a box. The piece she was working on looked more like a fun fur scarf than anything that Barbie might wear, but Barbie does always need evening wear, doesn't she? 

Was she offering to knit Barbie clothing for passersby for a small fee? Or were we to applaud her on her industriousness with a few Euro coins? I'm still not sure.

Only my second sighting in over 10 years of visiting Paris of anyone knitting in public  (other than me).

I am always knitting in public (KIP) here in Paris since there is always idle time on the bus or metro. People are always fascinated when I pull out my sock-in-progress and knit away. If they ask me what I'm knitting, I usually tell them "chausette" (sock), then they give me a surprised look like "no way, why bother!", then they go back to looking at their phones. The lines for the butcher, fishmonger, boulangerie, patisserie and Vuitton can be really long, stretching around the block. Whenever I see a long line here, I think "these people could be knitting!" Think of all the socks and Barbie dresses that could have been...

Look closer, she's not only KIPing, she's set up shop as couture knitter to Barbie!

Necessary Indulgence: Handknit socks; cotton stretch shorties

I have been enjoying my handknitted wool socks during this winter that never seems to end. But, I am more than excited that it's almost getting to be warm enough to wear my recently-completed summer shortie socks. I started knitting these in January 2011 (no typo there) and the first sock was completed pretty quickly (pretty sure that two weeks is a record for me in the sock completion category). Sadly, the second sock faced the misplacement of the red ball of yarn for the heel and was in a holding pattern/hiatus for a year or so. Now, all done, only 2 years later!

Happy feet

Lace stitch pattern; easy to remember if you don't put your socks down for a year+ in the middle of knitting them.

The socks are knit in a stretchy cotton yarn, Cascade Fixation, in a pattern that I think is from the Cascade website. I changed the heel and toe to red since I only had one ball of the multicolored space-dyed yarn. And I added a single crochet edging in the red to the top of the cuffs to balance things out.

I knit these on US size 3 needles, so they were quick to knit, as long as I was knitting them, that is :). They were knitted with the neat square double pointed needles from Kollage.  I highly recommend the square dpns and circulars from Kollage for those with hand soreness issues. They actually do work to ease the pain.