First Cherry Rib Sock/Shawl Progress

Cherry Rib Sock
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I had to stop knitting on the shawl yesterday, since I needed to teach a class and it now requires a bit of concentrating. So, I finally finished the first of these Cherry Rib socks. I am enjoying beads so much that I just put a few of them up at the top of the sock foot. They show up on the close-up picture.

Everyone who saw this sock yesterday wanted the pattern. I did share the stitch repeat I used a few days ago. The only addition is that I have a twisted stitch column going up each side, since the socks are 68 stitches around but the pattern is 32 stitches (multiple of 5 plus 2). What surprised me was how incredibly "ribby" the ribbing pattern is. Look at the photo of the sock without a foot in it and you will see what I mean. The leg resembles a loofah or something.Certainly these socks will stay up! They'd be good for someone with thick calves and thin heels!


I realize I really ought to do these original designs in yarns that highlight the design more. I did recently buy some more solid-esque sock yarns. I may re-do the Rainy Day Socks in a less busy yarn, for example, so people can see the umbrellas and raindrops. I just have SO many colorful yarns...Guess I should churn out some plain socks in those.

In shawl news, I got a few rows in last night. The borders have a LOT of beads in them, which does slowdown the process. But, whoa, does it look nice! I am very excited about how it is coming out. I see that it will be somewhat small, so I am considering making the border longer. I have to get more beads anyway, and they aren't expensive. The border repeat is only four rows, so it would be easy enough to do one more repeat of the edge pattern, which would add about 4 inches to the completed project. So, I will think on this.

Thanks to a suggestion to one of the ladies who come to the LYS, I added one blue bead to the shawl, so it can be "something blue" in my wedding ensemble. Thanks to Dawn for this idea!


On Friday night I decided I wanted to meet some new people, so I went to the Mystery Knit Night at the LYS. I'd had a bad day (made better by a job interview that came in very late!), so I was ready for something distracting. It was a good event, with just enough people but not too many. We got a bag with three partial balls of cotton yarn, a tongue depressor with a tiny mirror on it, and some instructions. We weren't told what we were making (that was the mystery). I wish I had picked a different pattern, since mine turned out to be mostly a stockinette rectangle, but I enjoyed listening to people talk (for the most part), and guessing what we were making. I was wrong, I was NOT making a butterfly. We were given a second bag with a bar of soap and a shower cap in it. Yes, the thing we made was a soap sack. We got ribbons to sew it up when complete, then we were to put on our shower caps and look at ourselves in the tiny mirror. I do believe photos were taken,of everyone in their shower caps, but I don't have copies (luckily). The project was not terribly thrilling, but I enjoyed the new people I met and the old friends who were there as well, so it was worthwhile.

Yesterday I taught a new class, "Instant Sock" and it went pretty well. The idea is to knit an ankle sock, so the student will have a chance to make a heel in the session. It worked--the student did get down to the gusset in the three hours allotted. Yay! I also started teaching a felted bag class, but will have to finish up on that one next week.

The goal of today is to see how much more shawl I can do. Go me! I guess I'll go until I run out of beads. Beccano and I will go to the bead store tomorrow to replenish. Have a good week, everyone, and post a comment to let me know how you are doing if you are so inclined.