I run out of yarn just about 18 lines before the end of the sock.

Options:

a) Put the socks somewhere far away and years from now frog them and use the yarn for something else

b) rip back both socks a little bit and incorporate stripes or toes of blue yarn into the sock. The blue yarn won’t show with most footware. This is the least work but the ugliest outcome.

c) rip back to a little bit above the ankle and decrease the size of the sock. This way the sock will fit me better anyway. It will be a lot of work but I have already put in a lot of time for these.

d) rip back to a little bit above ankle and switch to a smaller needle but keep the rest the same as before. It will be about the same amount of work as c) and probably the same outcome.

No, I cannot buy more yarn because this is hand painted specialty yarn and there does not seem to be any more in this colour for sale. In any case I will take a few days to work on something else and clear my mind.

I have been knitting some more. I’ve attempted to make a baby hat (Aviatrix baby hat from Ravelry), but it turned out to be Owen’s head sized.

I still have not frogged (ripped) it, but I doubt I will ever finish it. It just did not speak to me. Instead, I used the yarn to make some mitts for Trev. The base for these is a vintage Red Cross pattern that I have gone back to a few times.

I was originally going to make regular mitts, but Trev asked for a pair exactly like mine. Now he can go around looking like a little urchin. If I was to make these mitts again, I would try to be more creative and meticulous about the cast off, but I think it is ok for now. I might make a pari of actual mitts for Owen.

In the mean time I continue to work on the pink socks with some trepidation.

It seems that I have picked too large a size and they look gigantic. The problem was that the original pattern was for ankle socks and I wanted knee socks so the top part had to be made large enough to fit over my calf but I never made adjustments for the foot. I ended up ripping out the heel and redoing it, but the sock is still quite large. This is partially good because I wash wool socks in the washing machine so they are expected to shrink. I never know how the shrinking will turn out so there is nothing to do but hope for the best.

Well, there you go. I am another year older.

I have been taking it easy since Markus’ birth and probably have another two to four weeks of restrictions on exercise until I am fully recovered.

In absence of anything else to do, I have been knitting some more. Remember that red hat I made for Trev? It turns out it fits nona better so she convinced Trev to let her have it and I made a new hat for him. He has been bugging me for a fish costume (apparently a four year old can’t just have one Halloween outfit).

Here is a bit better picture of it (the hat is quite warm which made it difficult to get Trev to pose with it in 20 something degrees weather):

Pedantic souls amongst you will notice that it is not actually a fish but a mammal. I don’t think Trev will mind. He still has not started minding that penguins don’t have fully orange beaks. Tough for him if he does mind. I am not fixing any of his costumes.

To make the hat I took a break from making socks. Socks are a bit of pain to make because I am using small needles and sock yarn so it takes a lot of knitting to get a little bit of fabric.

I have not yet decided if I am a sock knitter. I do like wearing knitted socks, but I am not sure if I like it enough to keep on with knitting them given how much effort it is. I’ll make a few pairs and decide from there.

While the socks were taking a break because of the porpoise hat construction, one of the needle tips snapped. KnitPicks has a pretty generous return policy so I will try and see if I can get them to replace it (even though it must have been over a year since I bought the circulars). In the mean time I will use the excuse of my birthday to get a set of Addi circs so I can continue with the socks. Since today is a holiday and stores are closed I have decided to try and knit the socks with double pointed needles and see if I still agree with my decision to switch to cirks. Conclusion – I can’t believe I ever managed to knit anything with double pointed needles to begin with!!!

And yes, the trees are the prettiest for my birthday!