Granny’s socks are progressing nicely – or at least the first one is anyway. And if I say so myself, they are just sooo delightful! The cable pattern is very pretty, but very dense. This is going to be one snuggly warm pair of socks.

Today I can see the end of the tunnel. I think I can get them finished in time. No problem. Or even if they’re late, they’re only going to be a little late.

So how come I find myself totally stressed by them?

Yet again I have hit that problem that crops up again and again with me. I am a worrier when it comes to socks and yarn quantities. The lady in the yarn shop in Zürich assured me that three balls would be fine for a pair of socks for me. The clue is in the words…for me…. these socks are not for me. These socks are for granny and although she would be very unhappy with me for informing the world of this fact, her feet are, well, a little on the large side. Moreover I have picked a pattern which involves knitting on really very small needles and I also accidentally started out with what I have now realized, is the men’s size. Although I have shortened the leg and will shorten the foot, the men’s size requires four balls of yarn. And four balls of yarn is what I do not have….

At least I have in my favour that for once I actually bought the yarn in Zürich and that Lana Grossa is a make of yarn that seems to be widely available. Today is a holiday here (Ascension Day) so I can’t run to the yarn shop – but I know what I’m going to be doing tomorrow…..

And how much would you like to bet that if I find another ball of yarn that I will miraculously manage to finish the socks with 3 balls? Maybe I’d better just bite the bullet and buy another four and make a pair for myself with whatever is left. Do any of you knitters out there get your knickers in a twist about yarn quantities? I guess if I read the pattern properly and always bought the wool used in the pattern I maybe wouldn’t have these issues, but there you are – I’m a flibertigibit, always have been, probably always will be…..

Anyway all this knitting related stress is keeping my mind off the other thing I’m worrying about. My 11 year old son set off today on his bicycle with his scout group for a 20 mile bike ride to their Ascension Weekend camp. He’ll be gone for 4 days and will be sleeping in a tent. He has been gone for 7 hours already and it has not stopped pouring with rain for one second during that time. If the weather forecast is to be believed, the rain will get worse and won’t stop at all for the entire time. I know that he won’t stay dry, wear his wellington boots and get enough sleep, his road sense leaves a lot to be desired…..and he’s my baby…. (good thing he’s gone, he would go crazy with me if he read this!)… I guess if he’d fallen off his bike I would have heard by now. Maybe that’s one less thing to fuss about for the moment.

So that’s what’s on my mind…. With that, it’s back to the knitting… Have a nice evening…..

Helen

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 13th, 2010 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.