Thursday, February 28, 2008

It Turns Out

...that I don't hate colorwork after all.



I made a colorwork hat (maybe 8 years ago?), and that was my last colorwork till last week. The hat went badly--because I carried the contrast color too tightly, the fabric was puckered and wouldn't block out. I refused to rip, so I did that thing they tell you is impossible: working backwards from the live stitches to the cast on, I pulled enough yarn back through the stitches to loosen them. Ripping would have been faster, but it worked eventually, and I still wear the hat.

Not wanting to repeat the experience, I avoided multicolored knitting. I mostly knit for myself and mostly wear solid colors, so I didn't feel this as a restriction at all--since I didn't want the finished product, avoiding the technique was pretty painless.

But small doses for colorwork have been looking attractive lately--the endpaper mitts for starters, and then many other pairs of complete mittens. So when Laura at Schaefer asked for colorwork socks, I figured why not?



And it turns out that I love it (although this may be partly due to the small size and rapidity of progress). I'm also totally amused by the toe, with its cute little decrease lines!

3 comments:

jennsquared said...

my problem of them is that when i carrying the unused colors, they are loose enough to not pucker the finished object, but when you actually want to wear them... that was my problem... they don't stretch enough to let your feet through!!!

The socks are pretty... I think I'll have to buy that pattern!

Anonymous said...

I think we need to have a colorwork workshop at S'nB....the concept is foreign to me.

Anonymous said...

I am completely demoralized by this news. Your staunch refusal to launch into colorwork made me feel that it wasn't really a bad thing that I had never mastered this. Quite normal, really, I told myself.

And now? Geez. I gotta learn to do it.

I'm sure I'll thank you. One day.