A Study in Self-Justification

My husband and I are heading off on Friday for a long-anticipated trip to a warm climate.  The forecast is for a high of 9 degrees here at home on Thursday, and a high of 78 at our destination on Friday.  I can live with this.  But with a 15 hour flight each way and relaxing downtime in between, I'm obviously going to need to bring along some knitting.  Something that will not get sweaty or uncomfortable in my shorts-clad lap.  And given the number of projects already in need of my attention and the somewhat sensitive nature of my budget, it ought to be something either already in my cue or ready to jump out of my previously purchased stash of yarn.  I'm thinking socks.

I've done socks before.  Many pairs of thick felted wool socks according to my brother's pattern, and exactly three pairs of finer-gauge socks:

1. A pair in a basic pattern using the Red Heart sock yarn with aloe, which really wasn't that bad to work with.  That's the pair of socks which taught me my gauge was a bit too loose for the heel and toe, and that when the pattern said it needed 20 rows of ribbing, it really did need it.  I have to be quite a bit behind in my laundry before I wear those socks.

2. A pair in a lace pattern, made with some fabulous silk blend picked up from my favorite alpaca shop, which were requested specifically by my Father as a gift for his new wife.  I never would have done them for anyone else, but Dad almost never requests knitting and I wanted to honor his faith in my abilities.  I found out after the socks were delivered (and after hours and hours and hours of knitting lace on tiny needles) that his wife is also a knitter.  I've often wondered since what she really thought of those socks - but he gave them to her when I wasn't there, so I didn't get the chance to watch her reaction.

3.  A pair made for my own use out of some yarn from the sale rack at JoAnn's, mostly to keep my fingers busy during the videos and tests while I was substitute teaching.  They're still sitting in my work basket, waiting for me to weave in the ends and put them on.  I really should do that, but I'm a bit afraid that the "loose heel" issue from #1 will resurface.  So long as they're still in the work basket, I can pretend that they'll be perfect.

So here I am, with another whole skein from the purple/pink/blue silk lace socks but with some emotional scars from my loose heel stitch problem.  Also, I do owe my friend Candy a pair of socks in recompense for the CPR certification course she taught on short notice in my living room just for me and my daughter.  And I found a toe-up pattern on Ravelry which might side-step the loose stitch issue.  And sock yarn packs small.

So, monogamy be damned.  I think I'm taking the purple silk for me, and some sturdy merino for Candy.  Wish me luck.

Keeping Me Honest: Einstein Jacket

Heather is what Rick calls one of my "imaginary friends."  She is a friend of my cousin Julie from her college days, and lives in the greater Chicago area (I think) with her husband and kids.  I have never met her in the "real world," but was chatting with her one day about her 10 year old son who uses a wheelchair and finds it difficult to wear a coat without it bunching uncomfortably in the back.  Apparently they make coats which split up the back, specifically to address this problem - but they are gawdawful expensive not cheap.  So I thought I'd try to make the little guy a sweater coat which split up the back.

I wandered around and looked at various patterns, and consulted with the online knitting community.  A very nice lady donated her knitting machine and a book of patterns for "special people," and I'm sure I'll put it to good use eventually - but the thing was a bit intimidating and I just never found the right moment to try it out.  But in the meantime my friend Nadine was just finishing an Einstein Jacket from Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch book, and it occurred to me that the pattern would be ridiculously easy to modify for a split lower back.  The entire lower section of the jacket is one long garter stitch rectangle, reminiscent of the "scarf from never-ending hell" which becomes the first project of almost every new knitter.  So, instead of one long skinny rectangle I made two rectangles which were each just a bit more than half the total length called out by the pattern.  Overlap the two back edges when picking up the stitches for the center back, and voila! I have a sweater coat split up to about mid-back.  (I just hope the tiny overlap of stitches doesn't make a weird bump in his back when the sweater is being worn.)

I started with 2 one pound cones of Lamb's Pride Bulky in their "Grassy Knoll" color (and can't get Kennedy out of my head for some reason).  I also have a single skein of a matching medium green in worsted weight; I'll ask my friend Tammy to single-crochet around the edges with it, but if push comes to shove I can also use it double-strand for cuffs and collar or something.  Worst case scenario, Oregon Trails on Ebay will certainly have more of the variegated green, although I'd rather not pay for more shipping.

The pattern is meant to be fairly loose and the upper torso naturally droops down to make the first few inches of sleeve - but the whole thing looks big to me.  I may have to find a 10 year old to try it on.  What do you think?