Finally, I finished the socks for my younger daughter, somewhere just before a pleasant sounding Qantas pilot announced that we would not be going immediately to Hong Kong, but had been diverted to Manila. If you have a sense of deja vu, so did I.
I knitted with Knit Pro fixed metal circulars on both the flight to Australia and on the return, and knitting helped to preserve my sanity. On the flight to Sydney, I was accosted by an elderly woman as I knitted. She asked “How did you get those on the plane?”. She began to tell a tale of woe about her knitting not being allowed when the seatbelt sign came on.
If I had had the chance, I would have said to her, that I am firmly in the camp of seeking forgiveness rather than permission when it comes to knitting on a plane. I think that having an inherently non-threatning kind of project, and short needles also will help you clear security. Sock gauge bamboo double pointed needles also fit rather nicely in a small child’s pencil case, or in a make-up bag.
I should have removed the bag from underneath the chair for the shot above! In the tradition of contrariness for which my family might be known, older daughter is modelling her younger sister’s socks, and I only had a small window of co-operation within which to work. If you look closely, you can see that I added a row of purl stitches after the ribbing, solely to provide a device for distinguishing the two pairs.
These socks caused me further trouble after the last incident with the incorrect number of cast on stitches. I managed to start the heel on sock 1, mark 2 way too soon, and had to rip it out again after cutting the hand dyed yarn. This caused some irregular pooling in the yarn, which I am choosing to ignore.
When I reached the toe on sock 2, I realised that I had stopped the gusset decreases 3 stitches too soon, and had to rip back all of the foot. Given that the first pair of these socks fairly flew off the needles, I was surprised at how many stupid mistakes I made on these. Maybe waiting for a family member to receive medical treatment requires projects calling for even less concentration. The patient has recovered well from surgery, and should recover completely. I am glad to be back in Hong Kong, and back at work.
Tags: contrasting purl row, Finished Classic Sock by Nancy Bush, Socks that Rock
October 7, 2009 at 2:20 am |
That row of purl is brilliant! Lovely socks too.
Glad to hear things are settled health wise.
October 7, 2009 at 6:16 am |
slight diversions not withstanding, I absolutely love these socks. The pooling is great, even with its differences. Glad to hear all goes well for the patient and you got through both flights with needles! A few mistakes and a bit of ripping is a small price to pay for the sanity of stitching through stress.
October 7, 2009 at 2:36 pm |
After I left Sock Summit and was flying home I was accosted by the man next to me who was shocked that they had let me board the plane with my sock needles. I told him that a set of 5″ toothpicks would hardly be the weapon of choice for a terrorist and, thankfully, the flight attendent he called over to complain to told him the same thing. Glad to hear that your trip was a success.
October 11, 2009 at 2:00 am |
You make me want to learn how to knit socks, even though I’m mostly a sweater knitter.
October 13, 2009 at 8:50 pm |
Love those socks and cute feet!
October 17, 2009 at 3:50 pm |
Little socks on little feet. So cute!
December 4, 2009 at 1:29 pm |
they are really nice!!
greetings