Tuesday, March 17, 2009

An Absence of Yarn

When I began knitting my Urban Rattlesnake socks I had 100gm of Louet Gems fingering yarn. More than enough for a pair of socks one would think.




Heh. Apparently not.



Things began to look dubious after I turned the heel and launched into the gusset. This is all leftover yarn, of course, the remains from the Arctic Diamonds Stole, much of it in little bits and squibs. Hard to tell exactly what you have on hand without weighing it.


So I weighed it. Again. Barely halfway down the foot, and I had 8gm left per sock. Never going to make it. No, no, no. Must have been those yarn-gobbling cables that did the dirty deed.

Having reached the end of a pattern repeat, I immediately ceased cabling, decreased eight stitches (cuz plain knitting doesn't pull in so tight as cables) and continued in plain stockinette. This strategy will not save the situation, but it will allow the new, contrasting yarn to be joined close enough to the toe to, perhaps, look like a (ahem) "design feature."

And thus we come to the contrasting yarn. There are two possible colors – blue or white.

Two of the three possible blues are Brown Sheep Wildfoote, a potential problem as Wildfoote is a very skinny fingering, while Louet Gems is a fairly fat fingering. The solid blue is about the same weight as the Louet, a point in its favor.



A cream/white color would be perfectly appropriate. White goes with everything, right? I have plenty of cream Baby Ull. And the other is Knitpicks Essential Tweed Bare, more of a gray-white, with little flecks of color.


I'm having a teensy decision problem. The blue would be pleasantly daring. The cream is attractive, but rather tame, although tame can be okay. Sometimes. Perhaps the Knitpicks Tweed to get the best of both worlds? Perhaps?

11 comments:

Life Looms Large said...

I was thinking you'd start a cool summer trend....toeless socks....kind of like fingerless gloves?

Good luck!

Sue

beverlyanne said...

I guess that's why people make toe up socks. I like the blue with red (little ball in the center in the photo) or the white with flecks.

Knitting Linguist said...

Drat those yarn-gobbling cables! I think maybe the tweed, or, would the more colorful blue work doubled? Good luck!

Kath said...

In the photo the tweed looks like it has flecks of the same color as the Louet Gems, and if so, that'd be my pick. Second choice is the solid blue.

Delighted Hands said...

Your title made my heart skip! Not a joking matter! I think the wildfoote blues would be the way to go-the white is too much of a contrast.......jmho! Love the sock!

Susan Luni said...

They'll fit better without those cables on the foot, I think. Tweedy is cuter than plain, but any of those colors would do. Looks great so far!

Sharon said...

Shoot, as long as you don't take your shoes off, who's going to know what color the toes are?!

Willow said...

I like the Wildfoote. Or. I really hate to say this: you could tink back to the ankle on both socks and reknit in plain stockinette. Would that give you enough yarn?

Leigh said...

Having run out of yarn on a couple of projects in the past, I always worry now about having enough yarn. I have to admit that this is the reason why I knit toe up socks.

Sheila said...

The blue tones go well with the red. And yes, toeless socks. Who knew? : )

Marjorie said...

Could you knit the Wildfoote double to get the same thickness? I like the way that color works with the rose-color yarn.

I always get a ton of yarn when I know I want to cable something. Cables really do have a way of making your yarn disappear.