My Creative Space - socks for Jovanka

I found this great site called Our Creative Spaces where crafters can link to, each Thursday, with a picture of whatever they've been working on over the week.  For me, who hasn't picked up so much as a knitting needle for a couple of weeks, it has been a good motivator to get on and DO something again.  I found that I was also getting a bit antsy which is exactly what happens when I go for a while without doing any creative 'work'. 

So, out of desperation just to get started on something I picked up the ball of wool that was sitting on top of the heap in my basket, selected a set of DPNs close enough in size to match the ply and cast on 48 stitches for my favourite sock pattern.  And aaaahhhhhhhh sweet relief.  Liken this to going without a cup of tea for a stretch (or coffee, or whatever fuels your day) and then taking that first sweet sip.  Mmmmmm.

The beauty of this particular pattern is that I have knitted it up so many times for each of the children that I don't have to think about it too much - just get on with it amidst everything else that is going on around me.  And the self-patterning wool makes it look much more impressive than it actually is.  All I have to do is just keep on knitting.  Around and around and around.  This time I am adding in a little bit of shaping at the ankles for a better fit.  I wasn't sure what the standard way is - probably there is no standard way, just lots of possibilities (and I didn't want to interrupt my knitting to get up and look at a pattern) so I started decreasing one stitch every second row for a while until it looked about right.

I'm up to the heel of the first sock so far.  This is usually where I do reach for the pattern but, again, I didn't want to interrupt the knitting to get the pattern which was in another room so I am winging it and it seems to be working okay.  I have written down what I've done so I can do the same again for another sock because, as much as I tell myself that I will remember it, I know that I won't.  Check in next Thursday to see if it worked!