Eleanor saved, and sock update

Weather in my part of the world is pretty erratic - I can count on a spring snowfall sometime in March. The pain of having to scrape windows and brush snow off the car is alleviated by having a chance to wear Lady Eleanor. Yay! I'm so glad I kept her.

I don't think I ever posted a picture of my finished Whitbys. I think I would have enjoyed knitting these more if I were making them for myself. Instead, they were the somewhat obligatory "See, I love you, size 13 feet and all" socks for my DH, who dutifully exclaimed over them, then stuffed them in the drawer with all his Mark's Work Wearhouse socks. Oh well.


Pattern: Nancy Bush's Whitby, from Knitting on the Road
Yarn: Briggs and Little Tuffy
Size 3 addi turbos, 2 circs
Added 8 extra stitches to make the pattern fit a size 13 foot

And I finished my Rib and Cable socks, and cannot stop wearing them! They're my favorite right now!



design by Nancy Bush, in IK fall 05
Fortissima Colori
size 2 (2.75 mm) Inox circulars, magic loop
modifications: knit swirl toe instead of pattern toe

Man, I wish I had sock blockers - the cables show up a lot nicer than in this picture. I'm sure I could make my own blockers as Sarah at Flickr suggested. But I'd just rather, you know, whine about it.

I love, love, love the feel of this yarn on my feet. However, I don't know if I can recommend it for this pattern. It fuzzes and loses stitch definition very quickly. Since the cables are pretty large, it doesn't really bother me. But if that sort of thing bothers you, you might want to avoid using it.

However, the way they feel on my feet is more than adequate compensation!

Eleanor Interrupted

I knit the final tiers for my Lady Eleanor enterelac stole last night, finishing up most of the ninth skein of Noro silk garden and completing something like 37 tiers in total. So why don't I want to finish it?

For one thing, part of me looks at this stole and thinks "that's a lot of silk garden I could have made into a jacket". Or, somewhat heretically, "I would like this a whole lot better if it were a Clapotis". And somewhat ironically, it was trying to resist the lure of another Clapotis that started me on the Lady Eleanor project. I've been wearing one of my three Clapotis almost constantly through fall and winter, and often thought I'd want one in a more rustic colour, with lots of browns and blues. But it seemed like crazy talk to make a fourth Clappy, so logically, another large scarf that could be worn like a shawl or stole made so much more sense.

Enter Lady Eleanor, which has appeared in so many wonderful and stunning versions in Silk Garden that I was convinced it was a the right project for me.

I loved knitting this. I loved the clear directions in Scarf Style that made entrelec so easy to learn, the entertainment of learning to knit backwards to avoid turning, and watching the colour changes. But now that I have the (almost) finished product, I'm balking at completing it.

I'm just not convinced I'll wear it that often. It doesn't curl up softly around the neck like a Clapotis does. The entrelec fabric is much more textured and robust, and though beautifully thick and springy, just doesn't feel as comfortable to me. And as beautiful as the fringe would be, I can just imagine catching it on any number of door knobs or cupboard handles.

So, what to do? I'm tempted to rip it right away and convert it into a jacket. But just looking at it lying there so pretty and innocent, I'll grant her a reprieve, and think it over a little more.