Half Bloomed

I already showed you the heel - now how about the toe?

As you can see I finished one of my Bloomin' Feet socks last week. I think that, as a knitter, one of the challenged we face is matching the right yarn with the pattern we want to knit or vice versa. In my case I feel like I get it wrong as often as I get it right. This is probably one reason why I'm so in love with these socks. It all fits!

The yarn (STR) has just the right degree of variegation to show off the pattern without obscuring it or distraction from it. It also seems to show the twists and turns off well.

My big worry is the size. This is my 4th swap - I did the Dye-o-rama, Funky Scarf Swap, and Yarn Aboard - but none of those presented size issues. My BF pal has feet that sound just a bit bigger than mine. I've tried these on and they fit well and seem to have enough give to accommodate a bigger foot but I just don't know. I suppose that there is no way to be certain other than finding a similar foot to try it on. I suppose I'll just have to have a little faith.

I finished another sock over the past weekend but it's a super-secret Sock Madness sock. I'm working on finishing another one right now. I never did any test knitting before SM and it's been interesting. I'm knitting with a whole different frame of mind. Instead of focusing on the sock - I'm focused on the instructions and their clarity. Normally, when I work a pattern and come to a wonky part, I adjust it for me (usually mentally) and go on. I rarely make notes that would make sense to anyone else. Usually its a stitch count that works out wrong or a knit that seems like it should be a purl. I think I tend to assume that it's knitters error.

Test knitting is different because I need to figure out if it's knitters error or a pattern error. One needs to think about the designers intent. If necessary, I need to figure out how to make it right and figure out the best wat to express the question to the designer. It's easy to lose meaning in an email.

I'm kind of behind on my test knitting but I think that I know why. Test knitting requires a different focus that I just didn't have until recently. I was a little overwhelmed with all of the other stuff necessary to make SM fly. Now that it's working well I can focus on other things.