FO, Finally

Well, miracles do happen, and we had two yesterday. The first one, I finally finished Pomatomus:

Not much sun lately, just cloudy, grey skies, so my picture is crap. Click on the socks to embiggen to see the lovely Pomatomus pattern.

Or try this for contrast against the car:

Began: December 28, 2007
Completed: March 7, 2008
Frogged: to varying degrees about three zillion times ~ this is lace, after all, so you do have to pay SOME attention.

Project Specs:
Yarn: Fleece Artist Nova Socks ~ one sock kit or skein, 325m (roughly 354 yards), 115grams, 100% washable merino wool
Needles: Clover Bamboo dpns sizes 3 (leg) and 2 (foot)
Modifications: I used only two repeats of the pattern on the leg because they were already fairly long by the end of the second repeat and switched from size 3 needles to size 2 at the beginning of the heel flap.

The yarn is fantabulous, as is the pattern. As I suspected, I would not have had enough yarn to do more pattern repeats, and I barely had any left over as it was. I think there is less than one yard left. Thank goodness the socks were too baggy, causing me to switch needle sizes to tighten things up; otherwise, I am sure I would have run out of yarn.

As it was, near the end of the second sock, which was really the first sock that ended up getting frogged in half, the yarn felt pretty stiff, perhaps due the dying process and the way the pH of the dye affects the yarn cuticle, sort of the way hair dye or peroxide-based permanent wave solution affects hair. The normally very soft and spongey Fleece Artist felt sort of like Koigu PPM, which to me feels significantly stiffer than the solid color Koigu.

I was so very ready to have these done as they should have been completed last month, so the stiff yarn coupled with the drag caused by the needle size and other text imprinted on the Clover Bamboos was pretty annoying. At times I could honestly hear the yarn scratching over the needles.

I am also beginning to see the justification for lace needles by Skacel. I haven’t tried them yet or even seen them, but I am convinced after trying to do k2togs of a knit followed by a purl stitch or ptbl on four needles that sharper points have a serious advantage to the somewhat blunt ends of the bamboo.

I can see some lace Addi-Turbos in my near future because I have my eyes and heart set on the Swallow Tail Shawl using my lovely Handmaiden Sea Silk, and from what I’ve read, the purl five purl stitches together to form the Lily of the Valley nupps is quite something.

The second miracle is that the predicted 8 to 18 inches of snow did not make it our way. I think it went southeast instead. Sorry to the folks in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, but I am SICK of snow and was fatigued just contemplating shoveling one more time. I don't like February as it is, and here March is continuing the dismal trend. If I see any more snow or grey skies, I will start screaming like the stark raving lunatic that the sunless days of February turns me into.