A SOCK STORY

Hi, it's me unabashed sock lover.  My children will tell you that socks are, perhaps, an obsession with me.  However, I have no idea when this began. It wasn't always like it is now.
  It may have started in 1994 when I got my first job as a nurse.  We graduates had longed for the chance to get out of our student uniforms and into the cute scrubs we had seen at the hospitals where we obtained our clinical experience.  For me, this was not to be,  I was hired at a Catholic hospital where all nurses wore white.  (Oh, Hallelujah, we did not have to wear our caps.  Mine looked unlike any nurse cap I had ever seen.)  Consequently, I tried to accessorize my whiteness with color. I got a turquoise stethoscope and little belt pack to carry my tools and bandages and tape.  When not wearing a skirt, I wore the most colorful socks I could find.  It made me happy to see them whenever I got a moment to sit.

Today, I have many socks. 
I have a section for ankle socks, one for knee socks, one for handknit, and a large drawer for the crew style socks.  Most of them are in good shape, but some may have holes.  I have a hard time throwing them away, and I have learned to darn.

Did she say 'darn'?  What is that?

It's a way to repair holes by making a little woven section in the hole using a similar thread or yarn.
 
The following photos are from my collection.

 Ankle socks

Knee socks

Crew socks, all mine.

Handknit.








Several years back I took a sock knitting class at Lofty Lou's yarn shop in Placerville, Ca.  My teacher, Pam, taught me and also became my good friend.  What a deal I got that day!!

These are the socks I made. My first ones!  Note the difference in the toes.  The left was easier, but the right looks nicer and I've done it that way ever since.







As you may know, socks are a very portable project.  I took them occasionally to the theater to be productive during off stage times.

See the beginnings of a yellow/green sock there on the pillow?  I recently started finishing it.  Much to do yet.

               

Doing the gussets and it is tedious.  I'm using size one needles and I have the feeling I'm using toothpicks.

See these?

I fell in love with them HERE.  Knitted by Stephanie Pearl-McFee.

Here are mine,  I didn't take time to make them line up as Stephanie did with hers.

                                    It's okay,  I love them anyway.

Only one more,  I've one sock done in this striped yarn color Red Lips and Smoky Eyes and started on the second. For my sister, Pat.

The colors are bright.  I think it may have been foggy in my house when I took these photos.

Come back soon, maybe next week, for more of something.

Don't you just hate it

When you finish something and it's just not right?  Yes, I finally finished the red blouse with help from my trusty or not so trusty assistant.

Zeke who  recently returned from a walk about insisted on helping me while I was hemming.  Poor lamb, he didn't realize how inadequate a couturier he is.

He just couldn't make his tail do anything productive.  It just lay there.

So it only took a couple of hours to finish the blouse and I eagerly looked forward to trying it on.  This is what happened.  I couldn't wait so I tried it on before I put on the sleeves.  This was a BIG mistake.  After I did, I didn't want to finish.  It's true.  I suddenly hated the red blouse.

Twenty-four hours later, I did put the sleeves on, but I refused to hem them or do the buttons.  Here are photos.

Starting to hem, before Zeke arrived to help.

The front sans buttons.  The color in the photo above is more true in color.

This is the back but the color is really off.  I'm not sure why there's such a difference same camera same time same place.  Ah well, a photographer I'm not.







Can you guess why I hate the red blouse?  No, it's not the weird color changes. No, Zeke didn't harm it in anyway.  It doesn't fit.  There.  I said it.  I'm keeping it because there is a possibility than it might someday.

Lest you think I took all this time with nothing more than a nearly finished red blouse, here is something else that turned out better.

 Sleep-over Satchel for Pam
 (see post here )  That one is the story of The Monkey on the branch.

 Supplies

 Forgot to photograph until I put the lining in.

 Close-up of pocket

The finished bag.  Again, however, the color isn't true.  I think it maybe that my sewing room is yellow.

Yesterday I also finished some knitting so tune in tomorrow for a look at that.

What's next you might well ask?  I'm making another Sleep-over Satchel, this time for my daughter-in-law. Sh-h-h, her birthday is next month.  I'll be sharing pictures then.

Thank you for hanging in with me.  I hope to be posting more often as the challenge is taking off.

 Ciao! (Did I mention I also study Italian?)

And I thought I was done

When the show closed on December 30th, a sold-out performance, I knew there was one more day.  On January 4th, we had to strike the set.  That means putting the theatre back to it's former self.  Everyone involved with the production was supposed to participate.  I joined in, but being unfamiliar with tools such as hammers, drills, etc. I helped with organizing the costumes for storage and return to costumes rental places.

Aack! Is she still talking about that show?  Where's the challenge?

I heard that.  I know, I promised and it will happen. Believe me.  So, at the strike I volunteered to take home some of the costumes for wash and repair. Thankfully there were only a few minor repairs, but oh, the washing.

These are the clean factory aprons. Twenty-one draped ;on my loom.

This is my car loaded with some of the bags of costumes I brought home. I'd already done the aprons.

 Clean costumes on the loom. Shirts, aprons and bloomers.

On the loveseat.
Lots of burgundy and gold gloves from the wedding scene.

Is there a loom there? And what's that on the chair?  Cindy's huge nightdress. It is so big she couldn't find her way out.


And ta-dah! My whole living room full of clean stuff.  Except the dog.  See the video tour.

 

And the loom has completely disappeared.

Next time, the red blouse returns for it's final performance.