Saturday, June 30, 2007

Gorillas And Monkeys And Frogs...Oh My!

So, I was looking at my Monkey Socks this morning. Kind of admiring the pattern, thinking ahead to how I was going to match the yarn up for the second sock...you know how it is. I then proceeded to finish the heel and get down to the business of building a foot.

And then it happened. I had me something of a realization. I looked at my sock. I looked at my foot. I looked back at the sock. I returned my gaze to my foot. There was something of a discrepancy, there. And it was then clear to me that I didn't have a Monkey on my needles.

I had a Gorilla.

There were a couple of things at work against me. The first was my choice of needle. Against my better judgement, I opted to go with a size 2 needle rather than a size 1. It seemed like the right choice gauge-wise. It wasn't. The second was my decision to follow the pattern's directions with regard to the heel rather than substituting the one that fits my tootsies a bit better. I have a narrow foot and the heel is no exception. Add to this the fact that I am something of a loosey-goosey knitter and you have one gi-normous sock taking over the knitting spot.

I was now faced with two choices. I could head into the kitchen, break out a canister of salt and consume it by the spoonful until my feet retained enough water to swell to the correct size. Or, I could frog them completely and try again. You'd probably be surprised to know just how long I considered option #1. But in the end, we all took a field trip to the frog pond. The deed is done, the lovely Lorna's Laces was given a nice hot bath and hung up to block a bit then a new yarn was brought forth.

And when I say, "new yarn" I mean really new. Like, it arrived yesterday. It seems that Trek re-routed some yarn my way that was originally a prize that she'd won in a blog contest. But she wondered if it might be happier living with me and the kitties so it extended its trip just a bit further north. The Trekking XXL didn't get much of a rest nor an opportunity to acclimate to its new surroundings. It was put to work before I even remembered to get a picture.






And, for your viewing pleasure, I include my new flames, skulls, 'n snakes sneakers. The universe can conspire to make me 42 years old. But it can't pick my shoes for me!
A very thoughtful idea, Trek! Thanks for the stash enhancement and for the second chance at my Monkey Socks. The Trekking is already on the needles and attempting to do a better job with the pattern. I'm just a bit past the ribbing at this point so it's rather early to make a judgement. But, so far things are looking more on the foot proportional side of things.
However, I've ordered some Gorilla Be Gone just in case...
SA

16 comments:

Mouse said...

gorilla begone.. ROFLMAO
nice choice of footwear.

catsmum said...

closer up photo of footwear please
and btw if I can gather up the strength to swim the pacific and then trek across to Maine you may find yourself being held up at needle point for that glorious blue yarn

Jeanne said...

Love the shoes! My inner not-44-year-old chooses to express herself via fuchsia stripes in the hair and a newly-acquired nose ring.

My feet are narrow, too, and I modified my Monkeys slightly. Rather than doing the decreases every other row, I just did them all at once over (I think) 12 rows (however many times the pattern said to repeat the two row sequence) and when I had enough stitches for the stitch count, I just continued in pattern. It worked. They fit. No arch/ankle sags. I usually have to go down a half a needle size or a full size myself.

Gorilla in the Midst, eh?

Anonymous said...

Rather than frog and reknit a sock, I would grow larger feet!!!

Anonymous said...

Uhoh...That's discouraging. Your new shoes look great!

Anonymous said...

Love the sneakers!

Anonymous said...

Sweet shoes, Sheepie. Nice yarn, too.

My husband has a cousin with size 13+ feet. He could have worn the socks, I bet.

sheep#100 said...

Welcome, Sheepie!
Blue yarn...sigh...

Lazuli said...

Frogging sounds like the right decision to me there. I skipped the size 2 on my monkeys (photo forthcoming) and went to size 0. It seems to have been the right decision, so far.

Bells said...

All my monkeys have turned out too small. I will give up knitting them on the 2.5s the patterns specifies and knit them on 2.75s from now on, if they're for me. I am a really tight knitter and I have real trouble getting them over my ankles.

can we have a progress shot?

Anonymous said...

At least the monkeys are an addictive knit so doing them again won't be a punishment.
Cute sneakers! I bet your students would be amazed at just how cool you are!
Karen
http://nothingbutknit.blog-city.com/

mehitabel said...

So the Mondkeys weren't the gorilla-your-dreams, huh? S'ok, the LL can marinate a little longer while you try, try again. Cute shoes--I express my inner 15-year-old with a collection of Swatch watches. I don't think I own a single grown-up one!

Cathy said...

Very nice stash enhancement. Hope Trek wins more blog contests as a reward! Very clever gorilla begone!
Nice shoes too.

The Kelly Green Rogue said...

love those shoes. Ugh, don't you hate having to frog something you thought was perfect?

Anonymous said...

You never even considered the best option of all - finish the monkey socks and give them to me; I have fat footsies. Sheesh!

Nice new sneaks :)

Sheila said...

Are they felt-able, or is that a superwash yarn? Next time you can try a little agitation...just enough to make them a bit smaller.

I like the shoes, although skulls aren't my thing. Are they hand painted?