And already late! But I’ve got a good excuse… I fell and broke my arm on Saturday. But I’m back!
Those who know me know, I am not a small lady. I am not petite, though I am told repeatedly that I do not look my size. This is wonderful. I’m five foot eight and a half, and come from good German peasant stock… I’m solid. I was teaching a dance class last week when my pseudo-nephew, trying to figure out his arms, touched mine and said, “You have steel bars!” This is not bad at all.
But this means that my knitting, if I knit for myself, has to be large. It means that my knitting, if it’s going to look good on me, cannot be knit with bulky or super-bulky yarns. I knit loosely, often going down 3-4 needle sizes when knitting. SO I end up knitting huge sweaters on… er… American size 2 needles? (That’s 2.75mm for the rest of you). Socks are the same way, although my tension is tighter in the round, so I don’t have to go down needle sizes so much. I admit: I sometimes break these rules just to knit a giant sweater faster… When I want warm, I don’t necessarily care about stylish, despite what Stacy and Clinton of What not to Wear tell me!
The other problem with this is that I have giant clown feet (many thanks to Wendy at WendyKnits for the terminology…). I can’t complain about knitting socks for my husband, because, while our feet may be slightly different in size, that extra inch in length on him isn’t that much! (And knitting sweaters for him will be much easier, because his chest is 10 inches smaller than mine…)
Giant clown feet for me mean that women’s knit patterns are never big enough: Standard women’s sock patterns are for an 8.5 inch circumference around the foot. A lot of designers also like the short row heel because it’s smoother. Now I’m 10 inches around the foot, in addition to a 10 inch LONG foot. And my heel is deeper than can comfortably fit in a short row heel. Discovering the heel pattern on Widdershins at knitty.com was pure serendipity.
And most men’s knit sock patterns are boring, because most men don’t WANT interesting patterns…(harumph) I’ll never be able to knit the jaywalkers everyone is drooling over without completely revamping the pattern for my giant feet.
But enough whinging. In any case, I’m knitting myself a pair of knee-highs right now. (Why, you ask, if you have giant feet and tree trunks for legs?) Because I’m cold. That’s why. Of course, by the time I’m finished, the trees will be in bloom and the wonderful southern spring will probably be turning to 80 degree, 100% humidity, but what the heck. I’m cold now, so I’m knitting knee-highs. Theoretically, it will get cold next year, too! 🙂
I am knitting them in Patons Classic wool, in the Rosewood colorway. This means that they are striping (kind of – it’s an ombre pattern). It’s also a worsted weight yarn, mostly so it would knit faster, though I’m still knitting them on number 2 needles (I THOUGHT I had fours at work… and just HAD to start them on my break last week…) My feet and legs are going to have horizontal pseudo-stripes in pink, maroon and brown. I plan to wear them with skirts and my Birkenstock sandals to keep my legs warm in winter. Take that, Stacy and Clinton!
