Merino Kitty Floss

Had to take a small break from the UFO’s.
First: The cat decided to cutely play with the yarn. Now, usually I view the cat playing with yarn as being one of the joys of knitting. I love sitting by the fire with a sock on the needles while the cat tangles himself in soft yellow merino. But tonight his affection for fine wool turned to nibbling, and he broke right through and chewed up a fine long strand! I had to recover the moist bits from his gaping and toothy maw. Now, it’s okay to love your yarn. Just don’t eat it!

Second: I had to rip back 2 rows when I found a missed decrease in the instep. I immediately ripped back, of course. No question. If finishing the UFO’s is an exercise in moving on, through perfectionism, towards the one continual project… Well, I knew I would see that uneven decrease every time I took off my shoe and peered intently at the inside right instep, comparing it to the outside right instep (What?! It could happen… Why? Do you think I should have let it go?)

This pair of socks was either the second or third pair I ever knit. The body is pale yellow cotton while the cuffs, heels, and toes are dark yellow merino. I know: I am mixing fiber content. But they look cute and it was gift yarn for a beginning knitter. Unfortunately, when I knit them originally, I made huge, thick ankles. But did I rip it out? No: I decreased in the instep and had a very distorted sock. But did I rip it out? No: I cast on the same number of stitches in sock number 2 so they would match, this time decreasing before the foot, making them not match anyway. But did I rip them out? No: I wore them, and ended up with a sock slipped halfway down my foot. Then, and only then, I thought, “Maybe I should rip them out”. Into the UFO pile they went.

This was also my first attempt at washing and weighing recycled yarn, made especially fun since I skeined out the cuffs, heels, and toes individually, leaving 8 little skeins dripping dry in my bathroom for several days. (huh: the cat didn’t seem interested in eating the Merino then… or am I missing some?)

So yes, if this project is about all this hassle to re-knit this blasted pair of yellow socks to perfection, then I am going to notice an uneven decrease in the instep, and I am going to notice the thinned, damp spot that would have been knit from the yarn pulled from the cat’s mouth!