Not the eleventh hour, but close. I finished Chuck's Christmas Socks at 10 pm on Christmas Eve. They're made of an alpaca blend and feel heavy and durable as well as warm and snug. Hopefully not too snug -- there's some tencel in the blend and they're not as elastic as I'd hoped.I knit them on size 0 needles (2 mm) and they have a multitudinous 80 stitches per round. I did some math and calculated the number of stitches somewhere in the region of 14,000 per sock. At three seconds per stitch (probably not a bad estimate with all the ribbing and needle-switching and heel-turning) that works out to 23.4 hours of knitting. For a pair of socks. How silly is that?
Nice colours! This is why I try to have lots going on while I knit, to prevent myself from falling into depressing calculations of the sort you describe.
ReplyDeleteLook how beautiful.
ReplyDeleteTotally worth a whole day of your life. :)
I so want to learn to knit. Ds wants me to make him a Harry Potter scarf some day.
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas to you all!
Thanks all. Laurena, are you a Ravelry member yet? I think you'd love it. You're absolutely right about having multiple projects on the go. If I hadn't been pressed for time, I'd have kept a bunch on the go. I now only have Fiona's sweater to work on, so it's time to start a hat and a sweater for Sophie.
ReplyDeleteI've discovered that with the help of a piece of plexiglass I can read aloud and knit at the same time, so that's a good hour or two of knitting that fits into my late evening each night that doesn't take time from other things. So the 23.4 hours was enjoyable and productive in other ways as well.
Just stopping in to say Merry Christmas Miranda!
ReplyDeleteHey, G, if you're interested in learning to knit, here are a couple of great resources. First, Melanie Falick's book "Kids Knitting" which is, title aside, not just for kids, not at all patronizing, and full of accessible instructions and great project ideas for beginners. The second is the KnittingHelp.com, which has great videos of the different stitches. Use English rather than Continental if you want to learn the way most people in North America knit.
ReplyDeleteThey look GREAT! You are so talented!
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