Of Socks and Scales and Scarves and Lace, Sizing and Skeins

I got to wear my Pomatomus socks today and I have a few thoughts. I could have gone smaller. Perhaps a whole pattern repeat smaller. They're not really that big, except they're just big enough to sag a little, so that I have to pull them up. Again, if you're going to make these, make them smaller than you think they need to be. That's my advice. I do love them in spite of this one flaw and I don't intend to frog them. I will wear them as is. They are soft and warm, and thanks to the Socks That Rock, cushiony. And they are pretty:




I cast on for the lacy scarf from Victorian Lace Today and worked the first border this morning. I am using a different yarn than the pattern yarn and that has led to some interesting dilemmas. First, I did figure out that I had 437 yards (approximately) of this stuff. That isn't as much as the 450 yards that the pattern calls for. So, I decided to calculate the ratio of the two borders to the center pattern motif so that I could tweak the pattern so that I won't run out of yarn (this stuff is too expensive, really, to make me want to buy more) and so that I won't have an odd-ment left over (again, it's expensive!) I figured out that there is a 23-44-23 ratio. In other words, the first border comprises 23% of the total scarf, the center panel 44%, and the second border 23%. Then I got out my handy kitchen scale and weighed the ball of yarn:



96 grams. That means that I should use approximately 27 grams of yarn per border, and 43 grams for the center panel. I cast on.

The border is worked sideways and incorporates a lacy leaf bit above a trellis pattern. After I had worked five of the eight pattern repeats, I measured my piece and found it to be about 13 inches wide. Really wide. I weighed my remaining ball of yarn. 75 grams. That means that I had only used 21 grams of yarn, but the scarf was so wide already that I figured that I would cast off and just make the scarf a little longer in the center panel. So that's what I did and that's the plan that I've decided to follow, at least for now. If I do this correctly then I will use up almost all of my yarn, but not run out. The pattern is fantastic, by the way. I've only found one wierd part. After you cast off the first border you then are instructe to pick up stitches along the straight edge of the border (this is obvious if you've knit the border) with the right side facing you. however, your yarn is attached to the piece in such a way that you can't pick up the stitches with the right side facing without breaking the yarn. Since this seemed like a singularly wasteful thing to do, I picked up the stitches with the wrong side facing me and just worked an extra row in garter stitch so that I was back in synch with the pattern. This is my progress so far: