The Candy Stripe Opal socks are finished, and on my feet!
Please note that those flipping stripes match perfectly.
Details:
Yarn: Opal, #518, from the 2002 collection. I named it Candy Stripes.
Pattern: Basic top-down, flap-heel, stocking stitch. I used a picot hem on the top, which I shamelessly copied from Claudia. This is my first picot hem, and it is fun, easy, and flirty. Perfect for girlie socks.
Needles: 2.25mm dpns.
Started in February 2006 as the Wintergrass knitting project, finished 4-9-06.
What I learned: I love plain socks. I think all those other fancy socks are very pretty, and no doubt fun to knit, but I love the process of just knitting around and around mindlessly in plain stocking stitch, and coming up with a sock at the end. The picot hem was new, and I might put it on everything else that I ever knit, it was that much fun. This was also my first experience with Opal yarn, and it is indeed as wonderful as everyone claims.
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There’s A Big Gaping Hole Where The Deck Used To Be*
The guys came back today, with reinforcements. It seems that we have it all: wood rot, termites, huge cost overruns. The deck is nearly gone, and the “first pass” estimate is that at least one or two of the beams holding up the kitchen (that glass curved wall) will have to be replaced. The kitchen windows and all the surrounding wall will have to go as well.
That big three-story beam in the left of that last photo may need to go too. Yee-ha. The guy driving the Bobcat is having a blast in our backyard, and I’m pretty sure that our contractor (the Bobcat driver’s dad) has a guaranteed job for the summer.
It’s a good thing that I have a good Yarn 401K plan. I might be knitting from it for the foreseeable future.
*That could be the title of a hit honky-tonk song, don’t you think?
I love your matching socks! – but the house carnage is killing me! All those lovely windows….
Oh, wow, that really is extensive damage! Ouch. But the socks are fabulous, and you should look at them when all the gaping holes in your house get to be too much.
Oh my heavens!!! Maybe just go to work and don’t watch all of that???? Sometimes selective ignorance saves the ol’ sanity.
Too bad you can’t knit a new deck.
I say you have a case of home ownership at it’s finest. Yee gads, I guess we started the YFC just in time.
Nice socks by the way, and the more you wash them, the softer they get.
Oh god. I’m sorry! How traumatic and awful. Again, I’m so glad you caught it before anything truly awful could happen.
Just dropped by to see what was going on in Doctor Land–and what an emotional roller coaster THAT turned out to be:
Beautiful socks! Yay! I feel happy!
Blechy, stupid, frustrating house! Boo! I feel sad! (Although I do have to say, rotten deck aside, your house looks like it’s usually quite beautiful!)
I’m exhausted…. 😉
OMG! I’m soooo sorry about all that bad news. I don’t know why these things happen, and I know having been through similar woes myself that it is not conducive to yarn buying. I’m using up the stash as I type. But the important thing is, the structure will be sound when they are done – you found out in a safe way – and you can fix it. And most important – you have a YARN and WINE stash to get you through. But it’s still suckity. I know.
OH, and the socks are wonderful – I agree – gimme a regular old sock, with a neat picot edge over those fancy ones – they make the best wear em to bed, around the house socks I know!
I LOVE those socks. Gorgeous!
My condolences on the house problems. But just think how wonderful it will look when it’s finished!
Nice work with the socks! 😀
Such a bummer about the deck… just think of the end result tho!
Unbelievable!!!! Definitely my worst nightmare, sorry to hear it is yours 🙁
It really could be worse–the holes could BE IN YOUR NEW SOCKS!!!! Keep your perspective, OK?
By the way, I agree–I keep knitting the same simple pair of socks. However, Opal has been replaced by Trekking as my most favorite sock yarn ever.
Love the Opal socks. I think I am with you on the plain socks. With all the pretty self-striping and space-dyed yarn out there, socks are such a joy to knit.
I’m sorry about the house. I’m sure that when it is all said and done, it will look great, and you will be so glad that you did it. I hate to think what could’ve happened if you didn’t repair the (rotting and termite) damage now.
Knit On,
mk
De-lurking to say: holy crap! Good luck on the house! (And the socks are gorgeous — such perfect stripes!)
Your socks are very fun and cute. Sorry about the deck–that had to be painful to watch. Just look forward to when all this is done.
Good job on the matching! The socks are so pretty and flirty. Sometimes simple is best!
So sorry about your home woes!
HOLY Cow! Yuck. I’m sorry that beautiful house has to be chopped up so. I hope it doesn’t get any worse than that ‘first pass’. That’s one of my fears about owning a home. You put your all into it and BLAM! Blessings on your home. I second the comment about knitting a new deck.
I love your socks…. I really want some of that yarn. I’m stuck on stockinette sock knitting, too; save the lace for shawls.
The socks are beautiful. I love that colorway. I kind of agree about plain socks. I have about a gazillion sock patterns and love looking at all the beautiful socks everyone is doing. But when it comes time to knit socks for myself, I seem to go for plain and simple. Those are the ones I wear – the fancy ones are usually given away because of fit issues. I do need to try that picot hem though. Good thoughts flying your way about the deck. Yikes!
Holy Cow! At least you have happy socks!
What a gorgeous house!! too bad that you have all the problems…..
I have been an enthusiastic participant in the yarn diet! I even went to Knitters Guild last night where, at each meeting, a different vendor hawks his/her wares. There was a lot of great yarn, but I didn’t purchase anything!!
I still have, in my car, a bag of yarn from the Knit In several weeks ago, before I started the diet. I don’t have a good place for that bag of yarn in my house. So, it sits in the car. That was when I knew I definitely needed a yarn diet!
In honor of the diet, I have started a leftoversockyarn project called the Full Body Sock Blanket. You have so much gorgeous sock yarn, you can start on your very own Full Body Sock in case your house project goes over budget.
Let’s invite Aunti Meme over for some whiskey. Enough of this! — I have empathy for the whole rotten mess. Keep your spirits high – there will be a silver lining … Debby
You truly have the good, bad and ugly in this post! Good luck with the house and may it last until forever after the work is done!
Nice socks!
Ouch! At first I thought I understood, but the east coast termites have better manners than those westies.
Not to be smart, but it might be cheaper to let the termites have the house and buy a new one?
Peace,
Jan
The socks are wonderful (I love knitting plain socks, too – very soothing), the gaping deck hole – not soothing at all. Yowza!
Oh, Lorette! I’m SO sorry to read about the house news.
Your socks *are* lovely, though.
I think that IS the title to a honky tonk song. Sorry to hear about your house, but thank goodness for stash yarn!
I hope everything goes fast with the repairs.
The socks are very lovely. And the flirty little edge is cute.
Well there you have it. Just sell the rights to that song, and there will be your construction budget!
🙂
Not honky tonk…sounds more like the blues to me. Amazing (horrifying) photos.
First, I have to say that I love your house. LOVE!
Second, I think we should all live in glass houses so we can see what’s going on behind those walls and under the floor! Oh, Lorette, that’s scary, scary stuff you’ve got there. A few years ago, my BIL was replacing a few windows on one side of his house and ended up taking an emergency week+ off of work to rebuild that whole side — it was nothing but black, crumbly rot — the very windows he was replacing was pretty much all that was holding it together.
I hope, hope, hope that you get a break somewhere along the line. And that the wine stash lasts…
OK, I’ve done well on the yarn diet thus far. Two acquisitions, both of which I do not count. First, I’m teaching a class on making the Flower Basket Shawl. I needed some nice 100% wool to demonstrate splicing. I had cashmere and silk. Didn’t work. So I had to purchase a skein of 100% laceweight wool for demonstration. Second, I am making the leftover sock yarn blanket, that I’ve christened the Full Body Sock. My rules say that the yarn must be leftover sock yarn, but it CAN be given to you by a friend–as long as the yarn is leftover from making socks. A friend gave me yarn today leftover from four pair of socks she has made. Thus, I have concluded that both of these acquistions do not “count” as buying yarn and, therefore, I’m still on the diet wagon!!
What ‘FUN’ socks.
What ‘NON-FUN’ looking mess!
…feeling for ya’
Those are great socks. I’ve just knit my first pair and they were more fun than I thought. Opal looks like a really nice brand. (I used Regia for my first pair) No comments on the house. Pictures say enough.
Gorgeous socks.
Beautiful house, horrific damage. I have to ask. Who was the original architect?
Yikes! I was at first amazed at your willpower for 18 straight days – then I saw the rest of the post. I bet you’ll knit through everything in your stash just for the soothing sanity factor while the construction is going on. My thoughts and prayers are with you. My condolences, too. Termites shouldn’t happen to a nice girl like you.
Damn! How did I miss this post last week?Termites be gone! And rotten wood? I banish thee! Thank goodnes for the solace of knitting. House repairs are just so hard…
Ouch – look at that poor deck! Isn’t it always the case that there is far more than you thought once you do any kind of remodel or addition? Or is that just my luck 😛 Hoping it all goes well from here!