Knitting Iris

Knitting in Panama

It was wonderfully relaxing, but quite strange, travelling without children, now that we're so used to always being with them.  We were the oldest people staying at the hostels, and generally the only couple.  In the eyes of the locals we were just another pair of tourists(which we were).  Although we did meet people from all over North America, Europe, and Australia in the hostels and we also met quite a few local people, especially on the smaller island that we stayed at, we distinctly felt that we would have made better connections if we'd had our children with us.  They are the icebreakers.  Our identity revolves so directly around them now.  Who are we without them?  And yet, it was so good to have so much time together to ourselves.

I did find that knitting, itself, was conversation starter, across cultures and languages.  People, both men and women, sometimes took notice when they'd see me knitting, asked what I was making, and found out that we had children back at home.  This in turn led to talk of their families and their own lives.  Some people told me that they too knew how to knit or crochet, or that their mother or grandmother did.  Although we never exchanged words, an older woman who sat across the aisle from us and I shared smiles and a departing "Buenos noches" at the end of our 10 hour bus ride back to Panama city.  She had been eyeing me knitting during the wait at the bus stop early that morning and along the way.

I had promised R and E some rainbow socks from the leftover yarnof the socks that I knit while we were all in Mexico together last November.  The pair on the left, above, I finished up under the shade of a tree at the beach pictured above them.  The pair on the right, I finished on that bus ride over the rugged mountainous jungle pictured above them.

There were a handful of young guys selling their jewelry and crocheted hats on the street in the town of Bocas, sitting behind their tables under an eave crocheting all throughout the day and evening.  The bags that our groceries were bagged in were quite sturdy and came in all these bright colors and more!  We protected anything paper such as our identification and books, and the camera and batteries and charger, inside these bags during the entire rainy trip.  We even had to buy a few big black plastic bags to wrap our backpacks and ourselves in..so fashionable!  Next time we go, I might consider just taking a crochet hook and making a bag from the plastic bags that groceries were bagged in there, or maybe even some of these!  Or knitting needles could do the job instead.  It would lighten the load, not having to pack all that yarn that I knit so little of, anyways.

Tie Dye Squares

I AM a child of the 60's, if only for a few months of my life.

So, as you can see, I dove into the pile of sock yarn scraps.  Out of all the ideas I've seen and that people have suggested for using up leftovers,  I think these squares show off the striping and patterning to it's best advantage.  It looks like this will be a project for the long haul, and someday it will need some sort of fabric backing, maybe a Kaffe Fassett design, or, alternatively something solid.

Sockapal-2-za Finished

Yarn: Mountain Colors  Bearfoot, Rosehip, with Elann Sock It To Me as toe and heel reinforcement.  Needle: Addi Turbo, size 1 circular.  Pattern: Open Twisted Rib.  Stitches: Only 50.  This pattern is quite stretchy.  But the small number of total stitches, as well as the fact that this yarn has little stretch to it (possibly due to the mohair content?) made it quite difficult to keep the top cast off edge from being a tourniquet.  First I did this bind off.  Does anyone know, is this the tubular cast off?  Then I did my regular go up a needle size or two regular bind off, done loosely.  Still too tight.  On the third try, I undid the top, changed to the reinforcement yarn,  increased to 60 stitches, did the ribbing, switched to a size 3 needle, and bound off loosely.  Good enough, I hope. 

I'm not terribly thrilled with the tiger stripey-ness of the yarn, but it's not quite so obvious in person.  It is incredibly soft even with a touch of mohair, which, of course, makes it a bit difficult to rip.  Luckily there wasn't much of that until the very end.

The verdict is out on whether the magic loop, or using 5 double pointed needles is faster for me.  It's pretty close, but it took until well into the second sock before I picked up speed, and I think the dpns are easier on my wrists.  Dpn's it is, but I'll still use the Addis sometimes just for something different.

O.K. So, now that I have the attention of a good portion of the world's sock knitters, I have a question for you....

WHAT do I do with all of THIS?

They have outgrown their Ziploc bag and have become a stash of their very own.   It doesn't help that I've started to knit shorter height socks lately.   

Here are some of the ideas I've come across:

Mini-socks or mini-sweaters for ornaments or advent calenders like these.  (I've already made an advent calendar out of wool felt.)

Baby and Toddler socks.  (O.K. Sure.)

Blankets and afghans like this (picture here), this, this, and this!  (No, thanks.  Too long term.)

Patchwork pillows: middle bottom picture here .  (Maybe.)

Patchwork sweaters like this, this,  and this.  (NOT!)

Frankensocks, or monstersocks here.  (Maybe a couple pairs for the kids.)

DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANY MORE IDEAS?