Ruthless Knitting

In honor of Monkey Thursday, I present to you my first Monkey sock!

Perhaps you are thinking, “What the hell is she doing knitting socks? What about the bathmat?” But see, I started this sock in March, and it has been my take-to-meetings project. Yesterday, I knit through a two-hour meeting and nearly finished the foot, so I decided to go ahead and wrap it up this morning.

Or perhaps you are thinking, “I have seen enough Monkey socks, already! Everyone is knitting Monkey socks!” I agree. I, too, have seen enough Monkey socks. (Note to Mom and other readers who don’t read dozens of blogs: Trust me. All the knit bloggers are doing it.) But I liked the pattern as soon as I saw it, and though I am not generally a jumper-on of bandwagons, I try not to be so ridiculously inflexible that I refuse to get on the wagon just because lots of other people are on it already. Or something like that.

For those who want the juicy details, this is knit in Interlacements Tiny Toes, and the color is Mountain Jewel. (For reasons unknown, the skein on the Interlacements website is suspiciously completely different looking. I’ve had this yarn for a while.) The color is more true in the second, blurrier picture, but they are both a tad on the bright side. The camera picks up the turquoise and brighter purple more than it ought to and pays insufficient homage to the deeper greens, blues, and purples.

The shoes are Marcelle by Dansko, and I bought them from Zappos. I saved $21 by taking advantage of their price protection policy after finding the shoes much cheaper somewhere else. Yay for cheapness! These are my new dress shoes, as my only existing pair died a painful death last October. I do not go out much, and I am not a shoe person. These should be perfect.

If I were a super-fast sock knitter and had no other obligations, I could knit the second Monkey sock to wear to an event this weekend. Sadly, I am not that fast, and I do not have nearly enough free time, so Monkey will have to languish in my knitting bag until I have attended enough meetings to knit it a partner.

Boy, am I tired of knitting baby tops! But Monica is finished, and she’s a keeper.

Pattern: Monica by Christine Schwender, Spring 2007 Knitty
Size: Children’s 2 (21-inch chest)
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in blush, grass, orchid, and green apple
Yardage: An unknown quantity of leftovers
Yarn Source: Knit Picks
Needles: US size 8 circular
Gauge: 20 sts and 26 rows = 4 inches in St st
Notes: I enjoyed this pattern a great deal. It was quick, and it came out well. I recognize that the colors I used for the stripes are a little . . . unorthodox. At first, I wasn’t sure they were really going to work together, and David was even less sure. But I persevered, and I’m happy with them.

I only made a few modifications to the pattern: First, I did the body in stripes, since this project was designed to use up leftovers, and I didn’t have enough of any color to do a solid body. Second, I joined the straps together with a three-needle bind-off, because I thought binding each three-stitch strap off and then seaming them together sounded insane. (And when I tried it, it looked awful.) And third, I added a couple extra rows of garter stitch at the bottom hem, because I didn’t trust that two ridges would be sufficient to keep it from curling. This worked, but I should have done the same thing on the ruffle, which curls more than I’d like. Ah well, it’s a ruffle. Who says it has to look perfect?

Now I can send the two little tops off to the little megatwins, ensuring that they will be properly outfitted for summer garden parties, and I can turn my attention to other projects. Like, say, the Tedium Bathmat, which I have been ignoring for a few days. I’m in the home stretch, but I haven’t been able to bear looking at it of late.

I have made a pact with Mr. Bathmat that he will be finished before May is out, and I must, therefore, get to work.