Today the weather is grey and foggy – it is not raining, but it is close.  I’m supposed to get a bike ride in, because I’m not sure what the rest of the week will bring, and I’m doing everything in my power to avoid it – including the final edits on Lights Burn Blue, the last pattern I’ll be releasing in this year.  All I have left is the yardage calculations, which I hate.

Yardage calculations are hard. Overestimate, and people are unhappy because they didn’t use the extra ball. Underestimate, and it’s really bad.  And hitting it just right – well, there’s a reason that yardage estimates are normally prefaced with, approximately or about… because it’s really hard to get right.  How long of a tail do you use? How much wiggle room do you build in?

This time around, I’m working with a new-to-me tech editor, who has been great.  She’s super detail oriented, which is good. Sometimes I can let the details slide.  In the moment, the little details drive me bonkers. But it’s the same reason my good editors in college drove me crazy – because they cared enough to sweat the details.  Which are important, when people are going to be working your patterns.

On a more personal front, last night I got back from knit night (where I showed off my finished socks).  I finished the socks while we ran our party on Saturday, and in a fit of productivity, wove in the ends quickly, so I could slip them on.  I’ve named them Just in Time, as I made them out of Father Time yarn that was in my stash.  In a sprint to the end of the year, I’m trying to work through a bit of my stash yarn in limited colorways, as it’s not suited to design in… because it isn’t widely available.  I have a bunch of Three Irish Girls from many years ago in my stash, so I’m working through that.

I used Cat Bordhi’s Sweet Tomato Heel, which I’ve only ever worked on samples to teach from.  I didn’t want to work the heel over 1/3 of the stitches like the pattern calls for, (because I didn’t want to do the math to figure out how to make that work in pattern), so instead I made a mini gusset, adding 10 sts, which brought my sole count up so that I ended up working the heel over 2 sts shy of 2/3 the total sts.  I worked 3 wedges, and I like how they look.  It seems to work well. It’s a bit less “huggy” in the heel than I’m used to, but that’s because the heel added a bit more length to the sock than I was expecting.  It may also be because I added a gusset and Cat didn’t call for one.  I don’t regret adding the gusset, but I might make the heel a bit less deep next time.  I’m thinking the first time I wash them they might “tighten up” a bit, which I wouldn’t be upset about.  May run them through the dryer once to tighten them up.  Not quite sure.

The stitch pattern is a simple k1, sl 1 in front every 3rd row, and ofset by one.  It’s quickly becoming my go-to pattern for my own personal socks, the same pattern I used for Crayon Box (you remember, the socks that were beautiful, then bled all over, and now I have a rather ambivalent relationship with, but still wear anyway?  Yeah, those).  Which probably means I need to get around to writing them up as a pattern.  They’re simple enough that I keep wondering if it’d be a good idea to write them up with different heel styles, which would be fun, but a lot of work.  And every time I decide that I’ll just keep them in my own personal stash.

Anyway, the pattern creates a bit of waffle-like texture, which remind me of the texture of my long underwear, and thus, make me think that the pattern has special warming properties.  I actually think that they are warm because of the content of the yarn, but still, I like them.

If you do like the pattern, let me know in the comments!  I’d be much more likely to write this one up (and work it in a more sell-able yarn), if I knew there was interest, and perhaps some test knitters.

And in case I don’t get another blog post in before Christmas, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate.

I’ll be having the family over, so it will be wonderful chaos.