Socks and Fluff

I have one whole sock now. It’s quite comfy, but a little baggy around the toes. It’s quite possible that I knit it a size too large. And the second sock is visible. I’m about an inch into it.

All the indigo dyed fiber is carded up and turned into roving. I like to handle home-washed fibers as much as possible before spinning because it helps get any extra dust or vegetable matter (VM) out. Some of this fleece was very dusty. (Small wonder, it had been in my closet for a few months.) I kept having to clean off my “dust catcher.”

This is a nice little plastic bin that I put under my carders for the protection of my carpet. I card, it catches, and I occasionally dump it out into the trash. Handy all around. (You can see it under the fleece, there.)

It worked well except for the very last batch of dust. I had just finished carding and went to dump the dirt into the trash and somehow it caught on the edge of the trashcan and scattered dirt all over my nice clean soysilk. See all the dark speckles around the edges?

You can imagine my frustration.

The indigo fiber is intended for a variegated sock yarn, but the perfect pattern I had planned is rapidly working itself out of my good graces. The closest I can get to gauge with my sample yarn is six and a quarter stitches an inch. Not six. And the pattern has cables. Gulp.
My knitting sister says she’ll do some calculating for me. Supposedly the sock is for smaller feet, so my current six-and-a-quarter might do the job. If I ever get around to knitting them I’m sure they’ll turn out to be soap opera socks. One thing after another until “the saga continues. . .”