#i could also do the hat in magic loop w/ that needle if i feel like it. i probably will when i get to the decreases

[fingertipsmp3]

No one:

Me, every time I hear a car go past: packidge???

[onegirlatelier]

Recovery Socks | March 2020

It has been a long pause since my last proper entry for a finished object.

People congratulated me on my medical school offer from one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and then people congratulated me on my end-of-term collection prize which was a proof of success at the school. I smiled and said thank you.

I don’t want to talk about it. Nobody has to know about it, and quite frankly I myself do not know what exactly happened. I went from being mildly worried about my weight and easy to become anxious, to this mixture of depression and anxiety and a stomachache after every meal. Am I going to feel okay today? I don’t know. Will I break down in the shoes store if I go there to try on a pair of trainers? I don’t know. Is it okay to feel full? What does my stomach want? Or indeed what is my brain trying to do when it refuses to cooperate with my digestive system? I don’t know.

To put it simply, my mental health annihilated. That’s what it feels like.

The yarn for these socks were liberated from another pair of socks—I attempted to knit Blueberry Waffle socks with it in the beginning of the year for a pair of New Year socks, but things happened and I lost the energy to create anything. By the time I felt like I could do a bit more, that pattern didn’t work for me anymore and I thought it was better to frog the project and start something new.

I am from China and spend a few months each year in the UK for university. In March, just before the full-on breakout of COVID-19 in the UK, I booked the flight ticket three hours after deciding to go back to China, spent three days packing and praying, and I would describe the journey as ‘fleeing back home’. It was filled with angst and uncertainty, and the queues were so long that I started these socks the night before I left my university and finished them even before I came out of the airport.

It was another four or five days before I was allowed to go home. I posted about these socks on social media whilst waiting for my test result, and it was my first moment of comfort after a helpless and terrified night.

I am now home and physically as well as I could be, despite having put on some weight because I had to stay home strictly for 14 days. As is (perhaps) often the case with mental health issues, there are good days and there are bad days. Yesterday I ate a simple cream cake after dinner and appreciated how it was just as good as it had been in my memory. The day before, I just wanted to slice my stomach open.

I am naming these socks Recovery, because it has been long and difficult, and it will continue to be so for a long time.

(I understand most people are having a somewhat difficult time—not to mention our healthcare workers and people with essential responsibilities, though that doesn’t mean the un-coronavirus-related heartbreaks are any less awful. I just hope that everyone is as okay as they can be. And thank you for staying with me, my dear reader.)

 Yarn

Cascade Yarns, Cascade 220. 201m/100g. 100% Peruvian highland wool. 4ply worsted spun.

Main colour (grey): #2442 Fog Hatt 51g.

Contrast colour (red): #2425 Provence 21g.

 Good quality affordable yarn. The yarn definitely became fuzzier after being frogged twice, but overall it was nicely spun, which made it suitable for everyday items such as socks to wear indoors. It performed beautifully in this little colourwork project, though I would say it has good stitch definition for cable work as well.

It doesn’t smell too sheep-y but it doesn’t smell like chemicals either, which is good.

I also like that it is non-superwash. I have cold feet but rarely wear socks when I am at home, plus wool socks don’t need to be washed after every wear if your feet aren’t particularly sweaty.

 Pattern

Camp Moran Socks by Michel Weaver.

Clear pattern. It has instruction for only one sock, but if you want to have the colourwork completely symmetrical (as I did) or add ribbing to the medial section of the arch for better support, you can easily do so.

I only used two colours since that was what I had, and it worked out good enough.

 Finished Measurements

My leg circumference near ankle is about 22~23cm. My foot circumference is about 21cm. These socks fit me well as indoor socks, but for outdoor socks I would prefer my socks to be tighter-fitting.

 Needles

3.25mm circular and 3.75mm circular. As usual, I used the magic loop method.

 Modifications

1×1 tubular CO using 3.25mm circular, 48sts.

2 rows of reinforcement, then 5 rows of 1×1 rib.

Switch to 3.75mm, knit according to the pattern using only two colours.

Knit 8 rows after the pattern (last row w/ 3.25mm).

Split for heel: make sure that the beginning/end of a round is on the inside of the leg so that the ‘imperfect’ part is mostly hidden. This means doing the slip stitch heel on the first half of the stitches for one sock, and on the second half of the stitches for the other sock. One sock will have one row more than the other, but you can barely tell the difference.

Using 3.25mm, do slip stitch heel in CC for 10 rows. (I did the standard slip stitch heel I had used before, instead of as instructed in the pattern.)

Knit heel gusset.

Switch back to 3.75mm, pick up 11+1 stitches on each side.

Dec until 40sts.

Knit another 19 rows.

Switch to CC, dec as in pattern for toe shaping, and bind off.

(Notice that the ‘seam’ sits nicely on the inner side.)

Future considerations

Next time, I would maybe use 3.00mm for the 1×1 rib as the current ribbing is a little loose.

This has been a good project to practise doing colourwork with both hands! My left hand is still a little clumsy, but I can feel it getting better.

I still have plenty yarn left:

a) A matching pair of socks with red as the MC and grey as the CC.

b) A pair of wrist warmers, as my forearms and wrists are so cold during winter.

c) A matching hat maybe?