An Amazing Mother-in-law

My mother-in-law (MIL) is AMAZING.  She's an amazing mother (of four (4)!), a super amazing MIL, and just a fun, quirky person overall.  But, most of all, she's amazing with her sewing machine.  Because of her meticulous nature, all of her projects are ... p-e-r-f-e-c-t.  She loves to sew blankets (that's really her thing and I can't tell you how many blankets we have at home that we enjoy on a regular basis) but on a rare occasion, she'll sew other things as well.

Last year, she made me an amazing quilted bag:

Yes - those are pockets!😍 🎉

Yes - those are pockets (on the other side)!😍 🎊 🎉

And on this occasion, she saw this on Etsy and sewed me her version of it (so I don't have to look like the unabomber - I have a set of aluminum needle holders I was using and I have been stopped at the airport before because I forgot to take off my needles off my project (and taken it out of the tubes); and, yes, it DOES look like it could be a bomb (I've actually seen the x-ray of it)):

This is what it looks like with my sock needles in it (there's 4 pairs of needles in there).

And she even made me a bonus one:

It even comes with a pair of vintage US5 (3.75mm) fixed circulars needles! 😉

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much, Mom for the wonderful handmade gifts! 😍 🎊 🎉 

Many Firsts, but Not The Last (aka Tabi Monogatari v29)

I had recently bought some political yarn and it was the perfect sock yarn to make for my favorite sissy!😍   Since I wanted to surprise her, I had to do some sleuthing to figure out her shoe size and to determine her foot size.  With the help from my brother-in-law (BIL) (who secretly took a poll of all her shoes for her shoe size & checked her sock drawer for sock height) & (thankfully) one of my friends has the same shoe size (where I had her measure her foot so I could do some basic calculations), I figured I could figure out to make surprise socks.  I also had to find a pattern that would give me a base on how many stitches I would need to knit a pair of ankle socks for my sissy.  Fortunately, with the help of Ravelry, I found this pattern: Crystal; it was perfect - it was an ankle length sock; it had multiple sizes (including her shoe size); and it would stretch my skills (in addition to fact that I was blindly knitting a sock without a live model much less her actual foot measurements!).

So, here's how it went:  With my Chiaogoos US0 (2.0mm) needles, I followed the pattern using these yarns: Neighborhood Fiber Co.'s Organic Studio Sock in Fair Fight & Observatory Circle.  Making the toe was very interesting, if a little fiddly - well, it's always a little fiddly when one needs to pick up stitches; but, it worked out just fine and I can see why the author recommended making the toe this way.  As I was finishing up the toe (21 rows later), I started to panic about how long I needed to make the foot.  I was second guessing what my friend's calculation was and what it should actually be.  Fortunately, I came by Katrinkle's website and found this:

It verified the required foot length I needed to make! 🙌 🎉👍 (Katrinkle actually has some very cool stuff on her website but that's a story for another time.😉)  Now, at ease (somewhat), I continued with the pattern.  After 62 rows, it was time to start the heel.  After reading the heel several times, I was just stumped; I just couldn't figure out how to get from the heel to cuff.  So, I just did a Fish Kiss Lips heel with 11 twin knit & purl stitch & 10 regular stitches.  With the heel done, it was time to finish up her socks; another 10 rows for the leg and another 4 rows for her cuff.

Violá!  A complete pair:

(yes, that's Katrinkles sock blockers! 😉😁🙌 🎉)

 

 

(And here's the template that I used to "guide" me)

Now, it's time to send this off with a quick note to my sissy.  I hope she likes it (and more importantly that it fits!🤞  Worst case scenario is that it'll be a pair of house socks for her. 😉😁 ) But, that would/may mean that I would have an opportunity to make another pair of socks (presuming she wants another one). 😉😁 👍 🙌 🎉

Up-date 04/01/21:  My SIL loves it!  And it fits quite well.  She's even going to make a foot template for me so I can make her better fitting socks and may even take up sock knitting herself!😁 👍 🙌 🎉   I also told her to make a template of my BIL's foot in case he gets sock envy.😉  (And, my master plan is working - getting people to love knitted goods so going on yarn crawls won't be so boring for everyone else! 😉😁👍 )

Doesn't it look like she needs tabi-toed socks to wear with her Birkenstocks??😉😁🙌 🎉