What are you trying to do?

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After consultation with you guys, the mother of the child, and the child, embellishment has been accomplished. Snakes.
boringsnakes
Slytherin snakes, to be precise. Harry Potter forever. (In case you can’t tell, it is also important for me to tell you that these are highly poisonous snakes. Very Dangerous. As you all should know by now, if you are a child the “coolness” factor of an item increases in direct proportion to the perceived hazard of said item. Eg, garter snakes = not cool. Highly poisonous, choking snakes with big fangs and an evil plan = very cool. )
As I was discussing the embellishment of the boring sweater, there were those among you (you know who you are). Who suggested things that are, ahem, Not Cool.
To take the most extreme suggestion “rabbits” (or “bunnies” as the bigger thug child in the schoolyard is going to call them as he stomps on this unfortunate child’s new sweater) are not cool. Even if the child that this sweater is for “really likes rabbits”, he is not going to like the consequences of wearing a bunny coat. What are you trying to do to the kid? Why not just pin a note to his back that says “Take me out back and rough me up”, or “Put my head in the toilet, Please” or “Lock me in my locker” or “Throw the volleyball at my face” or how about “Don’t worry, I didn’t ever want a girlfriend anyway”. There is no way that this boy survives a game of Dodge Ball, or gets the cookies from his lunch or escapes a nickname like “bunny boy”. I’m having no part of that.
Today, I’m going to finish the purple socks (yeah, good one eh? I’m laughing too.) and start thinking about what to do with my really good Lornas laces sock yarn.
llyarnfromsam
Remember this? Well I’m sick to death of my standard plain sock pattern, and I want one that makes the most of the yarn, so we’re going to try a little something here. Reader directed sock knitting. You guys suggest the patterns, I’ll vet them and put the choices up, y’all vote….you pick it, I knit it. Go nuts.

26 thoughts on “What are you trying to do?”

  1. This is good. I just picked up 2 skeins of Lorna’s Laces in the Tuscany colorway and have been thinking what I should do with them, especially because my socks ALWAYS come out too big – like they’re made for bears or somethin’.
    Love the snakes! Love ’em! Highly creative and highly poisonous- a great mix! Well done.

  2. I’m making lace socks from the latest Interweave Knits Magazine, Waving Lace Socks. They are pretty fun and designed for LL sock yarn.

  4. Feel free to take a gander at my free Lorna’s Laces pattern on my blog at http://www.nwkniterati.com/movabletype/mossycottage/. Click on the link under “Free Pattern” in the left-hand column (you need Adobe Acrobat to view it). Dunno if you want complicated or simple, but this particular pattern just has a lace insert down both sides. Please ignore the screaming bright colors of the sample sock. It’s what was in Der Stash. What can I say? 🙂
    I’ll be posting another free Lorna’s Laces pattern within the next couple of days but since it’s very lacy, it’s more appropriate for a solid color yarn. You could DO it in variegated but I think the combo would make your eyes pop out of your head.

  5. How appropriate that Ryan commented before me. I was going to suggest her Dublin Bay socks. I am doing socks in the same Lorna’s Laces colorway that you have and started out with some cute little cables running down the sides and then woke up the other night thinking, “I have to rip the out and make the Dublin Bay socks.” I did, I swear!
    Uh oh, that means we’ll be twinsies…
    Well, just put a snake or two on your socks and then they will be like no others.

  6. Snake socks! Snake socks!
    Ahem. Trying to be serious now…
    I think, since the yarn is so beautiful and varigated, that whatever you do with it should be simple. I like the idea of a lace stripe up the outer side, or maybe a cable or two running up the front. That way you can have an interesting section, with the simple background the yarn demands.

  9. LOVE the snakes. I was just thinking this morning on my way to work that one could do some really interesting non-aran-y things with cables. Although you added these after you finished the sweater, a sweater with snakes “cabled” right in would be very very cool.

  11. Love the snakes. Granted, I think its missing the last snake – curled around the arm to be the very poisonous snake that can attack otthers… even better with a snake head mitten.
    OK. Maybe not….
    I’d give advice on socks, but I have never finished one. Started a few dozen pairs. Never finished one.

  12. Why not the “StrongHeel Socks” from last fall’s Knitters (fall 2003 — pp. 36-42)–but done in the colorblock method (38-39), so that we can see stripes going all which ways. I confess I would really like Stephanie to do this one because I cannot for the life of me figure out how these socks work (and I have knit a lot of socks!) and want to watch from afar while someone tries it.
    That said, I am very tempted to vote for the domino socks, but does the Harlot have a contrasting yarn??? 🙂

  13. You make me laugh so hard. I could se that they were Slythern snakes, right off the back. Thanks so much for sharing yourself with us?

  15. How could we not love the snakes??? I’m thinking of making some to put on my grandson’s store bought sweaters. Why? Because the little heathens are too young to appreciate how long it takes old granny to make them something. But they do love “nakes”. Question time: what pattern did you use for your Jessica Simpson shawl, or did you just use the Delta Mesh pattern and figure it out yourself?

  16. I am pretty lazy when it comes to sock knitting (usually go for plain ones) but I loved the Sew Saw sock pattern from KnitNet by Kim Salazar.

  17. Just to throw my two needles’ worth in here, I vote for the Broadripple sock too. I’m joining in the knitalong with a pair in Lorna’s Laces right now, and with some minor modifications to the pattern, they’re working out well in the 72-st version that’s on the knitalong site. There are also lots of progress photos on the site if you want to see what the pattern looks like in different yarns.

  18. The snakes are fantabulous. What a perfect choice.
    Have been recommending your site to all blog novices. You are a treasure.
    I knit socks all the time, but most of them are for the men in my family. They love hand knitted socks, but are really boring when it comes to patterns.
    Keep up the neato blog. It is appreciated far more then you can ever know.
    P.S. The Lorna’s Laces yarn is gorgeous. Love the colors.

  19. You’ve just blown my mind with the snakes.
    I had the most fantastic Easter ever. I found your blog on Easter Friday, and after reading only one post, went back to Day One and spent Easter getting to know the Yarn Harlot. Bless you for your mammoth efforts with this blog. (Sam’s 10th b’day made me all dewy eyed. I have a 7 mth old girl – could she ever be ten?)
    Your knitting in turn inspires and overwhelms me, but perhaps it’s your writing that is the best thing about your blog. Oh who knows what is the best thing, because it’s all good.
    Anyway. I’ve never knitted a sock in my life. Maybe you’ll inspire me. But then, I haven’t felt the desire to whip up a Jessica Simpson scarf yet, so maybe not.
    Thanks for blogging. You’re a credit to the world knitting community.

  20. I locked the guidance counsellor’s kid in a locker once. In my defence, he jumped in. AND moved his foot, which was blocking the door, when I so requested. So I figure he deserved it.
    I am liking “Priscilla’s Dream Socks” from a back issue of IK: the heel is shaped with short rows in such a way that you don’t have to pick up stitches. But I don’t like the way the toes are done. I also had a blast knitting the “Merino Lace Socks” from last summer’s issue of IK, but your yarn might be too variegated for that pattern.
    Snakes – v. cool. Good job.

  21. I just knitted the waving lace socks from IK too. I used Apple Laine’s lovely new wool/mohair sock yarn, and they are just gorgeous. It’s a great pattern, but I wouldn’t bother knitting this nice lace with variegated yarn. It needs a solid colour to show up.
    I think the Dublin Bay socks look good. So good that I’m going to have to try this pattern myself.

  23. Awww, my niece would *LOVE* the Slytherin snake cardi! I agree about bunnies. Unless you’re in preschool, they just don’t cut it for kids.
    As for suggestions on your next sock project, I’ll put in a vote for my favorite: spiral 2X2 rib. It really makes self-patterning yarn take on an interesting texture and the spiral 2X2 rib is not boring to knit. Let me know if you need the pattern repeat, it’s pretty simple but effective.

  24. OMG! I have never seen a sweater like that before! Those snakes are CRAZY! Love it!
    And something tells me I’ve never seen yarn that beautiful before. I don’t care which socks you knit ;), just BE SURE to post a pic from each vantage point!!!

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