Hedera Wanna-Be's and a Fairground or Two

posted by...ssssssssss


hedera w-bs and fairgrounds, resting on a nest of habu silky mohair, in their FO glory...

Socks have been my addiction for quite a while now. This weekend I finished these Hedera-wannabees, bringing my 2006 grand total up to 23 individual socks completed. I will admit to having a slight knitting problem (if you want to call it that): I am physically incapable of actually following a pattern as written. These Hederas? Not really Hederas, not at all. So how do they differ from Cookie’s fantastic pattern?


oooh, h-w-b's, how i love you, even though your sherbet-y brightness burns my eyes...

First thing, I used a completely different gauge – ended up with 52 stitches around, except right around the heel, where I added a few stitches to balance my weird foot shape. I used Socks That Rock Mediumweight, my new fave. Having that many fewer (many fewer, can that possibly be right?!?!?) stitches caused the pattern itself to change, as I could not get a stitch count that worked. So, I fudged. I actually fudged quite a few times, both on paper and on the needles, until my fudge tasted good – you know, smooth and chocolatey. Due to the gauge issues, these socks are not completely in pattern – both sides of each sock have a double-purl-ktbl section, so there are wide panels running up the sides of each leg without the lacey pattern. In conclusion, the “Hederas” I made are so far removed from the originals, that I am a bit hesitant to call them Hederas, as I do not wish to offend Cookie too deeply (because she is a fantastic pattern-writer – it’s not her, it’s me…). So Hedera-wanna-bes it is.

Second, I did them toe-up, of course, cuz I LOVE TOE UP KNITTING, and, unless completely and totally necessary, will not do cuff-down socks (one of the reasons I have not yet cast on for the Pomotamous socks, even though I am in utter love of NeuroKnitter’s Poms; I am not sure they will easily translate to toe-up-i-tude).

Third, no heel-flap heel for me – I did a short-row heel, which is much more fun (RE: easy) to do, if you ask me. I do need to do some general tweaking on the idea in order to have perfect heels for my imperfect feet, but I am working on that.

I also FINALLY took photos of the Fairgrounds socks. They turned out cute as hell, if you ask me.


these poor things look washed-out next to the Sherbets, but on their own, they shine, shine, shine

I have also been plugging away at my Wedding Shawl – as of Monday night, I have only two rows left to do, and then the interminable bind-off. Blocking to commence by Thursday, and I will be good to go. Speaking of the wedding, we have less than two weeks to go – whoa. We leave for Big Sky Country on Monday the 26th, and I cannot wait to get there, see my folks, immerse myself in friends and family…Whoo-hoo! And Yeee-Hawww!!


loving this habu silk-mohair blend and loving the evelyn clark pattern (from Wrap Style)