Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Sock hop (not)

Well, I have finished my second attempt at customized socklets for my Mary Janes:


The strap works well and it's in the right place, plus the extra wide border is definitely keeping the sides from rolling down.  Even so: I can't decide whether these look really cute or really lame.  I'm leaning toward lame, but that's probably because even though I did get the strap and border right, I got something else very wrong.

Can you tell what?

I bet not.  You're a much more sensible person than I am, and also you can't see the Mary Janes in this picture.  Oh, and you don't have the angle I do, looking down. So this is a pretty unfair question.

Does this help?


Boy, you can really tell how the tiny border makes those sides roll down in the original version of these socks, can't you.  What's not so obvious, so I'll tell you, is how uncomfortable that feels inside the shoe.  Especially on an unexpectedly hot day in April, which I know because I tested them for a few hours yesterday.  The roll is bad, and the lack of strap is bad.  Fortunately it is within my power to add a strap even at this late date, and adding a strap should solve the rolling problem.  Yay for knitting magic!

Okay, have you guessed yet?

Look again, this time at the TOE.


You know that thing about how it's important to read the pattern, and not second-guess the designer? (even though we all know even the best designers have typos in their patterns sometimes.)  Well, the same goes for when you yourself are the designer.  I did not read the pattern, sitting there in the car full of ideas for the big pile of Silvia's amazing roving at my feet.  And I made the foot 10 rows longer before I started the toe, which has given me a perfect toe for ballerina flats, not Mary Janes.

I tested these too and HOOOO boy.  You so much need a sock that comes between you and the front edge of your Mary Jane.  To say nothing of how weird it looks to have sock borders along your strap and down either side of your shoe opening, and then nothing at the end.  You will notice I am providing no picture of this.  That is how weird it looks.

Again though, we gotta say Yay! for the magic of knitting, because I can pick up stitches from the too-late toe and make a little trimmy extension that will excuse me from reknitting the whole front end.

And also, Yay! for the temperature suddenly dropping again this morning.

And one final Yay! for ugly sandals, which is what I ended up wearing at the end of the day because bad socklets in good Mary Janes is just not the way to enjoy a bright and warm afternoon.

* * * * *


Administrative note:   Thanks SO much to everybody who commented or e-mailed me about whether or not to close up shop at my Procrastination Diary and bring all those goodies over here.  Overall feedback: please do, with a minority vote no less compelling to say please don't.

I think the best compromise is to go for it, but with a continued emphasis on knitting most of the time and also the use of very clear post titles and opening paragraphs to allow the anybody who only wants knitting to easily skip over to their next reading opportunity.  Sound good?

I won't make the change till next month probably, as I'd like to overhaul my websites at the same time.  Haven't done any redecorating on that front in ages and I am bubbling over with ideas.

Have a lovely Tuesday - see you tomorrow!

2 comments:

susan said...

Could you lacquer them with mod-podge and glue on a sole? :)

Mary Keenan said...

Now that's what I call resourceful thinking!!