Ah, knitting. Such a tricksy mistress. There have been highs, recently, and there have also, sad to relate, been lows. Time for … Good Thing, Bad Thing.
Good Thing: Hat! Hat hat hat hat hat haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat! My first hat, no less. I love it.
Here it is from the side.
Bad Thing: There is no bad thing about the hat. Unless you count the fact that it really is feeling decidedly springy out there, which means I won’t have cause to wear it very much over the next while. (Mind you, this is Ireland, so whatever else happens, the weather will change.)
Good Thing: I am positively bubbling with knitting mojo these days. Much good must surely come of this (assuming that “good” can be measured in finished objects – a proposition that to me seems axiomatic).
Bad Thing: A sad thing happened to my beautiful new Spring Forward socks.
I machine-washed them, in the normal cycle, and they did not survive (though my other handknit socks, which went in the same bag, are absolutely fine, as usual). They are felted and shrunk.
*sigh* Some days you get the bear washing-machine. Some days the bear washing-machine gets you your socks.
Requiescant in pace.
Good Thing: I’m actually surprisingly sanguine about this. It doesn’t feel like a disaster – more a sad little thing that happened.
I think it’s OK partly because it confirmed for me that I will not, ever ever ever, wear non-machine-washable socks. Life is just. Too. Short. When I sent them to their fate I said to myself, “Right, this is a gamble, but it’s better to know one way or another.” Because I’ve learnt from experience: anything that can’t be washed within this household’s standard procedure, at least until the children are a bit older, will get washed a few times a year if it’s lucky. And socks, I think we can all agree, aren’t ideal candidates for this kind of treatment. So. Superwash all the way from here on in.
It’s also OK because if I miss them, I can always knit them again. And it will even be fun again. Or I could knit some different socks. And that would be fun too. (Does this make me a process knitter?)
I’m overthinking this, aren’t I?
Ah, knitting. Ah, knitting.
What can you do?
Sell the small, felted socks as slippers.
sorry to hear your Spring Forward socks didn’t survive the wash. I always hate when that happens. Elana’s sons benefited from a pair I made that shrank and I benefited from a pair that shrunk on Mac! Then again he benefited from a pair that just seems to keep growing. Slouch socks aren’t supposed to be that loose!
Hat looks even better on, and I liked it without it’s head model. It suits you!
That first photo is terrifying – without the context of your long hair and adult face, your eyes could TOTALLY be those of one of your sons. Eeek!
@Ailbhe: They’re not very slipper-like, I’m afraid! But they might be wearable by a child. They’re too big for any of ours, as yet.
@Deirdre: I like your stories of travelling socks
Perhaps there’s someone who might like mine.
@Glitzfrau: Ha! Yes, maybe, if you ignore the freckles and wrinkles!