Dear Ann,
I feel like it’s time for an update on my Kaffe Fassett Big Flower Jacket, but you’ve gone and got me all het up about the One-Sock Knitalong. I am strictly an Option Three participant. I knitted one pair of socks, baby sized, at a Cat Bordhi workshop we attended together somewhere back in the mists of time. I did start a pair of red men’s socks, that time when we were trying to persuade Stephen Colbert to do something by sending him socks. (It possibly made sense at the time, something to do with the International Olympic Committee.) My first Stephen Colbert sock never made it past the cuff, and I unraveled it to harvest some granny square fixings. Bottom line: I have no abandoned sock UFOs (Option One), and I have no random souvenir sock yarn lying around (Option Two), so I’m going to go to the yarn store (woe is me) and get some sock yarn and make some socks from fresh, new ingredients.
Corner-cutter and shirker that I am (or aspire to be), I’m going with footie socks. Here’s a fun fact about Most Moisturized Mom (my mom aka Mrs. Lill Gardiner): I have never seen her go barefoot. I believe she takes her shoes off to bathe, and that’s it. Her feet are like babies’ feet, soft and pink. She also forswears wearing shoes–even sandals–without socks, again for the sake of the dermatologic integrity of her feet.
This is where footie socks come in. I am kind of scarred about footie socks, to be honest. Mom has all manner of footie socks for all styles of shoes. Her credo is that you shouldn’t SEE the footie socks, but they should most definitely be there. Mom’s top drawer is a World of Footie Socks. “Nude,” white, black, sheer, opaque, low-cut (yes there are sexy low-cut footie socks that allow a peek of toe cleavage), terrycloth ankle socks (for jazzercizing and whatnot)–a footie for every occasion. She wears footie socks with her house slippers. (Think about that. At some level, it’s performance art.)
A loving daughter’s natural rebellion explains why I go barefoot whenever possible, and my own feet are frankly Jurassic.
Anyhow, I’m taking advantage of this little knitalong of ours to work out my deep-seated psychological issues with footie socks. It’s time to be an adult, put away adolescent fractiousness, and face up to the undeniable truth: footie socks are way less knitting.
The footie sock pattern that has captured my imagination is Saturday Matinee Socks, a newly-released pattern by Mara Catherine Bryner. (Mara is the designer of another popular footie sock pattern, Rose City Rollers, a free pattern that I may cut my sock teeth on.)
Cute, huh? By complete coincidence (or divine intervention), the Saturday Matinee Socks pattern is 50 percent off this week.
So there’s that decision made. Happy sockalong, everybody!
Big Progress on Big Flower
A quick update on my Kaffe Fassett Big Flower Jacket: I’ve reached the separation point for the armholes, row 74 (of the chart’s 120). This is big, a moment to be savored.
It’s hard to get a picture that shows the scale. People have this problem with the Grand Canyon.
I’m not gonna lie: knitting this style of intarsia is work. This particular pattern adds two levels of difficulty to the baseline looniness of intarsia: the constant changing of the background stripe color, and the double- or triple-stranding of yarns required to achieve those stripe colors. There’s a lot of stopping and starting, which interrupts the rhythm of the knitting. Knitting this jacket has made me realize how much the pleasure of knitting is tied, for me, to that rhythmic, repetitive groove. To enjoy working this way, I’ve tried to reframe what knitting is all about. And the analogy I’ve hit upon is tapestry weaving. There’s a lot of stopping and starting in that ancient, elaborate process.
Here’s a video on the Gobelins tapestry weavers of France. Around the 6:13 mark, the weavers are all set up and really weaving. Bobbins galore, mirrors. It’s really something.
Something not entirely unlike knitting an intarsia design by Kaffe Fassett.
Love,
Kay
P.S. No tapestry-themed YouTube dive would be complete without The Animated Bayeux Tapestry:
I have to admit being vvery confused when you were describing your mum wearing footie socks. Here in England it conjures up another picture. Soccer socks would be described as footie socks! See what I mean, I can’t imagine anyone who has a name like most mosturised mom wearing those on any occasion!
Thank goodness for the pictures. I can rest easy and carry on kniitting my first ever sock, footie or otherwise.
The footie – perfect solution to participate in the KAL just when I thought I would have to pass this it up. Love to wear them and didn’t think of the expediency of knitting them. Thank you Kay for showing me the way. P.s. Watching the tapestry version of the Norman invasion classed up my morning routine today.
Loved hearing about your mother – funny stuff!
The Bayeux Tapestry vid–where were you when I was studying Art History? Absolutely wonderful.
I understand the footie thing, but it seems to me that the really fun part of a sock is the leg section, between the cuff and the heel. It’s where you get to knit the full pattern, without worrying about the various heel problems or the decreases. If you just go for a footie, you’ve got all the challenges without the fun stuff. But it is a nice footie; and the green is just terrific.
Transfixed by the Gobelins! What a Place– I must visit.
Bought the pattern b/c I can’t pass up a sale. I have one sock done from a Vanilla is the New Black pattern but ran out of yarn. I’m deciding to buy new yarn or just make another in a different yarn or should I make the pattern I just bought?
Decisions, decisions.
Thank you for that video, it was such a treat!
Oh, I had forgotten the Animated Bayeux Tapestry. I must have watched it about ten times when I first saw it. My mother never went barefoot either. She didn’t have footie socks, she had “Peds.”
My mom had “peds” too, with a pair in her purse for emergency shoe trying on. I must have tossed a metric ton of orphaned ones when she passed.
Hah! I forgot about the purse peds – my mother had those and a tape measure at all times. I wear a half-slip when I need it, for comfort.
Kay,
The Victoria and Albert Museum website has some free vintage knitting patterns, among them ankle socks (and surprisingly fishnet stockings). Perhaps you would be open to extending your “footie” experience to including ankles. Actally, though, your footie pattern is prettier. Wishing you luck on this momentous podiatric excursion.
From your description of the Big Flower intarsia, you’re at a really painstaking place in the process. Your tenacity is greatly admired. Keep on keeping your eye on the goal. You will get there.
LoveDiane
I’ll be knitting my first sock along with you! That you weave adolescent mother-daughter angst into a post about knitting and wearing socks is why I’m here. You go on with your gnarly dry feet. Meanwhile, I’ll quietly rebel by never wearing a slip. My mother’s slip drawer is the stuff of my nightmares.
Slips! My mother-in-law was the dowdiest creature on the planet–until it came to her slips. She always had luxurious ones. The nursing home chastised me for bringing her pretty slips, saying they’d get ruined in the industrial laundry but I told them I’d bring more. A woman has to hold to her standards. Her burial slip was a tour de force under a nice, ladylike silk suit. Thanks for the memories today.
I struggle with whether to wear a slip under skirts all the time. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t, it’s a quandary.
I’m totally in with your mother-in-law. Just look at Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Silk[y] slips are the best garment ever, but I often think I’m the only person left on the planet who wears them, and new ones are getting hard to find. At a certain age, ahem, it’s nice to be able to remove some of your clothing without immediately having to view what’s beneath. I cling to many of these days-of-yore habits—including the liberal use of talcum powder—and often feel like one of those last speakers of an obscure language that will die out with them.
Well, I wasn’t going to let myself be sucked into this knitalong because I have too many other projects (with deadlines) on my needles but I can always use more footie socks to wear with my Keens in the summer. My go to pattern is the Universal Toe-up Sock pattern but I’m going to give the Rose City Rollers pattern a try. Thanks Kay – for the pattern and for the push over the abyss.
I love the Bayeux Tapestry video. I saw the tapestry many years ago on a trip to France and loved seeing all of the many scenes up close. I’m a big history fan which made it even better. Blows me away how old it is and still intact (almost a thousand years old!)
I am with Kay on Option Three, and The Footie, although I think if I poke around in my stash I could find some sock yarn. The Saturday Matinee socks are very appealing, as is the half off price this week over at Ravelry. Hmmmmm
I’m also going with footies. I actually had two unfinished footie projects stashed away. What in the world is wrong with me?!?! One is in a cotton-elastic b&w yarn that looks vaguely zebra-ish when knitted. I might have right to abandon it.
Such a confluence of good things to wake up to today: the blog, the socks, Mara, Kay. Happy Saturday Matinee knitting! I’ve past the heel of my first and it is a joy to knit!
I kind of wish I could settle for footies, but if my feet are cold enough for wool socks, then my ankles are cold too and also need some wool on them.
Ooh, I’m looking at the Feel Good Sock on Knitty (Kate Atherley’s little gem). Not a footie, but fun and summery. Or, should I just get on with the two pair I’m chipping away at?
Someone, somewhere, probably already suggested this, so I apologize in advance for a repeat suggestion. Have you considered duplicate stitch for the skinny background sections of the Big Flower? I can’t even conceive of trying to do it otherwise. You (both) are WAY more tenacious than I am. Good luck on the sock, footie or otherwise. Another reason to admire you, as I am I confirmed sock knitting avoider. I’d rather use those lovely skeins for shawlettes and such. Got several on the needles right now. But I feel tempted to join in, and that shows the power of your influence and persuasion! I did stop, drop everything, to knit the stopover – cardiganized. In the recommended fiber no less! Another thing rarely accomplished. Love your blog. Should probably Leave a Comment every day just to say THAT.
Thank you for those videos, Kay. I received a Cricket Loom as a gift and am gearing up to try it out. Although I won’t be weaving any tapestries in the near future, I am inspired.
Just put up a footie sock pattern and take my money! Love footies!
I love these glimpses of ancient arts that you find. I love them SO much. Thank you for finding them and sharing them here. It fills me with joy to know that these things still survive in our world. I want to go to France immediately and hang out with these weavers.
So much has been said about the post (and I agree!), so here’s my comment:
het up
Oh My! It’s been a very long time since I’ve heard my Alabama friend say she was “het up” and I really am glad you, Kay, have reminded me today.
Good grief! I might even be tempted to knit footies.
Same here re me and mom. Although I had no idea of the enormity of it since she died oldish but I was youngish so had no clue what was in store for my barefooted heels. Btw, a friend and I “discovered” those with “flat feet” tend to wear shoes less than others. Not that I’m accusing u of anything. Just sayin’….
I’m quite envious of you getting option 3 while I’m stuck with Option 1. Clearly if option 1 were fun I wouldn’t have an option 1. Plus I’m schlepping to a vet on the east side (boring story) instead of jaunting off to Knitty City. (Is jaunting a word?)
I may never see anything more entrancing than that film of the Gobelins tapestry weavers and dyers.
Kay, I can’t believe you don’t have any sock yarn! If only you were in MA, I would be so happy to share. You could have your pick!
So growing up in the desert I had no use for socks unless I was athleting and had to wear shoes. Now that I’m in NC with 4 seasons I find I wear socks. Better if they are hand knit and wool. Even better are hand knit sockies -and Rose City Rollets is my pattern for that! Yay! Go for it and enjoy!!
Kay, this is such a funny, charming post. I loved it. For one thing, the fact that you are talking about Gobelins! My last art show made references to Gobelins Manufactory. The whole exhibition was tied into the work that a chemist (and ultimately, color theorist) named Chevreul came up with as a result of trying to solve a problem that Gobelins was having with black dyes. Chevreul analyzed the problem as not having to do with the intensity of the dye itself, but with how the perception of the color black changed depending on what color it was up against on the tapestry. He wrote a whole book on this perception issue. I found a vintage edition, which I cherish. (There are color plates in there that look exactly like Damien Hirst’s color dot paintings, so I would bet he has a copy too.) For anyone interested, google “Chevreul’s Illusion” for more. And your jacket is looking exquisite, btw. Wow, what an undertaking!
Also happy to see that you are giving in to the sockalong. Love those little footies! Thanks for a great post. The video is crazy cool too.
Your timing is impeccable – I’m leaving tonight for vacation in France and am certain that I’ll have much more appreciation for any tapestries I come across thanks to those videos. I think I’ll share with my husband and sons, too – any bets on whether they’ll watch?
Thanks for always broadening my horizons!
Hold on, need clarification here. Are you making the footie socks for most moisturized Mom or keeping them for yourself? No judging going on, just curious.
Tapestry weaving is a great analogy for intarsia. I think I’ve made that association unconsciously in the past. I don’t want to undertake either discipline!
As for socks, I’m not a fan of socks in the first place, nor do I really love knitting in the round.
Perhaps I can knit slippers like the ones we had to make in sixth grade. They are knitted flat and stitched up. Does that count?
I didn’t join the first knitalong and I want to do something now.
Lovely little footie socks, I’ll have to try them when I get past mastering how to make a sock. Sounds like you’re ahead of the game. About to cast-on with a long-tail cast-on which I’ve only done once, and has anyone noticed sock yarn is like REALLY tiny? And the needles? I’ve been recently using #50 for a Wool & The Gang cardigan. So a definite switch- “down”. Here’s my blog today. Truly I am having fun, just a tad intimidated by the sock concept. http://lovelyyarnescapes.blogspot.com/2016/05/tuesdays-eclectic-thoughts-sock.html
Thank you so much for introducing me to tapestry weaving at Gobelins and also Arne and Carlos. Please keep these references coming, I am learning so much from you, I am so grateful.
Wow, now I watched that video. It is astonishing! Thanks for posting it.
One day I will see the Bayeux Tapestry. I certainly taught it in Intro to Art History.
and sorry, but I.Do.Not.Knit.Socks. But I will watch along. Your sweater looks great – but totally agree with the rhythm of knitting. I also hate knitting scarves with lace patterns that do not repeat. No rhythm.
I love how you brought K Fassett knitting and the Grand Canyon together. Both so grand.
you’re right…it’s really something..
I was going to tell you about Rose City Rollers, but you already know! If I join this KAL, that’s what I’d be knitting. But I’m not in, yet…
I love the animated Bayeux Tapestry. It has just a tinge of Monty Python. Did you notice the blue horses?
I offered my daughter a half-slip the other day because she was complaining that her Spanks showed through her dress. She almost died of disgust–“Moooooomm! How can you even mention half-slips?????” (she’s 13).