Today is Rachel’s birthday – the celebrations last week were premature. She is 54, two-thirds of my own lifetime. The-first-day-of-the-rest-of-your-life, for both of us, that midsummer morning in Glasgow in ’58.


And Scotland won another rugby match!

Knitting

I’m still worried by the size of the foot on Alexander’s first sock. I am becoming quite enamoured of toe-up knitting, although I would be very hard put to say why. I love grafting; most of the people I knit for aren’t around to try socks on as they progress; and it’s hard to imagine myself in a knit-until-I-run-out-of-yarn situation.

So none of the reasons people keep advancing for toe-up, really apply to me.

And here is a situation which is another big plus for top-down. If the foot length is wrong, it is easy to correct after the event. Just undo the toe.

I’ll have to give that one some hard thought today. Perhaps try it on my husband, whose feet must be pretty comparable to his son’s. I am now nearly half-way up the bit between heel and ribbing, but it's never too late to rip if ripping is what needs to be done.

Wendy Johnson’s “Socks from the Toe Up” turned up here yesterday – how did we manage life before Amazon? It’s a worthy addition to my now-substantial sock library. And I have resolved to master that crochet chain thing for a provisional cast-on. It would be a small thing, but  a useful addition to my list of new skills.

I’ve been saying that I can’t do it, I need to be taught by an actual knitter here present. But maybe that’s not true. Maybe if I crochet a few little chains and try, try again, I can get it. So that goes on the list.

Ravelympics

Thanks for the link to the Harlot’s thots, Knitlass. I think she’s being a little too kind – although I suppose it does her credit. If she organises a brilliantly successful “sock summit”, as I gather she did, and then someone else stages a “sock summit”, the someone else is cashing in on Stephanie’s hard work and success and sock-knitters could well be misled. But the Olympics belong to the world, alas. And no one seeing the word “Ravelympics” could possibly be misled.

Is Ravelry taking money out of athletes’ pockets by infringing USOC’s trademark in a partial use of the word? Arguable, I think. Can you trademark a word? How did that lawsuit between the Beetles and Apple turn out – over the word “apple” itself?

I think the Mason-Dixon idea of a lifetime’s supply of hand-knit socks for Stephen Colbert (whoever he may be) in return for laughing at USOC (did he actually do it?) is a much better approach.