Note: Morbidity Ahead. On Monday my mom asked me if I was going to put anything into the coffin with my grandmother, as my siblings and cousins and so on were writing letters and stuff as a way to let out a bit of how they were feeling. I went into a panic because I didn’t feel “right” about writing a letter. I am so thankful I found a pattern for a knit elephant in one of my knitting books, I think it’s called “Last Minute Knitted Gifts” by the woman who owns Purl Soho in New York. Anyways, it took me 2 hours in the afternoon, and another 4 hours that evening, but I managed to finish this elephant in time. My grandmother collected elephants. She had, seriously, thousands of elephants. Statues, tshirts, anything with an elephant on it. This toy was supposed to be 10″ tall but I used much smaller needles and a smaller gauge yarn and was able to end up with a little 5″ or so elephant. I under-stuffed it so it’s cuddly and squishy and was just really thankful I had something to give to my grandmother on Tuesday. I didn’t go see her as often as I should have once she was in her foster home, mainly because it was so hard to communicate but that wasn’t her fault. So I am really happy that I was able to make something just for her, with only her in mind and thinking of her with every stitch.

Note: Morbidity Ahead. On Monday my mom asked me if I was going to put anything into the coffin with my grandmother, as my siblings and cousins and so on were writing letters and stuff as a way to let out a bit of how they were feeling. I went into a panic because I didn’t feel “right” about writing a letter. I am so thankful I found a pattern for a knit elephant in one of my knitting books, I think it’s called “Last Minute Knitted Gifts” by the woman who owns Purl Soho in New York. Anyways, it took me 2 hours in the afternoon, and another 4 hours that evening, but I managed to finish this elephant in time. My grandmother collected elephants. She had, seriously, thousands of elephants. Statues, tshirts, anything with an elephant on it. This toy was supposed to be 10″ tall but I used much smaller needles and a smaller gauge yarn and was able to end up with a little 5″ or so elephant. I under-stuffed it so it’s cuddly and squishy and was just really thankful I had something to give to my grandmother on Tuesday. I didn’t go see her as often as I should have once she was in her foster home, mainly because it was so hard to communicate but that wasn’t her fault. So I am really happy that I was able to make something just for her, with only her in mind and thinking of her with every stitch.

This lousy pic tries to show off the cuff I made up. It’s just 2×2 rib (k2, p2) but I made up a 25 row chart where I do a 2st cable every 5 rows in the knit rows, but every next set of k stitches is offset. So the first row would be (for example kk pp \\ pp, repeat. Next 2 rows would be just kk pp kk pp around, then the next row would be \\ pp kk pp so there end up being 5 rows between each cable, but the cables themselves are staggered.) I shouldn’t have bothered, anyways, because you can’t see the cables on this mottled yarn. I’ll try this cuff again when I make a solid brown pair of socks.

This lousy pic tries to show off the cuff I made up. It’s just 2×2 rib (k2, p2) but I made up a 25 row chart where I do a 2st cable every 5 rows in the knit rows, but every next set of k stitches is offset. So the first row would be (for example kk pp \\ pp, repeat. Next 2 rows would be just kk pp kk pp around, then the next row would be \\ pp kk pp so there end up being 5 rows between each cable, but the cables themselves are staggered.) I shouldn’t have bothered, anyways, because you can’t see the cables on this mottled yarn. I’ll try this cuff again when I make a solid brown pair of socks.

This lousy pic tries to show off the cuff I made up. It’s just 2×2 rib (k2, p2) but I made up a 25 row chart where I do a 2st cable every 5 rows in the knit rows, but every next set of k stitches is offset. So the first row would be (for example kk pp \\ pp, repeat. Next 2 rows would be just kk pp kk pp around, then the next row would be \\ pp kk pp so there end up being 5 rows between each cable, but the cables themselves are staggered.) I shouldn’t have bothered, anyways, because you can’t see the cables on this mottled yarn. I’ll try this cuff again when I make a solid brown pair of socks.

This tries to show the colors of the yarn. It’s hard to see, even in real life, ‘cus it’s really subtle. There is a slight repeat, but it’s broad. The toe started with gray that is mixed with dark gray, then goes into gray with blue, then gray with pale gray, then repeats. You can really see the gray with pale gray part ‘cus it looks lightest, and the gray with dark part looks almost denim. The blue section is really subtle, but it’s there.

This tries to show the colors of the yarn. It’s hard to see, even in real life, ‘cus it’s really subtle. There is a slight repeat, but it’s broad. The toe started with gray that is mixed with dark gray, then goes into gray with blue, then gray with pale gray, then repeats. You can really see the gray with pale gray part ‘cus it looks lightest, and the gray with dark part looks almost denim. The blue section is really subtle, but it’s there.

This tries to show the colors of the yarn. It’s hard to see, even in real life, ‘cus it’s really subtle. There is a slight repeat, but it’s broad. The toe started with gray that is mixed with dark gray, then goes into gray with blue, then gray with pale gray, then repeats. You can really see the gray with pale gray part ‘cus it looks lightest, and the gray with dark part looks almost denim. The blue section is really subtle, but it’s there.

This is the completed first sock. I started at the toe and ended at the cuff. It’s done on 68 sts with Mega Boots Stretch sock yarn.

This is the completed first sock. I started at the toe and ended at the cuff. It’s done on 68 sts with Mega Boots Stretch sock yarn.