The cardigan has reach a point where I need to measure and make critical decisions to get the fit right, so I am procrastinating and avoiding the anxiety of all those decisions and knitting some socks instead. I’m trying out a new stitch for reinforcing the heels, called the Eye of Partridge stitch. A funny name for a very pretty-looking stitch!

Knitwear sizing is still hard. I knit gauge swatches and I measure and I calculate, and it still feels like hit and miss. Often the knitting behaves differently when there is more of it. With the ribbed cuff of a sock, there’s no point in making a decision about fit before there’s at least 5 or 6 cm of it. With these socks I made three starts (despite first making a swatch!) and still I’m not 100% happy with the fit. The next pair will be larger. My plan is to establish a good base pattern for this yarn weight and then just make variations of it – yarn colour, ribbing type, decorative details etc.

I thought I could give these slightly too tight socks to Adrian, who loves wool socks. It turned out that his ankle is as thick as mine, and his instep maybe even higher than mine. The only dimension where our feet differ seems to be length – his are about 2-3 cm shorter. So I guess I’ll keep these after all and wear them directly on the skin, rather than as an extra layer on cold days.

And I get the definite feeling that cardigans get narrower the longer I knit. I measured the black one when I had knit 10 cm and it was slightly loose. I put it around my waist again when I had 20 cm and it felt noticeably tighter. Perhaps the yarn’s own weight pulls it down?