Like a proper cold, it's all gone. No
more sneezing, headaches, muscle aches or fever. Slept through the
night with no medication.
And, as I began to feel better on
Saturday—I started my January socks—Black & White cookies.
I still haven't finished the secret
socks (they are sans toes) but I can work on both at once.
Here in NYC Black & White cookiesare, well , The bakery treat. They are large (6 to 7 inches across)
cake-like cookies, with very dark chocolate and vanilla fondant
frosting. One recipe I have for making them calls for a box of
vanilla (yellow) cake mix—made by reducing the water by half (if
the mix calls for 1.1/3 cups of water, add 2/3 of cup, instead) and
all the other called for ingredients. The stiff dough is baked by they half cupful, on greased sheet, cooled and the flat side frosted.
But I have never found a recipe for the
frosting that is like the bakery ones. I am not, (never have been) a
big fan of Black & White cookies. But that hasn't stopped me from
eating many of them over the years!
So, the socks—Black and White—and
because they are intarsia –the simplest possible intarisa—(straight
line!) I am knitting them flat to begin with—it's just easier that
way.
And because they are socks, not
cookies, I am taking the liberty of making a fancy zig-zag seam—a
simple set of twisted stitches—rather than the perfectly straight
line of the cookies. They are hard to photograph—the Boyle needle
just doesn't want to be pulled straight. They are mirror image, too,
which make it a bit easier to knit.
I started with a long tail cast on—and
2 extra stitches (for the seam) and worked a few rows of stocking
knit and reverse stocking knit for cuff. And now I am knitting away
(gleefully twisting the yarns and stopping to undo them (twice
already) every so often.
The intarsia will be center front, the
seam, center back. The black and white motif will continue to the
heel and then the foot will be a solid black. There will be lots of
left over white yarn--(I am working with 2 50g skeins)When done, the
remaining white will likely be dyed and re-purposed. I have 1 full
and several partial balls of the black—enough. (Too much!) I
really dislike working with the black yarn—Kroy make a very deep,
dark black—In French they call it carbon –and coal black it is!
Working flat, I have to take care with
the purl rows—If I let myself get careless, I can row out. Not a
problem yet—but I know myself and my knitting.
It's been a long time since I've knit a
sock with a flat knit top—the change up to construction is fun.
