Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Nemesis Sock Knitting

I've been on a yarn diet for most of this year, but awhile back, I gave in to the urge to browse through The Loopy Ewe's yarn and made a couple of purchases. One of them was some yarn from the Schaeffer Yarn Company called Gertrude Eberle. Being an ex-swimmer, I knew exactly who Gertrude Eberle was, an Olympic champion, who was the first woman to swim the English Channel. I also knew who I wanted to knit a pair of socks for with that yarn, one of my best friends from high school, who was a great swimmers as a teen. She's continued to swim for fitness and competitively since then...like for the last thirty years. Among other accomplishments, she's swum from Alcatraz to Pier 39 in San Francisco, which makes her the deserved recipient of Gertrude Eberle socks in my book.


I decided to use the  Nemesis socks pattern from Knitty. We were meeting my cousin and her family at Cambria yesterday, so I was excited to have several hours in the car to knit on the way over. I printed the pattern, making sure that I also printed the chart. There was an option for a "large" or "small" chart, so, of course, I printed the large chart because I wanted to be able to see the pattern well! I didn't need the it for the first twelve rounds, which were just ribbing rows, but just as I was about to need the chart, I realized what I had done. I'd printed the "large size" chart. I don't know what I was thinking! I had a big car trip ahead of me and no pattern! I messed around for awhile trying to figure out the smaller pattern on my own, but I finally gave up. What a mini tragedy!

I downloaded the right chart this morning, and worked on it between working in the yard and baking bread. I enjoyed  today almost as much as the day at the beach yesterday. We had a great time, catching up and mostly just relaxing. My cousin's husband is from Nebraska like Russ is, and we made fun of the fact that they were dressed almost identically.


 We stopped by the Hearst Castle Visitor's Center, but didn't give ourselves enough time for one of the tours.

 It's hard to think of stuff to do with three teenagers and four adults, but everyone agreed that lunch at Main Street Grill in the West Village and ice cream at Rainbow Bean Coffee and Ice Cream shop in the East Village were super choices, and so was the walk on San Simeon Beach.
 I love walking through the gardens at Heart's Ease, and the kids didn't seem to mind it too much. Paige took a little rest under one of the arbors. Too bad, she couldn't find some decent jeans to wear, ha, ha.

7 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Looks like you're having a great time! The socks look really pretty too -- what a fun tribute for a swimming friend!

Caffeine Girl said...

Have you noticed that the more worn out the jeans are, the more they cost?!

I had a similar travel/knitting pattern crisis on the East Coast!

Joansie said...

Sounds like a great time!Anytime by the ocean has to be relaxing! I'm envious as it is still too cold here.

Anonymous said...

What a great day out! I remember my Mum being embarrassed by my brother wearin a tatty sweater when he was a student (that was in the 70s!!)

One pair of Hands said...

Oh I do feel for you! All that knitting that could have been done - disaster. My last one was setting off with an almost finished ball of yarn, and no more to go on with - grr.
Aren't the young ones wonderful? Just being with them is a tonic.

TheBlackSheep said...

I bet those jeans costs a fortune!

Love the sock colour and thanks for the ocean fix. Makes me miss home.

Torhild said...

Love your story and pic.