Monday 22 October 2007

When you look in the dictionary under "Frustrating" ...

you will see a picture of me trying to pick a sock yarn! Apparently, I am a really poor judge of manly colours, because 6 out of 7 people I quizzed at the office re: the socks I am knitting voted that they were "girlie" (one man said he'd wear wool socks even if they were pink because they are so comfy! bless his heart!).


This is not good for 3 reasons:

  1. they are a ecret-say istmas-Chray resent-pay so I am knitting with a timeline in mind
  2. the pattern isn't super easy - I actually have to pay attention to what row I am on! and I love it, and I am many inches into it (I have been in denial about the macho-ness of the colour, and have soldiered on , hoping it would magically transform into a very butch orange ... but no luck yet!)
  3. this is the second time I have selected a girlie colour for a manly man (am I on cr*ck or just oblivious to what boys like?)

I have tried to macho the sock up by referring to it as "Planked Salmon" socks, as "Brown and Orange" and justifying their colouring by saying that the recipient wears a lot of the earth tones, and is quite free in his choice of colours -- but whenever I look at what I have created, I think "those would be a great chick-sock". Problem is they are size. 11. man's. and I have invested 3 evenings of knitting into this pair so far, and 2 evenings into the pink pair I tried before. Tick! Tick! Tick!

Crap!

This sock may be destined to be fingerless gloves for me, or a non ecret-say resent-pay after istmas-chray ... but for now, it has been abandoned. No frogging for it! (this is my concrete frog ... I thought he looked pretty this evening ... and a cheery pic of Fall colours!)A new ball of Austerman was bought today ... colour #5 (a very manly shade of "Torf" - which I am loosely translating to mean "turf" - and what is manly-er than dirt?) The other colours were "Dune" (I thought Dune was macho ... but according to my sources, the Dune is a peachy colour!) and "Brombeer" (what is more testosteroney than Beer, I ask? Who knew it would be pink?). Hopefully, this will be "the" colour, very tough looking, and suited to a man.

Crap! Why can't they magically be one of these gorgeous shades of orange? any of these pretty oranges would do!

I love Fall ... and pumpkins are one of my favorite things ... that and Fall colours -- if I get out and about tomorrow , there may be some Fall colours pictures plastered on the blog (Torf reminds me of a Fall day - blue sky, pumpkins and fall foliage! a perfect colour range for manly socks! perfect for a man!)

4 comments:

Marti said...

I dunno...I still think the colour is manly enough. But I know where you're coming from...when it's a gift, you want it to be just right. Maybe the other colour will work out better for ya!

lexa said...

I can't see this new color not being able to get the job done! No one can say that one isn't "manly" enough. At least it has the brownish/bluish thing happening to help keep your interest. I know how you like the color change thing.

I started a pair of Tropicana socks for me tonight, but I just messed them up. Thank goodness it was only the fourth or fifth row when I caught it. It has a short-row heel, though. I know I can do a heel flap instead, but since the pattern calls for short-row, I am going to try short-row AGAIN. Hopefully it will work out fine. I really want to be able to do that heel cuz it makes the self-striping look better. Last time I did it I was getting little holes, and I know if you don't get it just right you get little holes. Not good enough for me! I need no holes or else, dang it!

Donna M said...

The colour doesn't look too bad in the pic, but may be a bit less "manly" in the flesh. If yarn had flesh that is!

monica said...

I think the new colors are manly indeed. Trekking has some great manly colors.
I love the colors of Fall too and look forward to seeing your fall pics.