Is There a 12 Step Program?

Because I am addicted to Fair Isle!

I just couldn't tear myself away from knitting on Mamluke this weekend.

The knitting of the leg went really fast. Especially since this is the second try. I had a slight issue with the fit of the first one I knitted....

That is as far up my foot as it would go. The recommended cast on of 70 sts just wasn't enough. So, I frogged the entire thing and just added another pattern repeat. Now, all is well. It doesn't slide on really easy, but with a tiny bit of a tug, it slides over my heel. Speaking of heels, Mamluke has a two color heel. It isn't a flap heel, nor a traditional short row heel. Just a little striped section that you short row (without wrapping) back and forth. That's it. You don't wrap, pick up the wraps or anything of the sort. It will be interesting to see how this fits in the end. I put all my trust in Nancy Bush to make this little section somehow turn into a heel. Those are pretty neat stripes though. Purling with two colors - not fun and very slow. I had to drop one color and pick up the next every stitch, still making sure the red was dominant. I didn't realize that the pattern involved two color purling! (yeah, not really reading every line of the pattern before I started - oh well!) Luckily it was only that little section and I had it done pretty fast. The only thing I might have done different is added more ribbing at the top. The pattern only has you do three rows of k1p1 rib, and it kind of curls. Lesson learned - add more ribbing!

There has been some talk around the net about the symbols used in the sock (the section right above the heel flappy thing) as it spells "Allah" and some thought it was disrespectful to walk on the word. Rebekkah also debated this issue, and I thought about it before I knitted that panel. I'm sure Nancy Bush also thought about it, but looking at the socks she used for inspiration for Mamluke, one has this same symbol knitted into it, so obviously it had been done by the original knitter/wearer of the sock. I can't see her publishing a pattern that would offend an entire culture. (I hope!) That being said, I followed the pattern to the letter (or symbol).

After my glorious time with the Mamluke sock, I had a less than fun adventure with the Rebecca sweater. After wrestling with decreases, picked up stitches and #15 DPN's (AHHH!) I made her a date. With the ball winder.

Nothing worked. Picking up less stitches made the arm hole pucker all around. Picking up more and decreasing quickly left me with just a goofy looking sleeve. It just was not meant to be. This was not the calling for this yarn. Sigh.

Good thing I'm so enamored with Mamluke right now.