The planets must have realigned themselves or something, because all of a sudden, life is beginning to normalize. Hooray for normal!
The swelling in my wrist abated overnight, and I was able to finish the mock ragg socks today. Though I did take the knitting slowly, with frequent breaks, because I don't want a relapse. But the wrist is much more stable today.
I can't quite decide what I think of the socks. On the one hand, they'll look great with my blue and cream ragg sweater, which is also a 2x2 rib. On the other, the yarn is coarser than what I usually wear next to my skin, and I'm afraid they might be too rough. They're not quite as coarse as, say, lopi (which I find unwearable), but they're certainly not merino. I'd rate them almost as coarse as a standard Peruvian wool. I'm hoping that washing them will soften them up some.
fwiw, this is a Regia superwash sock wool/nylon blend. Usually, the Regia is tolerable to me. Not what I would call soft, but certainly wearable. But this particular yarn was loftier and less tightly spun than their usual offerings, which makes me think they were trying to camouflage the coarseness of the wool. Also makes me wonder how these socks will wear, but I may not be able to wear them enough to walk through their loftiness.
By the way, in case you're wondering about my spelling, ragg, sometimes spelled ragge, is a term for a particular type of spun fiber. It usually looks sort of speckled or tufted and feels loose to the touch. My cotton ragg sweater sheds like a dog in August, but nothing else I own is half as cozy. I'm not an expert at telling ragg from non-ragg yarns, but usually, ragg feels sort of tufty or lofty. I used to think that all raggs were knitted, but have since heard that they can also be woven. I'm told that ragg used to be made from shredded and respun cloth, but I don't know if that's accurate. In fact, I'm not entirely sure of any of these facts. If you can set the record straight, please do so in the comments.
Anyway, I call them "mock ragg" because the speckly look here is achieved with dye rather than with spinning. So that's one lingering project down, one to go, and then I'll be ready for Summer of Socks.
This also makes me very happy. My floor is done! Woot! I might even be able to move the furniture back in there tomorrow. And look how gorgeous it is next to the cabinets. The crew did a phenomenal job. Hooray, crew!
Notice all the filthy wash rags draped over my faucet to dry? You would not believe how much freaking sawdust I had to wash off of everything! I wiped stuff down for hours! Even inside the microwave, even inside the cabinets The Torso had sealed in plastic. It's everywhere. Absolute unrelenting filth.
But hey. At least it's filth I can get close to again. Kitchen, I missed you! Don't ever cut yourself off from me again!
