Matt's i-Pod Sock

I have taken up knitting again after a break of 30 years. I had forgotten how therapeutic knitting is – and what a good knitter I am.

Lots of unsuspecting family and friends are going to get something knitted for Christmas this year.

This is the i-Pod Sock, which I knitted on Thursday. Here it is being modelled by my U2 Special Edition pod.

The sock is personalised (yes Matt – MW means that I made this one for you), and includes a front pocket for earphone storage as can be seen in the close-up below.

With many thanks to Suw Charman’s mum who published her i-Pod Sock pattern on the Blog which was the inspiration for my design.

I agree with Suw – these hand-knits are much better than the plain, ordinary, mass-produced ones being peddled by Apple for about £20.

Matt - it will be in the post to you next week.

Here’s my adaptation of Suw’s mum’s pattern:

Materials:
Main colour wool (Double knitting, DK)
Contrast colour wool (Double knitting, DK)
3.25 mm needles
2.75 mm needles
Spare needle or stitch holder
Squared paper & pencil (to work out design for letters)

Abbreviations:
K = Knit
P = Purl
RS = Right side
WS = Wrong side

Pocket:
Using 3.25 mm kneedles and main colour wool cast on 16 stitches and work stocking stitch (1 row K, 1 row P) for 3 inches. Put stitches onto a spare needle.

Main sock:
Using 3.25mm needles and main colour wool, cast on 40 stitches and work in K2, P2 rib for 2 inches, ending with a wrong side row.

Change to stocking stitch for the 1st 20 stitches (front of the sock), starting with K row, and then continuing in K2, P2 rib for the remaining 20 stitches (back of the sock).

Work the pattern for the initials over 9 rows of the stocking stitch half of the sock. For M W, for example, the design (9 rows, 20 stitches) is as follows:

X represents the contrast wool to Knit (RS) or Purl (WS) to form the letters. If you get stuck trying to work out your letter pattern on your squared paper, let me know and I’ll try and work it out for you.

Note for less experienced knitters: When working in two colours, the yarn not being used at any given time has to be interwoven on the WS of the work at least every 2 stitches so that it’s in the right place when it’s due to be used. Loop it along using the yarn being knitted but don’t pull it up tight. The weaving must not change the tension of the work. For an excellent explanation of how to do this, including pictures, see the Knitting Fiend.

After the 9 rows of pattern have been completed, return to K2, P2 rib as follows.
Next row: Rib for 22 stitches, cast off 16 stitches in rib, P2.
Next row: K2, transfer 16 stitches from spare needle and rib across all stitches. Transfer pocket so that the RS of the pocket is against the WS of the front of the sock.

Continue K2, P2 rib until work measures 4 inches ending with WS.

Next row: RS of work facing, change to 2.75 mm needles and contrast wool and K one row.
Continue in Rib (K2, P2) for a further 2 inches. Cast off loosely in rib.

Making up:
Press stocking stitch on sock and pocket lightly if needed but do not press any of the ribbing.
With RS together, sew sides and bottom and edges around pocket to secure.
Turn to RS facing, and sew contrast rib edging, and fold over.

(Tell Me Why) I Don't Like Wednesdays..

Had my heart bypass operation on the morning of Wednesday 14 June. Woke up that evening in ICU covered in iodine and heavily sedated and intubated (tube down throat – connected to breathing machine). My boys were there – holding my hand.

Almost immediately I demanded pen & paper so that I could communicate with the nurses, asking them to take the tube out. After several pleas (I was desperate – I needed to cough – and you can’t when you’re intubated) – the tube was pulled out and I was breathing on my own! Much relief from my boys (and me and my cough!)

That was a long night. I couldn’t sleep. Although dosed up to the max with morphine, I was too afraid to go back to sleep. Having woken up from heart surgery – I wanted to stay awake. And I did! Chatted to and pestered the nurses all night long.

I paid for it the next morning (Thursday). I was in terrible pain – partly because I hadn’t rested enough, and was awake when I should have been asleep. But I was still on the mend and so was transferred to a high dependency ward where people who were far more ill than me kept me awake all the next night. And they did - their bodily functions and consequent need for the nurses were relentless throughout the night and in the early hours of Friday morning.

Friday morning – today I am unhooked from all the tubes and monitors and – with the escort of a nurse – walk the 20 yards to the bathroom and back. I am now considered to be a mobile patient and am transferred back to the main ward. It’s more cheerful there – people have either just been admitted (awaiting their surgery) or are recovering and about to go home. This just makes me feel so much better. I finally get what resembles a night's sleep since the op.

Saturday morning – I have shown that I can eat, sleep, walk and get in and out of bed on my own – and all body parts seem to be working – so I am allowed home. Fantastic!

It is another two weeks before I can do much more than get up out of bed, make cups of tea, turn on the telly, eat a sandwich and go back to bed at the end of the day. The pain is much worse than I imagined it would be. Thank goodness for Big Pharma and its candy supplies.

Almost four weeks on now. In addition to the above, I can turn on my computer and sit at it for about an hour, two at most – discomfort is too great to do much more. I can walk to the paper shop and back. I can cook a simple meal. That’s about it - physically.

But Brain is working and I am doing little bits of work each day - even though I'm officially off sick, and will be for quite some time. There's only so many re-runs of old soap operas that a girl can watch - especially now that Wimbledon & the World Cup are over.

My next milestone - in the next couple of weeks or so - will be to walk to the high street shops and back home again. I haven't managed that yet.