Pyjama bonanza

Over the last week I have managed to wear out two (TWO!!) pairs of pyjama trousers. How does that happen?! They weren't even the same make or the same age.

As I'm on a bit of a sewing bee at the moment, I salvaged the usable remnants and (after a quick wash) I cut out two new pairs of pj trousers from the ruins. One pair is for the jelly bean (5 next week!) and the second pair is for the bean - his pair are shorts as that was all I could eke out of the fabric available. 

I used some existing pjs as a template, adding as much length in the leg as I could manage. My children tend on the slim side and just seem to get longer/taller rather than wider as they grow.

While I was cutting out pyjama trousers, and, given that I am down two pairs, I cut out a pair for myself. I used an existing (non-ripped) pair as a template, and cut into some rather fabulous cotton lawn I bought on a whim a year or so back. 

They are going to be rather gorgeous. I did wonder about making a matching top (there is still quite a lot of fabric left), but thought that would be a bit much, particularly as none of my other pyjamas have matching tops! 

Socksperiment

Over the last few months I've been collecting worn and holey socks, piling them up ready for the darning fairy to repair them. She hasn't been around very much, that fairy, as - like all housework fairies - she is rather unreliable and easily distracted. You know, by shiny in-the-moment things like the Commonwealth Games, or drinking beer, or starting new projects (ahem).

While the holey sock pile has been marinading, I came up with a plan for a socksperiment.  Because my socks invariably go into a hole on the ball of the foot rather than the heel or the toe, I have been wondering if there was a way to reinforce this part of the sock and increase the sock's longevity.  

I think I have found a way. It involves knitting around the sock in s1 k1 a bit like a heel flap. And, when you are using two yarns in a grumperina' stripe it has the additional benefit of changing the direction of the stripes! [I must confess that this discovery makes me deliriously happy - I love knitting stripey socks, and making the stripes change direction is just mind-blowing. Just me? Oh, okay]

In order to test my hypothesis in a really scientific way, I am making myself a new pair of socks (see what I mean about being easily distracted). One sock has been knit the 'normal' way, and the other will be finished in the new way. I'm a third of the way along the foot of the second sock, and just about to start the k1 s1 section. 

Once I've finished them, I'll wear the blighters and see what happens. I hope it won't be quite as long-winded as the search for the Higgs bosun, or those experiments waiting for a drop of pitch to drop....