Finished: Spring Socks

I've finally, finally!, completed the Spring Socks I began roughly one year ago. This is the first pair of socks I've knit myself. While I love the colorway & pattern I chose for them, there are a few issues with them. Wouldn't it figure that the first pair of socks I actually make for myself turn out to also be the first pair that don't fit their owner as well as hoped for.

Right from the start I begain my first toe-up socks with a new (on a sock) technique: the short row toe. I decided to begin these socks with a temporary cast-on & short row toe. I can't recall if I double wrapped on the toe or not because that part was done last year.

Towards the middle came my first short row heel. These were double-wrapped (once on the way in & once on the way out again). The holes/stitches are still too large for my liking & the heel is also too pointy for my tastes (note to next time complete fewer wraps per side).

In the end I became rather tired of knitting the pattern over & over & just wanted my first pair of socks for myself to be complete. These thus became rather short socks (for my own personal taste) with a picot (sewn down) edge. Notice the curl where it was sewn to the inside of the sock.

All in all, I really love my Spring Socks. (Butterfly toward the toe with the flower below (actually above it on the physical sock which makes the butterfly here upside-down).)

Arrivals

The baby sweaters are done, finally. All that's left is to take pictures & have mom check them out before mailing. I believe the buttons are attached securely, but I'd rather have a mother actually do the tugging just in case. It would probably help if I went ahead & found my cousin's address, else it won't ever arrive.

My Knit Picks order arrived as well. In this order there was yarn for a swap on Craftster, as well as a pattern & some pink baby alpaca yarn. Yum.

Within the next couple of weeks I'd like to get the Spring Socks behind me so I can move on to a more interesting project. Don't we all think that way tho?

Back in the Swing

I'll admit that I haven't done much knitting since summer of last year. Other things have occurred, but I'm madly knitting again now. For the sanity of my pocketbook I've decided to join in on "Knit from Your Stash 2007". Although Wendy suggests making an exception for sock yarn, I think my exception will be for yarn bought while travelling. Whenever I go elsewhere (like to Fort Wayne) I enjoying buying a skein or two of yarn as a memory type thing. (Granted that I try to by yarn I also have a use for.)

Lace Table Runner

This lace table runner was my first knitting project (& the first thing on my needles period). It's acrylic, but that really doesn't bother me since I enjoy machine washable fibers. Throughout the project I experimented with different types of increases & decreases. It truly is what I learned knitting on.

I'm not a big fan of being afraid of knitting. No one ever told me not to attempt lace first, so I went ahead & tried it out. Really made a great way to learn not only knit & purl, but also increases, decreases, & how to correct mistake stitches.

That first foray into knitting is most likely why I believe that those skills are all those of a beginning knitter. An intermediate knitter should know a couple ways to cast on & off, knit & purl, increases, decrease, & (hopefully) how to read one's own knitting. An advanced knitter should not fear major projects & should be able to design (or at least alter) projects. I've been told that my ideas regarding the levels of knitting are far from accurate. I think I'll have to start looking towards advanced classes for myself even though I consider myself an intermediate knitter (by my own scale) at best.

Not Knitting Incorrectly

It seems that there are many knitters who are telling new knitters that they have their stitches reversed (from "normal") & are knitting wrongly. These new knitters aren't knitting wrongly or incorrectly. It does not matter how the stitches are set up as long as the knitter can read them & understand their orientation. I've posted some illustrations below of both "normal" & "twisted" setups & how to knit, purl, knit through back loop, & purl through back loop. Someday I'll post picture equivalents of the illustrations.

After having one of my cats make a mess of a ball of yarn, I've discovered that a couple of things many people enjoy about wool I hate. The fact that wool "sticks" (which makes it great for steeking) is utterly annoying. I also strongly dislike the stretchiness. I love working with cotton & other plant fibers which most tend to dislike because there isn't any stretch in the fiber. Superwash wool is ok. As is a nylon/wool mix.

Cat Bed 2 Fin!

I snuggled the cat bed into the corner of our stripy couch &, lo & behold, the cat who sleeps there loves it as is! I put the hole towards the corner & it works fine that way. So I'm not going to bother with it anymore since it's already almost too small.