Practice Socks

Good news: There was a huge sale on yarn today at my local Michael's.

I went a little nuts.

Bad news: All the yarn I bought is the wrong weight/type for my intended upcoming projects.  It's not my fault that my phone wasn't able to access my Ravelry queue from inside the store!  I grabbed the weights I thought I needed, but somehow they all ended up being off by one or two wpi. :( 

But hey, I still got a ridiculously good deal on the skeins I bought, and I know I will find a purpose for them sooner or later!

Anyway, this post is actually about socks. Guess what? Socks are pretty difficult to knit. Especially when your previous experience is limited to scarves and hats.

I used, and highly recommend, this free Comfy Sock pattern. With its chunky weight wool and size 11 dpns, it's the  perfect training pattern for newbie sock-knitters.  The pattern is still confusing if you've never encountered terms like "heel flap" and "shape gusset," but that's nothing a few YouTube tutorials can't fix. I owe everything I know to those tutorials! In particular, a special nod to this VeryPink Knits tutorial which walks through each step of sock-knitting in a six part series. Although she's using a different pattern, the basics are the same. 

But all the patterns and video tutorials aren't the same as practical application, so I grabbed my chopsticks dpns, and gave it a go.

My first result was this:

I should mention that I neglected to find out what ssk actually meant the first time around for this pattern, which accounts for about 60% of the lameness.  Anyway, this sock is, needless to say, a write-off, unless you happen to be a Dr. Seuss character who is entering an ugly sock contest.

To be honest, I was pretty discouraged at how complicated sock-knitting turned out to be, and as a result I did not make a second attempt for a couple weeks. Then I had five days off from work over Christmas, and there seemed to be no excuse not to try again. Same pattern, with a few extra tutorials behind my belt:

The trick for knitting on DPNs is not to twist the stitches when joining in the round-  Or poke your eye out.

Yes, that is a Martini. Because sock-knitting is a party.

We interrupt this sock to bring you this tangled mess.

Finally finished

Not terrible, right?

Let's put it on:

The heel always wears a hole eventually- why don't I just knit the hole to be there right from the start?

There's a few problems to be sure, but one gaping one that seemed a little more obvious than the rest.

Some subsequent research online revealed that the dreaded "gusset gap" is a common plague among new sock-knitters.  As demonstrated in this tutorial by KatAutum, the problem can be solved by picking up an extra two stitches next to the heel flap, in addition to those picked up when initializing the gusset. The result means you need an extra two rounds of decreasing the instep, but the gap will be gone!

Having learnt this, let's try again!

Third time's a charm?

Less demented then its predecessors   

As good as its going to get.

Not sure if I can say I've graduated the kindergarten sock class yet, but at least it fits a human foot and is free of any gaping holes. Which is 2 for 2 as far as I'm concerned.

I'm going to take a break from socks for now, but I'm hoping to try another sock pattern soon using smaller yarn and needles, in hopes that the finished product will be less slipper-like.

Now it's time to spend the next several hours on Ravelry in attempt to find some pattern(s) I can use all my new yarn for! 

Crafty Christmas Gifts!

I guess considering how much I've been talking about knitting to all my friends and family the past few months, it's probably not much of a surprise that I was given several knitting-related gifts for Christmas this year - but I'm excited about them so this post is basically just to show them off!

My boyfriend gave me this cute basket for my yarn, and a beautiful organizer for all my knitting needles.

Filbert, my sheep tape-measure, approves of his new home.

 

Seriously, this organizer is a life changer. As I've been trying new projects requiring various needles sizes, my needle collection has been expanding on an almost weekly basis. I had resorted to throwing them all a-jumble in a Lululemon shopping bag, but it was getting pretty ridiculous. Now all my needles are snugly secured by different sized pockets, and the whole thing just rolls up.

My boyfriend said he found the basket and organizer on Etsy, and apparently it came with these massive buttons as a free add-on. Not sure what I will be able to use them for, but I love them!

Find a way to incorporate this enormous button into a knitting project? Challenge accepted. 

Also, my brother gave me a copy of Tanis Gray's "Cozy Knits" which has over 50 patterns for things like mitts, scarves, even sweaters.  The patterns mostly use chunky weight yarn which has been my favourite to work with! I'm looking forward to trying out several of the patterns. I'm particularly excited to try this sweater:

In most sweater patterns I've seen, they use small needles and light yarns, which requires more time, skill, and patience than I currently possess.  The nice thing about this pattern is it uses a chunky weight yarn with size 9 needles so I think its a good choice for my first attempt at a sweater. I've never tried the brioche stitch before, but I've already watched a couple YouTubes tutorials and it looks pretty straightforward. 

There's also a glossary in the back of the book which helps explain different bind-offs, cast ons, and stitches that are used throughout the patterns, which I imagine will be helpful as well!

In addition to receiving these lovely gifts from my family, I also gave a few finished projects as gifts this year! I made my brother a hat using the same pattern as my first alpaca hat, with a warm brown acrylic/wool blend.  I also made my Mom a seed-stitch infinity scarf, very similar to the one from my last post.   

I have to say, as someone who hasn't shown much aptitude for crafty endeavours in the past (grade 11 fashion class comes to mind...cringe!), it's a great feeling to be able to actually make a gift for someone! (And something they might actually dare to wear in public, no less...!)

All the knitting-related giving and receiving has really inspired me to keep trying new and more challenging projects in the coming New Year.  While I'm certain I have not encountered my last tangled skein of yarn or slipped stitch, they're getting fewer and farther between, and the progress I've made in just a few short months has been pretty rewarding!

Christmastime Knitting!

It's a seasonal miracle that somehow I went from having no clue what to get anyone for Christmas, to having all my shopping done within two weeks. I'm feeling pretty smug about it and to celebrate, I finished knitting my infinity scarf.

Okay actually I sort gave up on the first one I started with the size 11's because it wasn't significantly chunky enough. But I'd already committed a whole skein to it, so I just cast it off and it actually makes a pretty cute cowl:

But I was still determined to make a fluffy ultra-cozy infinity scarf, so I started again with Lion Bran's homespun thick and quick yarn, a super snuggley boucled yarn. It knits up very quick, and I comfortably finished one in a weekend. Here's the result!

 

I actually love it! It's extremely soft and comfy.  I got away with only using one skein by reducing the number of stitches to 21, and it still ended up 4 inches shorter than the patten recommends. I'm still able to wrap it around three times but it's pretty snug the third wrap around. I think I will primarily wear this as shown in the second picture.

At this point, I've knit quite a few little things but I'm feeling the urge to commit to a more challenging project. So what's next? Maybe not this sweater. Not yet anyway! But I hope one day!

As boring as it might sound, I think I might attempt a pair of socks. Why? Well, because as it turns out, knitting socks is friggin' complicated. And I think if I want to graduate to projects like sweaters, I'm going to need to climb a few rungs in knitting skill before I can get there. Not to mention having some cozy wooly socks might come in handy when trodding the cold kitchen floors this winter. 

And they *will* be cozy socks because I will not be knitting them with anything smaller than size 10 needles.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go snuggle with my new infinity scarf while I watch youtubes on how to knit a heel flap. With a martini. 🍸