Sock it to ya

There's something exciting about knitting a sock. It hardly seems conceivable - who would want to knit a sock? You can buy them for much cheaper at almost any store and they don't take weeks to make. Making clothes is making a comeback. Yes, it's convenient to just buy something - but there are two problems with it:

1. It just won't fit right. You are not shaped the way everyone else is shaped.

2. Everyone else has one just like it.

Aside from the zenlike relaxation of knitting, the fact that I don't need anywhere near the supplies I did quilting and I don't have to go cross eyed looking at the pattern like cross-stitching (and there's a limit to what you can do with a bunch of cross-stitched crap anyway), I also like the fact that I can make unique things that fit me.

My knitting Guru says that the deal with socks is the "Wow factor." Knitting socks, to the person who doesn't knit, and even some of the people that do, looks impressive.

You have needles coming out of everywhere. It certainly looks difficult.

My second finished project

I'm not sure you can actually call it finished - since normal people wear two of them, but the first one is complete.

Materials:

1 ball, Cascade Yarns, Fixation, self variegating bit with a bunch of numbers on the side: 9955 129576. My son calls the color Clown Puke.

5, size 4 double pointed needles.

The yarn is a cotton, elastic blend. I cast on 56 stitches, working 12 on two needles and 16 on the other two. I used a pattern by Ann Norlin - modified slightly by my knitting teacher. The pattern worked with 4 needles instead of 5 which seems to have made extra work for her - the only advantage I can see to using 4 needles would be less stretchy areas where you move from one needle to the next.

It looks a little less obnoxious in person - but a wildish sock is what I was going for - if you are making your own handmade socks you don't want them to be white and boring.

I have one small hole on the side around the ankle, where I didn't pick up enough along the side after my heel flap. I also have another strange tiny hole where I decreased late. It looks extra long, and maybe it is a little long even though I have a size 10 foot - I didn't consider the stretch that the cotton & elastic blend would create. Aside from the normal places where there is a slight gap from crossing needles, where I picked up the side after the heel flap seems a little loose too - need to tighten it up next time.The sock tends to bunch up on top of my foot at the ankle - though I'm not quite sure why.

Along with working on the second sock and starting my husband's wool blend pair, I'm also working on a poncho/ wrap/ shawl thingy - with a trellis yarn. It is a little difficult to work with because of the open nature of it - have to be careful not to poke the middle of the ribbon instead of the outside. It creates a very interesting and heavy texture.

First Finished Project

Friday evening I finished the blanket I was knitting for my husband. I've made five quilts - four for my son and one for a friend's baby - but never made my husband anything.

By the time I got to the end of the blanket I was sick to death of it. I was ready to have a single yarn and less weight and heat in my lap. Because the blanket is so heavy I can see how it wouldn't be a good material for a sweater - it would stretch itself out of shape. I can also see how washing it in the machine would be a terrible idea. Not only would the fur on the novelty yarn fuzz up and start a matted, felted look but it would also stretch out pretty badly I suspect.

I had a few rectangles of the pattern end up a little longer and some a little shorter - as if some naughty little elf came out at night and played with my row counter buttons. That's something I'll have to look out for in projects where the pattern is more noticeable. I got to a point where I was able to get a nice steady knit - just tight enough. And I can assure you with utmost confidence that I know how to knit and purl in the same row!

It is warm, and fairly handsome.

One thing that perplexed me about the project was the fact that instead of being so happy and relieved when the last loose end was weaved in (something else I need to work on) I was somewhat depressed. The magazines with the beautiful projects awaiting me only made my melancholy worse. I felt...disappointed perhaps with the project to some degree and unqualified for any other patterns.

My first stitch N bitch was a failure - not because of lack of interest, location, or the people. It was a failure because my son thought it was soooooo funny to cough on me, lick me, and any other means of spreading his germs until I found myself so completely sick that I can barely sit up in this chair right now - I'm only doing so out of boredom from having done nothing but sit in a different chair all day.

Disppointed to be sure, but they will have other meetings.

Through an internet grapevine, I found out that the yarn shop in Mobile was having a Superbowl Party today. I drove out there to check it out, figuring they would have some lessons and yarn on sale or something. They were sitting in a circle, eating, talking, working on projects.

Once again there were lots of socks. They were very attractive socks and I think my interest in socks is finally peaked. I'm going to try to get into the sock classes on Saturdays, just to see what the sock addiction is about.

I learned a tip or two and received a lot of praise for my blanket and the fact I learned to do it on my own through books and whatnot.

They had drawings throughout the event and I won one of these BagSmith Tool Totes. I have a Eagle Good to Go bag, (below) which is great to store all my yarn stuff in but it's a big bulky sucker that is not always the most convenient for taking on the road.

So this smaller tote (above) will be perfect for taking just the stuff I need for the sock class. I'm pretty excited that I won something as useful as the tool tote.

I'm also pretty excited about the sock class. I don't usually wear socks, but if I were to wear them I really like the socks they were working on - just funky and unique enough to appeal to me. They look complicated with all this color and pattern changes, almost like a fair island, but it turns out that there is sock yarn which varigates in a way that makes it look like that with one yarn ball (I'm a noob what can ya say?)

I'm also very happy that though they were somewhat disappointed I was using yarn other than the nice stuff they sell in there - to which I replied that I was very new to knitting and therefore I've only cheated on them once, which got me a chuckle - they were amazed that the combination of threads created such a nice color and pattern and it was nice and heavy and warm.

Now I just really want to get this darned infernal blanket finished (it's getting pretty big!) so I can start moving on to new projects - like socks! And baby blankets! And this shawl which will look awesome with this black dress I have because the dress needs a little color.

I'm looking forward to my first offical Stitch N Bitch on Wednesday.