A knitting blog? Really?
Yup. I wanted a space to post about my current knitting projects
without fear of boring all my Facebook friends to tears by posting on my Facebook
timeline, so I decided to join the other knitting bloggers. I’m fairly certain
this venture won’t be limited to knitting alone, but that is its primary focus.
I’ll post about what I’m currently knitting, what I want to knit, techniques I
want to try, other knitting blogs out there, designs/designers I like, exciting knitting-related minutiae, and life in general. Buckle up, kids, here we go!
So, what do I currently have on my needles? Socks and
scarves.
Socks
I started a pair of socks about three years ago just after I
bought my first set of circular needles out of sheer morbid curiosity. The
socks remain unfinished and abandoned in one of my many knitting project boxes.
That is probably a good thing, as the yarn I chose was 100% acrylic. I’m not
opposed to acrylic, but I now understand the need for at least a blend of natural
& synthetic fibers when creating garments meant to be worn against the skin
for prolonged periods of time. Acrylic doesn’t breathe. At all. It’s a
wonderful fiber for hats, scarves, and sweaters intended to be layered on top
of other clothing. It’s great, also, for baby blankets and three-dimensional novelty
slippers. Socks, however, are not a good use for acrylic for me, unless I want
a raging case of athlete’s foot. One day, I’ll rip out the abandoned socks and
put that pretty variegated pink yarn to better use.
I recently took the sock plunge again and purchased a
Leisure Arts book: I Can’t Believe I’m Knitting Socks – ridiculous title in my
opinion. If I started out trying to knit a potholder and ended up with socks, I
might say to myself, “Wow! I can’t believe I’m knitting socks!” But when I
intend to knit socks, I’m not at all surprised to have a pair of socks at the
end of the journey. Sounds like a great title for a book intended to attract
new knitters, but I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone who doesn’t yet know
how to knit. That’s the quickest way to get a new knitter to quit: introduce
them to knitting in the round with 5 needles, increases, decreases, short-rows,
gussets, and turning the heel. So why did I buy this book again? Oh, yeah!
Because it’s got the clearest directions I could find on the rack at Michael’s,
along with a blessedly detailed pattern using different colors of yarn for the
individual sock parts in the basic sock pattern: the anatomy of a sock. Love
it! The diagrams alone will assist me greatly when I decide to design my own
socks. Very well worth the purchase price!
I didn’t have any appropriate sock yarn in my stash, but I
came home with the aforementioned book, a set of US size 1 double-point
needles, and some lace-weight crochet cotton and cotton/bamboo thread. (US size
one, by the way, is about the same size as the wooden skewers used for grilling.)
I perused the long wall of yarns and couldn’t find any yarn that wasn’t
acrylic. Turns out I wasn’t looking hard enough, since I found some suitable
blends on a subsequent trip. Anyway, once at home armed with my sock-knitting
supplies, I began to do some research on appropriate sock fibers. (Probably
should have done this first, huh? Oh well. Hindsight and all.) Imagine my
disappointment to find out 100% cotton is horrible for socks, since cotton has
no ‘memory’, like wool, for example. Cotton, while great for undergarments,
will stretch when worn, but it doesn’t have any elastic characteristics. What
happens, apparently, is the socks stay in place when put on at first, then they
sag down to the ankles as the day wears on. Not what I want in a pair of socks.
But I now have some more crochet cotton for wintertime snowflakes and some
really soft bamboo thread in my stash. I’ll find a use for that bamboo thread
some day. Maybe I’ll use it when I take the lace-knitting plunge.
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| The Basic Sock in progress |
I spotted some yarn in my basket that I’d intended to become a simple knitted blanket for myself (I’m always knitting for others, but constantly acquiring yarn meant for myself). I abandoned the blanket months ago when I got bored with the simple stitch pattern, so I decided it would be good yarn for my pair of prototype socks. I was afraid it would be too thick for the Basic Sock pattern since the ball band claims it’s medium/4-weight, but was thrilled when I counted the stitches in my gauge swatch and found them to be exactly what is called for in the pattern. And away I went. Took two days to knit up the pair of basic socks – no stitch patterns anywhere, just stockinette stitch the entire way. They should rename that pattern Boring Socks. I followed the crystal-clear directions and turned the heel with no problem at all. I also followed the pattern and worked the toe-shaping as directed. Hate it. They look great until you notice the toes look like they belong on a pair of goofy elf shoes. Way too pointy for my taste. The point camouflages itself in the photo, but it's there.
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| The Basic Sock when worn |
I tested the first pair of socks on myself just to see how bad they’d be in the breathe-ability department. The yarn is extraordinarily soft (Caron Simply Soft), but it breathes like a choked up furnace filter: not one bit. Didn’t take long for me to notice how sweaty my feet were… Maybe that yarn should become slipper-socks to be worn over other socks? Who knows. I’ll find some use for it now that it will never become the blanket as was intended. Drink bottle cozies? I could go on.
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| Arrowhead Lace Sock in progress |
So I cast on for a pair of socks for my daughter this time in some Red Heart sparkly acrylic she picked out last year some time for a project neither of us can remember. As I was working my way down the leg, around the heel, and up the foot, I was searching online for different techniques to shape the toe into something less elf-y. I found a method attributed to Nancy Bush on Knitting Daily. My finished item looked nothing like the picture: http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2011/12/19/the-humble-sock.aspx I finished the first sock using Nancy’s technique, so I’ll finish the second sock using the same technique, but I’m not happy about it. Back to the drawing board.
I’ve been researching toe-up patterns (knitting starts at the toe instead of the leg) and have found a few that have potential. I’ll post more when the testing ensues. Picked up two skeins of acrylic/wool blend and two skeins of nylon/wool blend yesterday. The acrylic/wool is from Martha Stewart Crafts and the nylon/wool is a self-striping sock yarn from Patons. Watch this space!
Scarves
Several months ago I started knitting ruffle yarn scarves
and have had some success selling the finished scarves at craft shows. They
work up very quickly, by knitting standards, and I sell them at reasonable
prices. The more I sell, the more yarn I can buy, so go buy a One Skein Wonder
ruffle scarf: www.facebook.com/OneSkeinWonder I constantly have a scarf on a set of
needles, since craft shows are always popping up on my calendar. I pay the fee,
set up my booth, and hopefully sell some scarves. It’s wonderful to put my
business degree to use as a sole proprietor!
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| My daughter helping me at our first booth event! |
So, there you have it. Socks and scarves for now. I use Pinterest from time-to-time to ‘store’ links to particular techniques and patterns I like and/or have used and/or want to try. Once I get around to formatting the blog’s page, I’ll add that link to any others I decide make the cut.
I hope this endeavor out-lasts my other attempts to
consistently blog. Now that I have a single subject, my hopes have risen. I’ve
toyed with starting this for a few months now, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Happy knitting!
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