Pictures!

In an attempt to appease you all, I have pictures of many marvelous things.

Firstly the finished beaded butterfly socks that you saw the heel turn on a while ago.

Secondly, a pair of grey rollercoaster socks that I made through Sockamania (thank you, Anni!)

Thirdly, fabulous tiger socks (yes the second one is done, it just isn't in the picture) that I made for another Knitters' Brewing KAL (thank you, Wendy!).

Fourthly, made depressingly little progress on my wedding shawl, which I have a sneaking suspicion may not end up being large enough, which would mean that I would have to completely rechart the border to accommodate more repeats, which I don't want to do in the first place as more repeats of this = more soul sucking mind numbing monotony. But it is a lovely pattern!

And last, but not least, my newest WIP, purple hooters with a twist. Yet another KAL with Knitters' Brewing. I can't say enough good things about their yarn, their customer service, their KALs, their Ravelry group, etc. Go buy yourself something pretty from Wendy; it's 100% worth it!

the first sock...the final chapter

so you may or may not remember that this ridiculously large sock was intended for a high school friend of mine. i finished it in time for christmas...so i decided to hang it in her locker full of hershey's kisses. at first she didn't recognize it as either a sock or a stocking (that speaks volumes about the general sock-y-ness of it)...but after a bit of explanation she was properly impressed/amused. she then proceeded to wear it on her head as a hat for the rest of the season. i got many other requests for sock hats, but did not make any more...it took too long to make a sock that wouldn't even go on a foot! i didn't try socks again for three or four years...but that's another story altogether.

the jaywalker is still in progress...pre-heel turn but getting close. the next clue on the mystery sock comes out on wednesday, so that'll be good. and in the process of moving i stumbled across a half finished sweater that i may or may not resume...love the color, not the pattern.

pictures of more socks in the next post!

socks socks socks socks socks

so i don't have time to type out more of the first sock story (recital tonight)...but i thought i'd tantalize you with pictures of one of my socks in progress! it's a mystery KAL through Knitter's Brewing, and I love it! I also finally finished the rollercoaster socks, but not pics at the mo....and i have the second jaywalker of a pair on the needles now...it's my back up knitting for when i'm waiting on more clues for the mystery!

the first sock...and many others

so we were going to pick up the stitches for the gusset.  having no idea what it actually meant to pick up stitches, i first tried to get the needle to go through the stitches parallel to the heel flap, because that what what direction i was knitting before.  then i figured out that perhaps i should try it perpendicular to the flap.  so i get all million stitches on a needle, then read "knit across the front, then pick up the other side".  that didn't make any sense to me, because i hadn't used the yarn to pick up the stitches, just shoved my needle through.  so my working strand was still back at the heel.  fortunately i decided that there was no way that the pattern meant for me to pull the string way down to the bottom, so i did knit along the side (with great difficulty) and across the front, then did my gimpy pick up, then knit.

there was nothing remarkable about the gusset decreases except that i used k2tog for all of them since ssk was way beyond my level of comprehension.  but in the grand scheme of things. the non-mirrored decreases were the least of my troubles.  so i got the gusset decreased, then read, "knit to within 2 inches of the toe".  well, as the wise among you may already have guessed, i was already at or beyond 2 inches of the toe...worsted weight yarn and giant needles will do that for you.  :)  but for good measure i decided to knit a few rounds even since that's obviously what i was supposed to do.

i then worked one of the saddest, pointed toes ever, so i wouldn't have to deal with grafting live stitches at the end.  so i managed to spend many many frustrated hours producing what might be the most grossly disproportionate sock of all time...to find out how it was received, though...you'll have to wait for the next installment.

back to the present:  i promised pictures of the watermelon mitts.  i can't find my camera, so i took one with my computer.  you'll have to excuse me looking ridiculous in the background...

and here are the urban rustic gloves i think i mentioned a million years ago

i have a new pair of socks almost done, and i'm in the middle of a mystery KAL for a pair of beaded lace socks...VERY exciting!

the long awaited first sock story: part 2

so a little thing called life happened, and between midterms and a chain of dance catastrophes, i totally neglected to continue the first sock story. my apologies to those who were on the edge of their seats.

without further ado...a recap: i had decided to make a sock for one of my friends. i was using my dodgy, left-handed, self-taught knitting skills, worsted weight yarn, and size 6 needles.

so i cast on the seventy stitches the pattern recommended...worked some lovely (non-twisted) ribbing, which was a small miracle since i only ever knit through back loops, not knowing there was another way to do it...which produces twisted stitches when worked flat, but is identical to "correct" knitting when worked in the round. I then moved on to the "six to seven inch" stockinette leg. Unfortunately, I had been instructed to work twelve rounds of rib and then six to seven inches of leg. on such grossly oversized needles, i'll let you imagine what the proportions looked like.

it was about this time that i realized that my sock would only ever fit an elephant with swollen ankles, but i wasn't about to redo all that boring work when i was at the thrilling, new heel. Not to mention, I followed patterns rather slavishly at this point, not being sure enough of my skill to trust myself to make changes that wouldn't result in disaster. oddly enough, most efforts to follow a pattern also resulted in disaster, but that's beside the point.

I worked the heel flap, puzzling over why all of a sudden my stitches were twisty...also you should note that the heel flap was to be "30 rows" long. this meant that the heel flap was only slightly shorter than the leg of the sock. I managed, with great difficulty, and much patience on my grandmother's part, to turn the heel, and was ready to pick up stitches for the gusset.

Unfortunately, that is a story for another day. I promise that the next installment shall be the last for this sock. Meanwhile, as soon as i find the charger for my camera, I'll post pictures of 1)the watermelon mitts (which turned out GREAT and were well received by the recipient...i got paid with money AND soap...so there!) 2)my sister's still unfinished shopping bag...kinda ran out of steam on that one 3)my fabulous sweater-in-progress (tussie mussie from knitty...almost up to the armpits) and 4)my first serious stranded colorwork project. i say this because the watermelon mitts were stranded, but not nearly as complex as the mittens on the needles right now.

so get excited! i know i am!

Christmas Knitting...some pictures...some sock stories

So I did the whole Christmas knitting thing with only a few catastrophes. I wrote up a whole post about it, couldn't get the pictures to work, then scrapped it in favor of using the time to do more knitting.

In a nutshell:
Done On Time were - my sister's star nosed mole (yes...there is a pattern...I'll link if I can ever find it again)
my dad's coffee cup cozy (but I've promised him a version 2.0 soon since the first wasn't perfect)
my grandma's dishcloth and scrubbie

Not Finished Promptly were - my mom's felted pen holder thing (but only because I didn't have a sharp enough yarn needle. The knitting was done...it should almost count.)
David's fingerless gloves. In fact, on Christmas, his gloves consisted of pointer and thumb-pinky. Bonus points to those who caught the Scrubs reference.

So now I'm on to bigger and better things. Designing watermelon mitts for my mom's friend, a shopping bag for the sister, and (soon, very soon) a wonderful sweater for me!!!!

So I promised the saga of the first sock. I actually think I have 3 "first socks", so I'll be telling all of their stories in due time.

The very first sock ever was made at the request of a girl I went to high school with. I was a sophomore, president of knitting club, and she asked if I'd ever made a sock. I said no, and she immediately goes, "will you make me a sock for Christmas?"

I agreed to do my darndest to make her ONE sock for Christmas. I dug out the only knitting pattern book in the house (I can't find it or I'd share the title, but suffice it to say that it was bound in with instructions on crochet, needlepoint, tatting, etc. The knitting section consisted of textured stitches, a shetland shawl, and a basic sock.) I found the ugliest yarn I had in my stash (yes I already had a stash as a sophomore...yes I like parentheses...what's it to you?) so that if it was a total disaster I wouldn't have wasted something good. It so happened that the ugliest thing I had was Red Heart worsted weight tan acrylic with a gold shiny thread running through it.

I'm going to have to stop here and explain that, as an entirely self-taught, left-handed knitter, specializing in twisty stockinette and increasing by splitting the yarn, there were many things I had yet to discover about knitting. At this point, gauge was one of them.

I grabbed the only DPNs I had (US 6) and the awful yarn and set to work.

To find out what happens next to the First Sock, stay tuned. It's coming later this week. In the meantime...here are the pictures I was going to post of the half-finished Christmas knitting. I *cough* don't have any of the finished products because I was hiding ends and wrapping in the car on my way to gift them...so I've requested photos from the recipients; we'll see if I get any.