Tuesday, November 16, 2010

DK Fingerless Mitts, cont.

I've pretty much finished the DK part, now all I need to do is finish the thumbholes. The easiest way I found to do that was to take two scrap pieces of yarn and, continuing to DK, knit five stitches on each mitt and then go back and knit those five stitches back off, something like doing a granny heel on a sock. When you pull the scrap yarn out, you have two sets of live stitches to work with.

I'll get to it maybe when I get home, I've pulled the first one out and put the live stitches onto to dpns. All I need to do is attach the yarn and start knitting. I'll try to take a picture when I'm through.

Right now, I'm working on a pair of DK socks on dpns. I'm using #2 Boye aluminum dpns in a set of five and Bernat Baby Sport yarn in Lollipop Drop, a varigated yarn in white, reddish-orange and yellow. Looks like the colors are going to knit up speckled, which looks pretty cool, I'll know more when I get off the ribbing and get onto the leg of the sock.

I'm tempted to name them jinx socks since I've had to start over once and un-knit several times, before I've even finished the top ribbing! Anyway, I think they're all straightened out now. Don't let those DK instructions fool you, if you're using the same color yarn for both socks and accidentally cross strands, it isn't just those two stitches that are frelled up, it's also the rest of them if you don't notice it for several rounds, so I've found it much more economical to knit back to the crossed strands and uncross them, as much of a PITA that it is.

And if any sock purists turn their nose up at them, they can always get some comparable, pricey sport sock yarn and do just as well. Me, I have no money to spend so I get yarn where I can afford it. I like handmade socks, so if I have to make them from acrylic baby yarn, I will. Baby yarn has come a long way since I first started crocheting/knitting and the socks I've made from it have kept my feet warm while being wash/dryable. Yes, I would love to use that handpainted, priced-through-the-roof stuff, but for the price of one-one and a half oz skein of it, I can get at least three 8-oz skeins of Bernat Baby Sport and knit at least three pairs of socks from one of them-you do the math.

No comments: