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.

Double knitting fingerless mitts

Double knitting is not for the faint of heart. Double knitting in the round is doubly so. Casting on and getting that first round can be very frustrating, but once done, the rest is much easier. I'm working on a pair of fingerless mitts, as the title says, and using some leftover Vanna's Choice in white. I made a pair of nice thick ankle socks out of them and decided to try the mitts next.

Doing socks, mitts, gloves, sleeves, whatever in this manner means you'll have both done when you're finished, however I wouldn't call it a shortcut or timesaver, just another way to get both at the same time. This method is best done in plain stockinette stitch, 1x1 rib, or any other rib, but nothing more complicated than that. If you want to do some kind of lacy sock, glove or sleeve and still want to do both at the same time I recommend Magic Loop or two circulars and do them side by side.

Another problem that presents itself is gauge. Your gauge will be looser, no matter what you do, so you'd have to experiment with needle sizes if you're doing sleeves. Also with gloves, mitts and socks if you're following a pattern. Plain socks you can just adjust the number of loops cast on. For instance-for my socks done one at a time I used 48 stitches. If I'd done the mitts one at a time that number would also be sufficient, but since I'm double knitting, I'm only using 40 stitches, the gauge is that loose.

For the directions on socks, visit Knitty. I do have a couple of more cheats that I used for the heels and toes-I simple separated them onto two different needles and did the short rows one at a time since I don't like wrapped short rows, I prefer YO short rows. Then, when I got ready to knit in the round again I simply knit them off both needles when I got to them and continued DKing. Same for the toes, just separate and finish them individually-less headaches, if you ask me.

So, that's my take on DKing to get a pair of socks, mitts or sleeves. It's not a shortcut, it's not for the timid knitter and it's fun to do just once in awhile just to wow non-knitters ;)

Sock construction

I'm a notorious non-finisher when it comes to knit and crochet things. Well, I do finish some things, eventually.

I have completed several pairs of socks though, mostly just plain, ordinary socks and one or two pairs of Tadpole socks. I changed the heel of the Tadpole socks from heel flap/gusset to short row because I like a short row heel better. However, the heel and the resulting short row from working back and forth always looked....odd. I found out awhile back it's because of the way I was doing my purl stitches-which was to wrap the yarn from top to bottom around the needle when I made the stitch. Now, while this method works to keep the stitch turned right when you turn to do the knit row, it actually makes that stitch just a hair bigger when you work it off on the next row. I found out from Nonaknits that if you wrap the yarn from bottom to top around the needle when making the purl stitch this will remedy that. However, as you will notice if you try that, the stitches are backwards on the needle when you turn to do the other row. This is remedied by knitting the stitches through the back loop when working back. I tried this when I did my short row heel on a plain pair of socks and the resulting heel looks like the rest of the sock, with no oddities. The short rows even look better when I worked them off as well. Just FYI, I like to do the YO short row, it's easy and much less complicated than any other one I've ever tried and it looks the best of all of them. The only oddity I still have to work on is the large stitch that's left at the end of the last short row I work off. I still haven't figured out why that is and what to do about it, but when I do I'll let you know.

The other thing about sock shaping that I experimented with was two different ways to make a left-leaning decrease. Nonaknits has a post about this somewhere on her blog, but I'm too lazy today to find it and can't be bothered to try. The two easiest ones to make are the SKP and the SSK. On one sock I did the SKP and on the other I did the SSK when I did the toe shaping. My verdict for my socks? While both of them didn't look nearly as good as the K2tog, the SSK stitch was much smoother than the SKP.

So, when I make socks from now on I'm doing my heels and toe shaping in those manners, no matter what the pattern calls for. Oh, and while I'm at it, I'll also sub k1p1 for any pattern calling for a k2p2 ribbing at the top, the k1p1 is much better-looking.

More Socks

As you can see from the percent bars to the right of these posts, I really like the Tadpole sock pattern. It's very easy and fast-especially on two circulars doing both socks at the same time.

My latest pair is being done on #3 dpns with Bernat Baby sport yarn in a white/blue/green colorway. It's a huge ball of yarn and I know I can probably get two adult pairs of socks out of it and still have some leftover. Looks like they're going to have blue/green speckles all over them, I think I'm going to like it. Anyway, I'm doing these on dpns this time because I don't have any #3 circulars. I can still do the pair sort of at the same time since I have two open sets of dpns and raided another set to get two sets of five so I can start the other sock once I get going on the first one. Then I can just alternate socks after each pattern repeat and have the pair done practically at the same time. Now I'll get to see if it's easier with the dpns or circs.

I know, people probably frown on using acrylic yarn for socks, but I have very little money to work with so I get what I can afford, and acrylic baby yarn is very soft nowadays. Maybe not as soft as 100% merino like Knitpicks Palette or Knitpicks Essential sock yarn with nylon, but it's soft enough not to irritate my feet.

Anyways, I never worry about what other people say, I just do what I like within the law and purists can make a face-just hope it doesn't freeze that way ;)

Crochet Ribbing

I'm sure 99.9% of crocheters know about the sc ribbing-work back and forth in sc, working in the BLO of each stitch. This does make for a stretchy piece of fabric, but sometimes it doesn't seem to be stretchy enough, or it loses its stretch.

I was reading online somewhere (I'm sorry, I can't remember where, or what pattern) and the person was using a SS (yes, slip stitch) ribbing. I thought to myself, "How ingenious". It's basically worked the same as the sc ribbing, only you use ss, still only crocheting in the BLO. This ribbing-although it's more tedious-is far superior to the sc ribbing, IMO. It's very stretchy, looks almost exactly like the k1, p1 ribbing of knitting. The only thing you need to look out for is accidentally not crocheting all the sts, and to keep your tension on the loose side. If you tighten the sts too much, it will be very hard to do the next row-believe me, I've had to rip back when I wasn't consciously trying to keep my tension a bit looser than normal. And it really isn't too tedious if you keep your tension slack, it goes fairly fast once you get going.

Anyway, I thought I'd share this information to any crocheter out there who would like to try this for sweater, sock, mitten or fingerless glove pattern-it really is soft and stretchy.

Edit: I found it-it was a free pattern for crochet socks that I found and saved.

This is a pdf file, so you'll need either the Adobe reader, or some equivalent to be able to read it.

'Nother Capelet

Here's a not-so-good picture, it doesn't show the colors well at all:



It's from the American School of Needleworks book titled Crocheted Collars by Mary Thomas and the pattern is Pretty Pineapples. Book number 1047.

Instead of thread and steel hook, I used Bernat Soft Baby yarn-one blue and one green held together-and a size J hook. I repeated the pattern six times and it just fits around my neck and the capelet just covers my chest.. I also only ch-5 for the button loop and made a button with a size F hook and the blue yarn.

Hope you like it.

I lied...

I said I didn't have anyone to model my capelet...

Meet my granddaughter, Kadi. I put the capelet on her and she decided she liked it. When I got the camera down and got on her level to get the pic, she squatted down too, so the capelet actually comes down to about her belly. But isn't she cute???

Capelet

I got the picture of my finished capelet. I didn't have anyone to model it so it's hanging by the door. I hope you like it.



I made it using two colors of Red Heart Super Saver yarn. Since they were partial skeins, and didn't have wrappers, I'm not sure what the exact colors are. One is pink, the other varigated-fiesta, I think, since it has the festive colors of Mexico in it.

Anyway, the pattern can be found here. I hope you enjoy making it, it only takes a few hours. And if you wash and dry it afterwards if you use RHSS yarn, it will come out soft and fluffy, especially if you use fabric softener. I haven't washed mine yet, so it's still a bit stiff and doesn't drape right, but I am going to wash it before I wear it.

Finished

I figured out how to get the capelet a bit smaller and still use an N hook. Use smaller stitches. I've also changed the pattern up enough that I'm going to post it on my pattern blog in the morning when I can take a picture of the capelet I just finished.

Using the slightly smaller stitches at the beginning brought the neck in so it fits great and doesn't stretch out so it slides off one shoulder. I hope you guys like it as much as I do. I'll add a picture tomorrow, it's bedtime for me right now, I just thought I'd put this up before I head off to bed, I just started my monthly this morning and I feel really icky right now.

Pattern

In this post I wrote about copying a capelet from a picture of one for sale. I had written down how I did it in notepad, but since have lost it. At least I still have the one I made and can extrapolate from that.

Actually, I'm going to change it up some and probably use a bit smaller hook since the original one does go off the shoulder some, and I don't want that. I'm also going to add some rounds of sc between the other rounds to make it a bit longer and give it a bit more body. I might even put it up in my patterns blog if it turns out all right. It's really very simple, and only 6 rounds as done now, so you could make one up in no time. I really want to make some in some different colors to go with different dresses that I wear to church since they usually keep it quite cool in there and my shoulders get kind of chilly during services.

Anyway, stay tuned, cause it might be awhile-I want to make one and take a picture before I put the pattern up and I have a few things I want to finish up first, as shown by my progress bars over to the right.

Just FYI, the original is a pattern for sale, so I'm going to work on mine to make it significantly different enough to post and still be a nice, airy capelet.

Triangular Striped Shawl

I was experimenting with some acrylic yarn I've had, like, forever, and using a typical diagonal dishcloth/baby blanket pattern-except, instead of increasing by using YO, I simply increased by KF&B of the second stitch of each row. Then I decided to try changing colors for stripes. I think I'm going to continue it out and make a shawl instead of making a great big square.

It should be very colorful by the time I'm done:

Left-leaning decreases

Left-leaning decreases

This lady has compared seven types of decreases which lean to the left. As you can see, there are only two of them that look fairly decent-#3 and #7, which is her own creation.

However, on socks-when you're making the toe-you decrease on every other round, and I've noticed on that round that the left-leaning decrease (most use ssk) is bigger than the stitch on the following round, which makes that side look-well-slightly wonky compared to the other side, which looks neat and tidy.

I'm trying #7 now, which is a bit involved-but not too, and I'll see if it comes out any less wonky than using ssk or skp. I wish I could find a left-leaning decrease that will match the right-leaning decrease when you're only decreasing every other round.

And, rather than call it that long name that she calls it, I'm going to call it Nona's xk2tog-which stands for Nona's crossed stitch knit two together.

KnitPicks

I wish I had more money than I do-I really like Knitpicks, especially for sock yarn-the merino is so soft and they have such pretty colors, and the price is at least half the price of the lowest-priced comparable yarn that I've seen anywhere else. I guess selling your own brand, over the internet, and cutting out the middleman helps to keep the price really low so those of us who love the soft, natural yarn can afford to buy it-as long as we don't mind waiting for about a week after putting the order in to get it. That's just using regular FedEx, but really, I don't mind waiting, I have other things to do.

Anyway, I've loaded my cart up again, this time with some different Essentials-the multi and tweeds, plus added in a couple of #1 (2.5mm) circs and a couple of #3 circs while I was at it so I could try out some other patterns I found that call for those sizes. I decided on the larger of the two sizes of #1s, mainly because the difference in mm (.25) to me, is negligable and I have a slightly larger foot than normal anyway, and I don't like my socks to be too snug. Of course, with other people, YMMV.

So, I haven't placed the order yet, I've just loaded my cart up-I have to wait until I can also load up the prepaid VISA card, and I don't have $63 right now ($60 + $3 fee) I should have it within a month though, and it may be awhile before I can order more stuff, so I might as well get it while I can. I do like being able to load my cart up with what I want, and seeing what it will cost, so I can know how much to put on the card and the stuff will stay in the cart until I either place the order or remove the stuff.

So, anyway, I think I'm through rambling about how much I like KnitPicks-for now.

I feel like rambling

For absolutely no reason. I guess I can keep some crafts in it to keep it on topic because this is a crafting blog, but Friday has not been very good yet. My truck had a flat on it that my husband aired up for me last night. This morning it was still up, so, silly me, I didn't look to see if the other tires might have needed to be checked too. I got out on the highway and immediately started fishtailing, so I slowed way down and pulled over into the median and checked-sure enough, I had a flat on the back. Just so happens-just in case-my son left his little air compressor with me just in case the front one went flat on me. I managed to get enough air into the tire to get it home. I called Ricky and asked if he'd aired the back one up and he said he didn't even think to check it, so I told him it was flat too. Then I flipped the air compressor on-nothing, the breaker was thrown. I got the tire aired up and went and did what I was going to do in town anyway and came home.

Now, onto crafts, sort of. You noticed the little percent bars off to the right of my posts? Wonder why each is a different color? No? Well, I decided to make the color showing my progress as close to the color of my project as I could, cause I'm mostly a colorful person and like to be different. I just put mine and my mom's socks in there to keep track of their progress. I'll probably finish hers first since I promised her a pair and she lives in a completely different state from me, so I'll have to send them to her.

Okay, my friend from England finally got home and buzzed me, so I'll see you guys later.

Which method do I like best?

For knitting socks? Well, let's look at all the different ways.

1: One at a time on DPNs: This is all right for the person who is organized and keeps track of all changes they might have made as they knitted, and for the person who is going to turn around and make the second sock immediately after knitting the first. I'm notoriously slow about finishing anything so this method would only work if I keep track of what I'm doing.

Another way to do this is to have two sets of needles, work a bit on one sock and switch to the second-which is the way I would do this, it works better.

2: Two at a time on DPNs: Done by DKing. A perfectly valid method of knitting a pair of socks at the same time on the same needles for those who love their DPNs and can't imagine knitting socks on anything else. The only flaw with this is crossing yarns and tying your socks together. I may use this from time to time, if I had end protectors to put on my needles to keep the loops from accidentally slipping off the needles if the project is moved around. It's quite tedious to cast on and get the first couple of rounds going, but after that it goes pretty smoothly-as long as you aren't knitting and getting distracted, or you'll probably cross your yarns at some point.

The downside to this is that you can only do plain, ordinary socks using this method-no lacy patterns and no cable patterns.

3: One at a time on a circular needle: Done by the Magic Loop method. Not one of my favorite methods, but perfectly fine for Magic Loopers. Again, the knitter would have to keep track of how she did the first sock so the second sock would match.

4: Two at a time on a circular needle: Again, done by the Magic Loop method. Better for getting the socks to match. For both Magic Loop methods, it's best to have a really long needle-I would recommend a 40" one for doing a pair and no shorter than 32" for one sock at a time to keep from straining your needle ends.

5: One at a time on two circulars: Why? You'll already be using two circulars-why not do the pair on circulars, there'll be plenty of room and you'll get the socks done at the same time and they'll match. I would recommend two needles of different lengths to avoid using the wrong end when knitting the socks-a downside to this method as I've already done this at least once-but was able to fix pretty simply. The other downside would be tying the socks together by not dropping the first yarn and picking up the second-which I've also almost done at least once.

But if you'd rather still do one sock at a time, this would be the way to go, in my own personal opinion.

6: Two at a time on two circulars: I think this is my most favorite method for several reasons-some of which I outlined in the above paragraph. The most appealing reason is that I can drop the socks down to the middle of the needles when I'm not working on the them and I don't drop any stitches. The only thing I really have to watch for is tangling the yarns together, which calls for extra vigilance and not pulling too much off the ball at one time.

Yes-I've tried each of these methods at least once, which is why I can pick my favorite. I don't have anything bad to say about any of them since each knitter is different and will have their own favorite method, I'm just outlining my favorite. I don't like people who dismiss methods simply because they think it's only for showing off, and not even trying it before saying they don't like it. Some methods take more than one try to get the hang of, and I did try some of the methods more than once just so I could figure out how to use them and find out if I wanted to use them again. Since I've found my favorite I'll stick to it, just like I expect other knitters to stick by their favorite method and not tell me that my method is wrong, or too hard, or grandstanding or that I'm only doing it to show off-I don't show off, I'm merely knitting in my favorite way and if you don't like it, find something else to look at.

The only method I haven't tried is doing two-needle socks-you know, knitting them flat then sewing up the seam. I see no reason to make a pair of socks in this manner unless you absolutely cannot knit in the round using any of the methods above. I have nothing bad to say about this method, just that I don't particularly care to have to seam a pair of socks when I can knit in the round perfectly well.

You can also do the pair in this manner by knitting both socks on the same pair of needles-just don't forget to drop the first yarn and pick up the second when knitting so you don't tie your socks together.

Socks

I posted a few posts ago that my mom wanted me to knit her some socks. Well, come to find out that, when I got ready to go get some sock yarn, my LYS had shut down. I'm not sure how long it had been shut down since I don't go downtown very much, nor do I buy yarn from there very often because I just don't have the money.

Anyway, since Wal-Mart doesn't carry sock yarn, I went to KnitPicks and ordered some of their Essential sock yarn in Glacial and Terrain Twist to do mom some socks in. I also ordered some of the Options fixed circular needles, some Palette yarn and Gloss yarn to get my order to over $50 while I had the money and could get free shipping.

Since this was the first time I've ordered from KnitPicks, I wasn't sure what I would be getting, I just knew that they had the most reasonably priced yarn and needles that I'd ever seen. When my yarn and needles came in, I was pleasantly surprised-the Essential yarn is exactly what I wanted: soft, snuggly and cushy and washable. My mom is diabetic and I wanted something really soft, yet still washable. When I started knitting them, the needles, to me, were as good as Addi Turbos at about a third of the price.

The pattern I decided on while waiting for my yarn to come in is a free one from Knitting Pattern Central-Tadpole Socks which I'm doing in the Glacial, and they're coming out very well. As soon as I can get a picture, I'll show you-hopefully.

I also started me a pair of socks out of one of the Palette yarns I ordered, and am doing it in the same pattern. Now, while the yarn is pretty soft, it's not nearly as soft as the Essential, but it will do for me since I'm not diabetic and the price is right-I'll just have to hand wash them. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with the Gloss, but I really like how soft it is-probably make more socks for myself since it isn't washable either.

All in all, I'm going to order more Essential for myself sometime-next time I get another $50 or more to get free shipping, and make me some washable socks-and I do like handmade socks better-mostly because they're unique and I can make them to fit me instead of the one size things in the store.

I'll keep you all updated as I progress-the pattern is easy, I had the lace part memorized after the first repeat.

Well, that was fun...

I finally got both heels on my DK socks turned. I had to frog the outside one once more because it still wasn't coming out right. I'm not sure how the rows weren't coming out even, or even where the error occurred, so I simply frogged and started back over and it came out right-finally.

Now I've tediously put all the heel stitches back on one needle, I'm ready to start on the foot and close the little gap that always occurs with short row heels. Hopefully the toes won't give me so much trouble, I'll do them when I'm not being distracted.

Anyway, so far, no Knitpicks order, so I guess I'll have to wait till Monday to see how my yarn looks and get started on mom's socks.

Now, I'm going to go back to some mindless round stockinette ;)

Edit: Well, just as I had given up, in walks my son with a box........*Happy Dance!

Rambling on about socks

In this post I outlined the different ways to knit a pair of socks at the same time. I focused on DKing with DPNs because I was trying it and had posted about it at a community on LJ and got several negative responses touting it as grandstanding. Perhaps it is-but, as I also said-it's a perfectly valid option for the DPN lover who wants to make a basic pair of socks and doesn't like/can't use circulars.

Anyway-slow to finish things that I am, I've finally reached the heel. Now, rather than try to do the wrapped short row heel and do them both at the same time, I decided that, since I prefer the YO short row better, that I would get an extra needle, seperate the two heels and knit them seperately. This would really work if you had a five-needle set and only used four, saving the extra needle for the heel (and toe-I'm doing a short row toe as well). Me, I happen to have several four-needle sets in the size I'm using, so I just borrowed a needle from another set. I've finished the inside heel with one small unseen error and am working on the outside heel. I would already be done, but I've somehow made an error that I can't work around, so I frogged the heel all the way back, carefully put the stitches back on the needle and have started the heel over again.

Anyway, that error had nothing to do with DKing, it had to do with me not watching what I was doing.

It probably won't be the best pair of socks in the world since I'm practicing with some Bernat Soft Baby yarn but I'd rather practice my technique with cheap acrylic, then move on to nice sock yarn once I know what I'm doing.

Speaking of sock yarn, in this post I said my Mom asked me to knit her a pair of socks. Well, my LYS downtown had closed by the time I could afford to get any yarn, so I did the next best thing and went to KnitPicks and ordered some yarn for her socks, plus some circulars, and more yarn for me (so I could get free shipping). The order came out to almost the $60 I put on my son's prepaid credit card to be able to order, so I'll also be doing me some socks using the two on two circular method that I've also been practicing with some cheap yarn.

Anyway, that order should be coming in by Monday at the latest (Hopefully today) and I'll get to see if the good stuff I've been hearing about KnitPicks is true. If it is, I'll probably start ordering more yarn from them as I get extra money to. The prices are very reasonable for the yarn content compared with other well-known brands, and I'm one of those who likes to hang onto her money ;) (who doesn't?) and I just don't have the money to be able to try all those others that cost upwards of three times the price of KnitPicks for, what I can see, is the same yarn.

Anyway, I'll let you know when the order ges here. And if I can figure out the camera on this new phone, I might even include a picture.

Popular Mitts

My knitted fingerless mitts appear to be popular-another woman in my church asked me to make her a pair, so I am.

These really knit up and go together fast-at least a day of off and on knitting, you can have a pair before the weekend is out. I have until this Sunday, so I'm not going to get in a hurry with them.

I'm also working on writing out a version for circular knitting-I'm almost finished with one, and I like the way it looks-however, the other will have to wait, I'm trying a technique for socks I've never tried before so I'll know if I want to do mom's socks that way-two socks using Magic Loop. I'm using my #8 circ (Which is what I was using for the mitt-using Magic Loop) to try it out with some RHSS and am making my grandson a pair of slipper socks so that I'll at least be making something useful. The yarn is camo, and he has some camo clothes, so they'll go good with them. So far, I've turned the heel and am working on the foot-I used the YO short row heel, which means I had to do each heel separately, but it worked out all right and I like the YO short row heel. I'll be doing that same short row when I reach the toe shaping because I also like the short row toe-I just don't like doing toe up socks, and the extra stitches I have to graft don't bother me, so I'll keep making socks like that.

So if I like DKing socks, why am I thinking about Magic Loop for Mom's socks? Because DKing isn't for cables, and I'm thinking about doing a twisted rib sock. I know she'd be happy with just a plain old knit sock just because I knit it for her, but if I'm going to take the time to make her a pair of socks I want to jazz them up a bit and I don't particularly care for lace since she wants them mainly to keep her feet warm-plus, I haven't really knitted much in the way of lace, I'm just not a lacy person. Lazy-yes, lacy-no

If they turn out, I'll be getting me a 40" #3 Addi Turbo and sock yarn at my LYS as soon as I get some extra money.

If I make any adult slipper socks on this needle though, I'd have to do them one at a time-a 29" needle will not make a pair of adult slipper socks-the toddler socks are stretching the limits of the cord as it is.

Another Request I Couldn't Deny

My mom called me the other day to let me know that the present I sent her had arrived, and the conversation turned to crochet and knitting when I mentioned that I was knitting a pair of fingerless mitts for my friend at church. Mom asked me if I knew how to knit socks and I said yes I did and she asked me to knit her a pair. I can't say no to that, but it might be awhile since we're barely making enough money to pay bills and get groceries. I told her that it might have to wait until we get our income tax back so I could go get some sock yarn from our LYS. It still might be next Christmas before she gets them. I might just start making her a pair every Christmas.

At least I can use my foot as a model since we both wear the same size. It might even be a bit loose on her, which will be good since she's diabetic and has just had bypass surgery on her legs-so I don't want to make the socks too binding on her feet or ankles.

Anyway-she didn't even specify a color when I asked, she just said she didn't care-so I'll have to browse the LYS's selection and see if they have any pretty ones.

A Request I Couldn't Deny

I had to put my projects down again-I went to church Wednsday evening and a lady asked me where I got my fingerless mitts. It was a pair I had finished crocheting Sunday morning and I told her I made them. She admired them and said they would let her do things with her fingers while keeping her hands warm, so I asked her if she wanted a pair. She looked surprised, but said yes, so I said I would knit her a pair since knit items have more give than crocheted items. She tried the mitt on and it fit her hand too, so I just need to knit her mitts to fit me and it should be all right.

I'm using this pattern that I wrote, only I'm using some RH Soft yarn I found in my bedroom. She wanted a neutral color and that yarn is black, so I told her I had some black and she said that would work.

I really like this pattern, and I'm sure there's already a pattern out there similar to it-I know I've seen one for some that are knit flat, I'm just not sure how similar they are to my pattern-but I wrote it out anyway, just to have a reference just in case I forget how I did them.

I'm using my hand as a reference since our hands are similar in size.

If I have enough yarn left of that black RH Soft, I might cast on and do me a pair in it-it's almost as soft as the ones I'm doing in Cascade 220 Superwash wool-almost, but not quite.

I finished them after about a day of knitting on them off and on-this pattern is a really quick knit-now I'm knitting me a pair in some Bernat Soft Baby yarn for tomorrow's Christmas Cantata and I'm almost finished with them-I'm nearly at the top ribbing, then I just need to bind them off, do the thumb and sew up the side seam.

One Sock or Two?

Sock knitters all over have had a dilemma for as long as socks have been knitted-most everyone has two feet, and they could only knit one sock at a time, which could get tedious. Then along came circular needles, which allowed women or men to knit a pair of socks at the same time. Then some enterprising person figured out how to do a pair of socks on one very long circular needle.

Now-what if you didn't like using circular needles to do socks (or other small circumference items)? What if you preferred using double pointed needles-how would you knit two pairs at the same time then? There are two options-both of which I've either done, or am trying.

The first method is to use two sets of DPNs-one set for each sock-then work part way on one sock, switch to the other and work the same amount on it. This works pretty well-you don't exactly do the pair at the same time-you're simply working on one, putting it down and working on the other.

The other method-which I've already linked to in a previous post or two-is to use one set of DPNs and double knit the pair of socks. Double knitting has been around for centuries-usually used to create a double thick fabric such as a nice warm baby blanket. However, you don't want to tie your two socks together-you want to keep each sock separate-so you have to be a little more diligent about watching your yarn so that you use the right end for the right sock.

Anyway-I said all this because a couple of people pretty much dismissed the technique as grandstanding and didn't see the point. The point is-if you can't get the hang of circulars-or you just don't like them as well-this is a perfectly valid method to knit a pair of socks. The author even said you could do it with circulars as well-whether using two or one long one. Now, I really don't see the point of double knitting socks on circulars since there's plenty of room on them to keep them separate, but for DPNs, it gives the DPN lover a way to knit a pair of socks-if she/he's patient enough to learn the technique. About the only thing I wouldn't recommend would be trying to DK socks with cables. Lacy patterns may be possible with a bit of finageling, but I'm pretty sure cable socks would be much too tedious and stressful to try DKing-try the other method instead. Actually-all in all-for anything other than a basic knitted sock, I would knit them one at a time or do the two socks on two circs or Magic Loop-DKing would work best for just your basic stockinette stitch sock with K1, P1 ribbing.

An aside: The 'cheat' method of casting on, to me, works much better than the cable cast-on she uses. But in that YMMV. Either way-the cast-on and first round or two will always be the most tedious-whether DKing or not. After that-you pretty much sail through it.

I may change my mind once I reach the heel-who knows? All I do know is, so far, I like this method and it's fun-which is what knitting should be. I do recommend taking frequent breaks from it until you're comfortable with it-that way you're less likely to accidentally cross your stitches. Simply pick up something mindless to work on to clear your mind, and pretty soon DKing will be almost as mindless as a st st dishcloth-except you'll have to watch your yarns more closely. I'm comfortable enough with it that I simply join and start the first round in my ribbing pattern-usually K1, P1-instead of knitting the first round.

I like the pattern

The one I made up as I went for the fingerless mitts knit flat. I'm now knitting myself a pair out of the same camo yarn, only adjusting it down some and tweaking it a bit.

I've also decided to try to see how adjustable the pattern is by using completely different yarn/needles-yesterday I found a partial ball of Cascade 220 superwash that I'd made a pair of Fetching fingerless gloves out of and I divided it roughly in half and cast on for a pair on a 16" #3 circ. If the circ is too short to do the thumbs with I have plenty of #3 dpns to use. I've cast on 44 sts for each mitt and we'll see if I've calculated the balls of yarn right and if I have enough to do the mitts with. If not, I'll put them aside until I finish the pair of socks I'm working on in another color of the 220-the two should look nice together if I need to redo cause I don't have enough of the one I'm using for the mitts.

I do think I'd recommend just using a circular to knit these with-you can drop the mitt you aren't working on to the cable, I'd just complete the rows for both mitts before putting your work down so you don't confuse yourself as to which mitt you're working one. It does go much faster when you work on both at once, and your mitts come out the same.

Anyway, one day fate may drop a camera in my lap and I can start taking pictures again. Until then, I'll just have to write about what I'm doing and you guys can use your imagination.

Finished Already

I wish I had a camera. This pair of fingerless mitts are so nice! I used RHSS in camo and although I made a slight miscalculation when I did the first thumb, I was able to fix it without too much problem.

I'm going to try to write the pattern out-it really turned out nice-I've even cast on to do me a pair-although I think I'm going to do them slightly differently-do a few rows of stockinette before making the thumb gusset and making a few more rows after the thumb gusset before the final ribbing rows.

Anyway-I hope he likes them.

Christmas gift

Now that I have my socks going the way they should be, I need to put them down because I have a gift to knit. I sometimes take my craft bag to church with me, and yesterday I had just finished a pair of purple fingerless mitts in crochet. A young teenage boy in our church saw them and told me I needed to make him a pair and I said I needed to measure his hand to do those mitts, and I didn't think he wanted to walk around with purple mitts either. This morning I decided that instead of crocheting him a pair, I would knit him a pair. I got out my #8 straights and two partial skeins of RHSS in camo and I've cast on for both mitts.

Yes, I'm knitting them flat and then sewing them up the side-no, I don't have a pattern, I'm making it up as I go along. I have a #8 circ to do the thumb with when I'm done so that won't be a problem. I only hope I can get the seam not to look wonky-and I've been slipping the first stitch of each row to make the edges more uniform and smooth, so hopefully the seam will also be uniform and smooth.

I just decided a pair of knit fingerless mitts in camo would be just the thing for a teenage boy-I just hope he likes them cause he probably already forgot he wanted me to crochet him a pair ;)

Update

I had to frog back the doubleknit socks-when I cross a stitch, I don't usually notice til l've gotten into another round, so it's actually a whole round of stitches that need to be fixed-which means I'd have to go all the way back around, which I wouldn't mind for one round or maybe two-but this one was several more rounds down.

Then after casting on again, things didn't want to line up properly and I had to keep trying and doing a lot of head scratching as to why it wasn't wanting to do right, when I finally got it right.

After I got started again, I still crossed yarns again, but only had to tink back about a round and a half to get back to it and straighten things out.

Now I'm back where I was before having to frog-about an inch of ribbing and starting on the leg.

I still managed to cross stitches after doing that-but only had to tink back one needle since I happened to think to look, then something told me to look back further and I'll be damned if I didn't have an extra YO on the previous needle. The explanation for that is twofold-trying to knit without having my morning coffee yet and going into a completely new rhythm with the yarn.

Now, what the devil did I mean by that last comment? Well, when you're double knitting and want to keep your two pieces separate, you have a certain rhythm that you knit with to keep the yarns from crossing-I was using one rhythm for the ribbing, so now I had to switch to an entirely different one with the stockinette leg. It's the same as if you were knitting something flat, like a sweater-you start off with ribbing, then when you move to the body your hands are so used to doing the ribbing that they still want to do ribbing while your brain is telling them no, it's time to do stockinette, and there's bound to be errors until your hands start listening to your brain.

Any knitter who is reading this will know exactly what I'm talking about here.

Okay, I said I'd try them, and I did.

Well, I gave the double knitted socks a try to see if I can do it, and I can, although I frogged them after a couple of rounds. It wasn't because I did something wrong, it's because they didn't look like they were going to fit me, so I'm just going to recast on more stitches-if I'm going to make socks, I want them to fit. I did find out that the long tail cast on can be done with both yarns on one needle with no extra hands-and it's much less stressful than trying the knitted cast-on that she does in her Knitty article.

It's really not as hard or nerve-wracking as it may sound from the article either. The only tedious part is doing that first round and keeping your yarns straight. If you look closely, you'll be able to see which stitch is which and which one needs to be worked next if you happen to leave it for any length of time, but a solution to that is to leave off at the end of a needle so that you know where you are.

Anyway, this should be an interesting experience. I'm trying 40 stitches each instead of 32-I have a pretty wide foot, so it shouldn't hurt. I'm using #3 DPNs and Lion Wool yarn in Winter White.

It's actually easier to see where I'm at than I thought it would be-even if I'm in the middle of a needle I can still see at a glance which end I need to use-the WW wool makes it pretty easy to see the front and back pieces. How it would do with sock yarn I have yet to find out, but I might get some sock weight (I.E. baby) yarn and see.

I'll keep a running update on my progress, but so far the hardest part has been joining and knitting the first knit round before starting the ribbing. I will say this-I would go a bit slowly doing the ribbing, as you can easily get confused-especially doing the first round. After that it's much easier as you can see which are knit stitches and which are purl stitches-just remember to keep the yarns from twisting and all should be well.

An amendment: Do not do this if you're going to be distracted by anything-I had to tink back to the first rib row on the third needle instead of using a hook, simply because there were more crossed stitches than I realized. It's all straightened out now, and hopefully I won't do that again. I will definitely only be working on them when I'm not chatting or otherwise distracted by something else. And definitely don't do it if you're tired-that would be the biggest distraction of all. Double knitting requires much more concentration than regular knitting. No, I'm not going to chuck it-it was my own fault, I'm simply going to go from where I left off and chug along-just to say I did it.

Double Knitting

I haven't tried the socks yet-I wanted to get into the rythm of double knitting before I tried them. The best way I've found to do something like that is to make something like a scarf, and that's what I'm doing.

So, what is double knitting? Well, it's exactly what it says-you're creating a double thickness of fabric by knitting the front and back pieces at the same time, using different strands of yarn. Until you get the hang of something like that, I would recommend that you use two different colors of yarn so that you can see which is the front and which is the back piece-and I would simply make a two-color, reversible scarf.

Double knitting has been around a long time too-since at least the 1930s or longer, and you can do lots of things with it if you use your imagination. In fact, the link below shows how to do a pair of socks on DPNs using double knitting.

Firstly-the cast-on for double knitting is not as hard as this article says-it is possible to do the continental (long tail) cast-on without the extra hands. I know, I did it-you simply need to add a stitch of Color A, drop your yarn, then add a stitch of Color B, etc. The only thing you need to make sure you do-as she does with her knitted cast-on-is to keep Color A (first color you cast on) to the left, or front, of the needle you're casting onto, and Color B (second color you cast on) to the back of the needle you're casting onto. Also make sure that you're winding the tail of your yarn around your thumb when you make the stitch so that your actual stitch is made with the working end of your yarn-just as if you were doing a normal continental cast-on.

Once you have your stitches cast-on, which really doesn't take that long, you can begin knitting. You should have ended with a B stitch, so you start by knitting that stitch with your B yarn. For the next stitch-which is an A stitch-bring both working ends of yarn to the front, then P the A stitch with the A yarn, then take both strands of yarn back to the back and K the next B stitch with the B yarn. Continue in this manner all the way across. A note on doing this-you will want to twist your two yarns together at the beginning of each row to tie your two pieces of fabric together-which will basically make a tube scarf without having to actually work in the round. Another note-snug up the first stitch of the row a little more to keep it from being too loose when you knit back across the row on the other side.

Another thing to note-don't use a really large needle to double knit-I wouldn't recommend anything larger than maybe a #9 needle because your gauge in double knitting will be looser than regular knitting on the same needles-it's logical-you have a stitch in between each of your other stitches. Another thing I'd recommend is using a circular needle so that you can simply drop your knitting onto the cable when you put it down and it won't slip off.

I know it will feel awkward at first, managing two strands of yarn-especially depending on if you're an English knitter or a Continental knitter. I can knit either way, but I'm most comfortable knitting Continental, and it didn't take too long to get into a rythm with that-and you will too, if you give it half a chance. Like everything else, double knitting takes practice to do proficiently.

For casting off, to keep that end of the tube open, you will need an extra needle in the size you're knitting with-a DPN will work for this. When starting the cast off, knit the first st onto your working needle, then take the spare needle and P the next st onto it. K the next st off with your working needle, then pass the first st over this one and off the needle. Repeat with the other needle and next st, P this time. Continue in this manner until all sts are cast off. Cut yarns and thread through the last sts on needles, pull to tighten, then run the ends through to the inside to hide them. Hide the tails from the cast-on in the same manner. If you want to close the ends of the scarf, do so with fringe.

Several projects on the go

I'm working on a couple pairs of socks-one on dpns and one using Magic Loop. I really should have a circ longer than 16", but since it's a sock, I think I'll manage since I don't have the money to go buy a circ.

I'm also working on a couple of cowls. they'll double as hoods as well. a lot of people also call them wimples, but I like cowl better. I'm using a generic-type one I found on Knitting Pattern Central. Just go to the scarves, and the *Neckwarmer/Wimple. It is in PDF format, so you have to have Adobe Acrobat, or another PDF reader to see it. I doubt I make the increases for the shoulder, I'll see how it fits when I get down there. I'm using some discontinued Bernat Frenzy Yarn I've been trying to find a use for, and a 24" #10-1/2 circ. I CO 100 sts and am just doing st st. I like the way the hood rolled back with the first few rows, and I hope I can find a couple more balls of it stashed away somewhere since I won't be able to purchase any more. If not, I'll probably find something else to use with it.

The next one is going to be one I'm making up-I'll call it Twisted Rib, since that's what I'm doing-twisting the ribs in the 2x1 rib pattern every four rnds. since I'm using RHSS and a 24" #9 circ, I CO 141, and it will still fit pretty snug. I'm liking it already-the twisted ribs give it a really interesting texture.

Lastly, I'm making Dot's Double Crossed Hat. However-working with three strands of WW cotton yarn with a K hook is a bit daunting-and I don't have that much cotton yarn anyway-so I'm using two strands of WW acrylic and an I hook. Yes, I'm having to adjust the pattern a bit, but it's one that seems to be pretty adjustable, so I've added one more inc rnd before starting the crossed sts, and I'm going to add one more rnd of crossed sts before working on the brim. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm using a bright blue RHSS and a burnt orange acrylic that's unlabeled, so I'm not sure if it's also RH or not-but the two look really nice together. Yes, that means I'm working with a dozen more sts than the pattern calls for, but I think it would hurt my hands even more to be working with three strands of cotton held together and using a K hook.

Edit: When I got to the brim/band, I had to figure some math, since I had quite a few more sts than her 72 (I worked it out so I had 99sts), and came up with 25 sl sts on each side of the brim, 7 sc on each side of the hdcs and 25 hdcs-that seemed to work out pretty right, and it fits my large head pretty well, too.

PS: I almost forgot, I'm doing the Magic Scarf from Crazy Aunt Purl, only I'm using some RH Plush in taupe and #10-1/2 straight needles. It isn't going to be a scarf though-it's going to be a wrap-I CO 60 sts and each section is 10 sts x 10 rows. It's still going pretty fast and is going to be really soft and plushy.

Anyway, back to crocheting-if my achey hands will let me.

More on double knitting socks

I tried the cast on for the double knitted socks-the ones I talked about trying, where you do both socks on dpns-and I couldn't for the life of me get the hang of it. I could, however, manage the 'cheat' by using a long tail cast on, putting each sock on a separate needle. I did need an extra dpn for this since my needles come only in four packs, but I do have several sets of #3s.

I think when I finally decide to try this I'm going to use that method as it was much easier to use. I did however mess up and join the whole mess together, so I'm going to wait till I get a few more projects out of the way before I try again-if I can keep myself straight, I think I can do it.

Open toe socks

I think they're really cute, and I intend to make some because I do like to wear flip-flops just about any time of the year. However, I don't think I need to follow any specific pattern to do so-in my opinion, you can take any sock pattern out on the internet or in a pattern book and make it open toe simply by stopping your foot about an inch or so before you would stop for the toe shaping, then make about an inch or so or K1, P1 ribbing.

That's all an open toe sock is-a sock with no toe in it-so take your favorite sock pattern and make it into flip-flop socks!

Why I like WW socks

3: They're soft and cushy
2: They're warm and cuddly
1: They're a very quick knit

If you use the right yarn-acrylic or wool-you'll get a cushy-soft sock that works up in a breeze. I'm almost at the toe shaping of a pair of socks I started a couple of weeks ago that probably wouldn't have taken more than a few days of knitting if I hadn't put the first one down to work on something else for awhile. I'm using Simply Soft Heathers in Truffle on #3 DPNs and it only takes 48 sts to make a sock for my size 8-1/2 wide feet-and they're even the teensiest bit big, which isn't bothering me because I can't stand snug socks.

Yes, I do like socks made from sock yarn too-but they take a bit longer because you're working on at least twice the stitches on smaller needles, and with my CTS, sometimes the really small needles are a pain to work with because one or both of my hands will go numb after awhile.

Another good yarn for socks-and yes, I have a pair on the needles for that too-is Cascade 220 Superwash. It's a lighter weight than the SS, but I'm still using the same size 3 DPNs and I have the same number of stitches as for the SS, but the Cascade is a bit stretchier than the acrylic, so the sock will still fit and not be too snug. I'm using a twisted rib pattern I'm making up and writing down as I go, so look for it to be posted in my patterns soon-it's a bit different from other twisted rib patterns in that I'm twisting the stitches on every sixth round so you can still see the ribbing, but it breaks up the monotony some, since I'm carrying the rib pattern all the way down the instep.

But with the damp, chilly winters we have here in SW Miss, I like a nice thick sock for keeping my feet warm-and winter is when I usually wear socks/shoes cause I hate anything on my feet-which is also why I usually make ankle socks-and those make up even quicker than other socks-although I might try a taller sock to see how the twisted rib looks on it when I go to make another pair, I just don't think I have enough of the Cascade to do it with these socks.

Another thing I just don't understand about most sock construction patterns-why do they distribute the stitches so that they have to be rearranged when you get to the heel shaping, and why do they put the instep stitches on one needle when they get through with the heel? That, to me, is an awful lot of work for a pair of socks. The ones I'm working on have the heel stitches already on the third needle (last needle worked in a round) and I haven't seen any difference in the way my plain socks look than ones where you have to do all that shifting around. Yes, there is a slight line down the front of the sock where the two needles were when the sock isn't on the foot, but you have to look real hard for it, and it doesn't really bother me-as long as you snug up the first stitch or two when you change needles you won't get ladders.

Another thing-the heel flap/turning/gusset shaping of most heel instructions in patterns. Well, that's an awful lot of work to put into a heel, and yes, I can do them, but I don't like the way they turn out or look on the finished sock-even the pictures of socks where people can probably do them better than me. Short row heels and toes are much neater and cleaner-looking than traditional heel/toe shaping and make the heel/toe look more like a store sock, but better-since you made it yourself.

While I'm on the subject of short row toes-yes, I meant on a top-down sock. I don't like the way the leg of the toe-up sock does, it's a bit too snug for my taste. And if the top-down sock makers already know how to graft toe stitches together, there isn't much difference in grafting the sock together at the end of the sock than it is grafting it together at the instep-except you have more stitches and it takes a bit more time. Yes, there is a slight line there where it meets-due to the difference in looks of back and forth st st and st st in the round, but that just makes the sock look more store-bought, and like I said, it's a very slight line which store-bought socks have yet to achieve, because they sew their socks together at the instep instead of grafting them.

So, those are my comments on why I like my way of constructing socks-yours may differ, and that's okay-just like there's no right or wrong way to knit or crochet, there is also no right or wrong way to construct a sock, as long as it looks like a sock when you finish it.

Oh, WOW

I put this basic pattern up because I wanted to do a sock in yarn that anyone could afford. I'm using Caron Simply Soft Heather in Truffle Heather 9502 and it makes a really pretty color for a sock. I think next time I'm going to make them longer-although ankle socks are my favorite socks since I don't like wearing anything on my feet unless they're cold.

I'm almost done with it-I'm at the toe shaping-and I decided to try the sock on. Wow, the sock is so soft and comfy that I couldn't believe it. I'm definitely finishing the second sock. I just wish I had a camera to take a picture, but I don't, maybe Santa will grant my wish and bring me a little digital one.

Anyway-I already have some more SS yarn and I'm making me some more socks out of it-they're thick, warm and cozy.

And if I want to make nice wool socks, I'll go to my LYS and purchase Cascade 220 superwash wool-the socks I'm doing out of it-while not nearly as thick as my SS socks-are nevertheless very soft and comfortable. And Cascade yarns are pretty affordable-even on my budget.

Cables

Have you seen the Fetching Fingerless Gloves from Knitty ? Do you want to make them, but don't have a cable needle or extra dpn, or you just aren't sure if you can make cables? Well, if you aren't a beginning knitter, and you don't mind a few acrobatics with dropped stitches, then cables without cable needles is what you need.

I know when you first read Wendy's tutorial on doing them that you'll say "No way!" but I tried it and as long as you're careful and hold the stitches just beneath them, then you can do this. I now do cables this way when I make cables-which isn't very often, admittedly-so I have no use for buying extra equipment just to make them with.

I would suggest that you take some scrap yarn and some needles and practice this technique before implementing it in a project so you can do it effortlessly-or as effortlessly as possible. Sometimes you will split the stitch when picking up the dropped stitches, but that's easily remedied for any knitter who isn't a rank beginner.

Anyway. I probably have a post about this somewhere in my archives, but I just think it bears repeating now and then.

And while we're on the subject of the Fetching glove, she uses a pretty bulky yarn and larger needles, which makes the glove look pretty big with her pattern. I've seen posts in a knitting community about it-which was several years ago, but that doesn't matter-and they pretty much said when they made them that way, the glove was big. Well, I tried the pattern using Cascade 220 superwash wool and #3 DPNs and followed her pattern exactly. While my glove wasn't thick and chunky like hers, it did fit like....well....a glove. Also, I don't like the picot bind off, so I just bind off in a normal bind off, following the K4, P1 pattern. And before any of you say that I probably just have a small hand-no, I don't-I may not have huge hands, but they've never been small and dainty either, so that glove pattern-made to her specs-would probably fit a man's hand, if a man were so inclined to wear fingerless mitts like that. If I was to make them with a chunkier yarn, I'd probably go down to about a #5 or #4 set of needles to make them a bit smaller.

I had to frog my Lion Wool socks-I don't swatch, and the socks were a bit snug. Never fear-I will remake them since I only need to add a few more sts to make them not so snug. And I think I'll opt for top-down since I think that will make the leg a bit more to my liking and a bit stretchier. I can still do a short row toe since I don't like the toe decreases, and graft the instep sts to the sole sts when I get around to the top. If I can snag a camera somewhere I'll even take a picture and post it when I'm done.

Right now, I'm experimenting with Caron Simply Soft so that when I go back to the wool I'll know what to do-don't want to frog wool too many times or it will felt.

I must say I do like what's going on with the Simply Soft-I might do more socks in that if it fits right-I do like the thicker WW sock over regular socks.

Yarn

Everyone has their favorite yarn to use. I use RHSS or Caron SS mostly because I can't always afford the more expensive wools and such-plus, I'm usually making afghans, slippers, slipper socks, etc. that take pretty hard wear and I don't have the time or inclination to specially wash an item simply because it will shrink and felt if I machine wash. Yes-I'm lazy.

I've read of crocheters and knitters who scorn RHSS to no end because it feels rough to them compared to wool and it hurts their hands-yes, it does feel a bit rougher to me, but I also have slightly calloused hands from working outside a lot, so it doesn't feel that rough and yucky to me. It helps that it's also the yarn my mother always used, so I've used it all my life. It's not going to feel like wool-it's made from plastic, don't expect it to feel like wool or any other luxury fiber. Caron SS is a very soft acrylic that I do like working with-it's plastic too, I know, but they've made it really soft. I wouldn't use RH for socks-it is too rough and stiff for that (except for the baby yarn)-but I would use it for just about anything else, and have.

I also like working with the acrylic baby yarns, since they're so soft too, and babys should have things that shouldn't have to be specially washed either-because mommy likely works and doesn't have the time or inclination to specially wash anything.I guess I'm saying-you like what you like and I'll like what I like-just don't chide me for using what I use-I'm not making it for you anyway ;)

Dog Hoodie

Dog Hoodie

I'm making this for my miniature Basset Hound. There are some things I'm doing/going to do different with this pattern though.

I'm using a circular needle in a size 9 or 10 (I think-there is no place on them that indicates size-they're the Boye circular)

I'm using RHSS yarn in Linen-a medium beige color.

I've reversed the order of the decreases in the hood-the left-slanting SSK is supposed to go on the right side of your work and the right-slanting K2TOG is supposed to go on the left side of your work.

Also, where she stops (just after the ribcage) leaves half a dog uncovered-that won't do-so I'm going to dec some sts (not sure yet how many) and simply work in K1P1 ribbing until it reaches her tail and put it together up to where her back legs are. For a male, you would want to put it together and leave a space for his wee ;)

Depending on how many sts are on my needles, I might get to work some of this in the round since I'm using a circular needle-I'll see. Anyway, I'll keep you updated on the progress-it's a nice little basic doggie sweater, it just needs a few mods. I'm also debating just putting some ribbing around the leg openings instead of sleeves-and I can do that with magic loop-so I don't have to go out and buy any DPNs that I might not use again.

Almost Finished

I've just about finished the pair of socks that I talked about in the last post-the WW in Lion wool. Not only do WW socks knit up faster, doing one sock, then working on the other means I'll still have a pair in less time than if I'd done one sock, then the other, because I'd have likely put the second sock down for no telling how long.

I'm at the cuff, and I'm just deciding how long I want it-it's around an inch or so now, and I think I want it long enough to fold down if I desired, so I'm going to go for 4-6 inches-which should be about thirty rnds. I'll still have yarn leftover to try the double knitting technique I also talked about-so I might make a pair of ankle socks doing that with the rest of the yarn.

I'll let you know-I just hope I haven't made a mistake in doing my first double-knit pair of socks in the same color instead of practicing using two colors-we'll see.

Socks

They aren't as terrifying as you think they are-especially crocheted ones. Check the internet and you'll find as many patterns for crocheted socks as you will for knitted ones-in ranges from easy to experienced.

Right now, I'm knitting a pair of socks using some Lion wool I got on sale at my local W-M, which must be discontinuing it. I got three skeins of winter white and one black, so I'm going to see what kind of socks I can get out of them. Since this is a WW yarn, I'm using size three double pointed needles and Wendy's Toe-Up Sock pattern

Of course, I'm having to adjust it since she uses sock yarn and size 0 needles, but that's not hard. And to get both socks at once, I have two sets of needles since I don't feel like trying the two socks on one circular yet. What I'm doing instead is starting one sock to the foot part, then going to the other sock using another ball of yarn and the other needles. Then I'll work so far on one sock, and switch to the second sock. I read somewhere of a woman doing both socks at once on dpns, using the double knitting method, but I'm too chicken to try that just yet. I'd link to that, but it was quite some time back and I'm not sure I could find it again.

Anyway-with the weather cooling off, I decided some nice warm socks would be nice.

Oh, and since my dpns only come in sets of four, I'm keeping my heel sts (half the total sock) on one needle and dividing the instep sts over the other two needles. One thing about knitting-there's really no right or wrong way to do things-just the way that's comfortable for you. Same for crocheting-don't let anyone tell you that what you're doing is wrong.

Edit: I decided to see if I could find that article on double knitting a pair of socks on dpns to get a pair-and once I used the right search words I found it.

Pair of socks on dpns

I'm still interested in trying this technique, but I think I'll do it with two different colors first and do two pairs of socks-using my technique of two sets of dpns-once I finish this pair of winter white socks I'm making. I have one ball of winter white and one ball of black to try it with.

Drops slippers

Drops Crochet Slippers

Drops Crochet Slippers

I'm doing these, and they're working up pretty quickly, even though I'm using RH Bright and Lofty in Beaches color. I'm also using a size M hook and making the middle size. This pattern is only in British crochet terms, so keep that in mind if you do it. Also, you have to have another pattern to get the bootie part-they give you the number, but I have the link for it, it's the second one above.

I would not recommend RH Bright and Lofty, Light and Lofty or LB Homespun for these, if you are a beginning crocheter- the stitches are very hard to see. If you don't use their recommended Eskimo yarn, you might want to try Bernat Softee Chunky, or some other similar weight yarn.

I really like the color, I haven't done the top of the bootie yet, and I'm debating whether or not to do it, cause I like it as is. I may not have enough in the one skein of RH I have and don't want to buy more just to do the tops-we'll see.

When I get my hands on a camera, I'll post a pic, I'm still working on the heel of bootie #2.

Back in a sock groove

Maybe I'll actually finish a pair. I'm actually experimenting a bit with a couple of different ways to make them.

I'm going to try two socks on one circular needle as soon as I find some sock yarn I like-I think I might like that method because I can do an entire pair and not have to worry about SSS. OTOH, I'm also a start-stopper because I like to start something and then put it aside so unless it's something I REALLY want to finish it's liable to be a UFO for quite some time-until I decide to finish or frog ;)

I'm also trying a toe up sock with an afterthought heel. I'm using Caron SS in a baby varigated and making the toe, heel and leg ribbing in a pale yellow. I'm knitting this one in the round on DPNs size three. I have the toe done and have started on the instep-I'll let you know when I get to the heel. Even with the size three needles the fabric is still pretty soft, considering they suggest using size eight. If I like this method I might adopt it for the two socks on one circular when I find the right sock yarn.

Before I try the two socks, I'm practicing Magic Loop by making a basic fingerless mitt with some cotton/wool sock yarn I came across and only bought one ball. I should be able to get a pair out of it and I just couldn't see this colorway as a sock anyway. I'm almost done with the first one and will take a picture when it is. By the time I make the second I should be proficient enough at Magic Loop to try the two socks.

If I actually finish a pair, or even one sock, I'll post a picture for your enjoyment-or to mock-as you see fit :D

I admit it

I am in love with Addi Turbo circular knitting needles. I bought a pair in size 1 and 40" long to use in the Magic Loop technique of knitting small circumferences on one long circular. This needle puts Boye to shame. I might still use Boye in the larger sizes but for socks and things of that nature it's now Addi Turbo.

I got some Steinbach Wolle Strapaz Cotton Effekt sock yarn and am making a pair of wristwarmers with it. It's only a 50g ball so not enough to do socks with unless I maybe make footies but for some reason wristwarmers were calling out to this yarn and I've heard you must listen to your yarn-hehe.

I have an idea

All of the instructions (that I've found) for making two socks at once using Magic Loop have said to start with the figure eight cast on. I don't like that cast on-I could never do it right-it's the reason I haven't tried knitting two socks at once-Magic Loop or with two circs. Well, if you can do two socks at once with Magic Loop and figure eight cast on then why can't you do two socks at once with Magic Loop using provisional cast on? I haven't tried it yet because I don't have a circular needle the right size and length but I will soon-I'm going to splurge at my LYS and get an Addi Turbo in size 1 and the longest they have. I'm going to try it out with some cheap acrylic first to see if it works and then I might post instructions on how to do it.

Personally, I like the short row toe to the other type of toe up pattern anyway, it looks neater.

Stand by, more to come when I've tried it.

On another note, a friend of mine from Bavaria is going to send me some sock yarn-I can't wait-and I'm trying to think of what to do for her in return. I have an idea-hopefully she'll like it.

Another future product idea

I've been browsing this LJ Community

It's all about the deconstruction/reconstruction of t-shirts. The things these ladies come up with are amazing and now I want to do something with t-shirts.

My idea is a dress. When I find the right t-shirt, I want to turn the sleeves to the inside and sew them down for a facing to have a sleeveless dress. I'm debating taking the neck ribbing out or not-that's still debatable. Then I want to do some type of quilt block for the skirt. I'm visualizing it pretty well but I'm probably not explaining it very well-a failing of mine.

Anyway, that's in the future-after the peasant skirt and when I've healed from the dental appointment coming up in about a week.

A Future Sewing Project

I have always wanted to try making a peasant skirt and knew it would probably be easy-the only hard part would be making the tiers the right size. I really didn't want to buy a pattern to do this so I've put it off.

That is, until I was browsing around, searching free sewing projects. I found free instructions for constructing a peasant skirt-complete with a calculator that takes your largest measurement-usually the hip-and calculates the pieces for two different lengths. Then it instructs you in how to construct the skirt. It's found here in case anyone's interested in trying it themselves.

I have some material here at the house, I just need to find time to iron the wrinkles out of it and get it ready to use.

I'm not sure when I'm going to do this but I know I'm going to give it a try sometime in the near future.

A dress

I finished my dress and it turned out really nice-even the sleeves and neck facing, which I don't like doing. I wore it to church this past Sunday and received many compliments on it. The only thing I would change about it if I were to make it again would be the length-it's a bit too long for my taste. I like my dresses and skirts on the long side but not almost touching the floor-a hazard of being short is that most dress patterns that fall below the knee will inevitably hit me around my ankles.

Anyway, here's a picture:

Trying something new

I found a pair of cropped trousers-they could actually be somewhere between cropped trousers and gaucho trousers-when I was cleaning in my sewing room. They're a size 16 and, while I can get into them, they're a might tight. I usually wear an 18 and when I'm sewing, I have to cut out the size 22. Anyway, since the things are also stained pretty badly, I thought I'd pick them apart and make a paper pattern with them since I like the way they're made-apart from the self belt in the front, which I don't have to put in. I got them picked apart and they're just like the shorts pattern I use all the time except the pockets are done differently. There's a front, a back and a pocket to trace onto paper-when I can find some-I'll just have to add on about ⅝" on each side. I like the length so I won't add anything there, I just need to make them just a bit more roomy in the hip and waist. I'll also probably have to add that much onto the straight side of the pocket so it'll fit right and also study it a bit so I can get it back together-I might just keep the other half of them to use as a guide for that since I only picked apart half of it and left the other half sewn together.

Wish me luck.

Finished!!

Lots of things:

An apron-cuz I'm a messy cook-done Easter Sunday night:

My Easter suit-Finished the Saturday before:

Another Skirt, pair of shorts and gaucho trousers:

I did all of them last week-the last week of May, 2007. It was nice to get my machine out again and zip a few items of clothing up.

I plan on making a dress, I cut out the pattern over at Gregg's while babysitting, now all I have to do is pin it, cut it out and sew. I should have it done before Sunday and might wear it to church if it turns out-I really hate doing set in sleeves but they're short so maybe they'll be all right.

Sewing, sewing

I've almost got a jacket done and I'm cutting out the matching skirt-I had enough material left from the jacket to make one and the skirt pattern that came with the jacket pattern is really nice.

So it looks like I'll have a matching outfit for Easter anyway-and as a bonus, I can wear the jacket with a couple of other things in my wardrobe too.

*Doing a happy dance*

Another note to Self

Working with t-shirt material is a pain in the butt, but if you get it right the finished product looks good and is comfy.

Note to Self:

Self: Do not put the needle in your sewing machine backwards-it'll skip stitches like crazy!

Shows how long it's been since I've sewn anything, doesn't it?

I thought I'd make myself a new outfit for Easter-nothing fancy-just a split skirt and a top, maybe a jacket if I can manage it.

First-I couldn't find the presser foot/power cord to my sewing machine. Then I got to thinking and dug a little deeper in the closet I looked in last night. I guess I didn't dig deep enough last night-I pulled some stuff out and found the presser foot in a box in the bottom of the closet.

I went to Wal-Mart early this morning and got some new thread and new needles for my machine but when I started sewing it skipped stitches like crazy. I looked at everything and when nothing worked I got to looking at my needle.

Another note to Self: The flat side of the needle is supposed to point away from you when you insert it into the machine.

I lucked up

I decided to try to knit myself a pair of Fetching, so I went to my LYS on my way home. I was looking at the Cascade 220 superwash and had chosen one to try. I happened to see some Balene circular needles in a basket and was looking at them when a saleslady told me everything in the baskets was 40% off. One basket had some different yarns in it and I got three balls-2 Cascade Superwash 220 and some Classic Elite Inca Alpaca. There's only 109 yards in the Alpaca so I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, if anyone has any ideas let me know.

The Cascade is in two colors-one is an off white and the other is a brownish green-sort of olive/brown.

I also got a couple of sets of the Balenes in size 5 so I could try the Fetching on two circs.

I know the Cascade is a lighter weight than the yarn used but I don't want them bulky. Besides, they look like they fit pretty loosely on the lady's hands and I like my gloves snug. Even with the size 5 needles they still look like they'll fit me. I'm using the brown and even though I'm only at the first cable twist I'm already liking them.

However, I'm not impressed with these needles but I'll make them work. They're some sort of plastic and although they have a better join than my aluminum circs the tips are a little too flexible. The cable on the sixteen inch needles came loose but I fixed that with a drop of super glue. Good thing they were on discount, I don't think I'll buy any more of them-unless it's in larger sizes, the smaller sizes have a much too small tip. I might end up going back and getting a set of DPNs.

Anyway, for almost $40 worth of stuff, I only spent around $25 so I'm fairly happy-with the yarn anyway.

Trying something

http://www.crochetkim.com/patterns/bookmark.html

I made the angel part with some Lion Wool and an H hook. I stopped at the point where it said to stop for a pin. Now I'm running it through the wash to see how it felts. It'll be my first felted object, though a pretty small one. It only takes a couple of minutes to make-5 at most, I'd say.

I wanted to try it and see how small it'll get, I want to make a felted pin. If it works I might make some more for some of the ladies at church to wear when we do our Christmas Cantata in a couple of weeks. I know I could make them from thread in about the same amount of time and if it doesn't turn out like I hoped I might still do that but a felted one would be more-wintry-I guess you could say, since we wear a lot of wool in winter.

I'll keep you all posted, it's in the wash right now.

When you have lots of leftovers

Make a Giant Granny! That's what I'm doing with a bunch of leftover acrylic yarn-mostly RHSS. I started out with one round of each color, now I'm just going until I run out of yarn and then attaching another color and going on, even if I run out in the middle of a round. I even have up to three colors in a round. I'll be giving it to my grandson when I'm done-babies like lots of color and this is lots of bright colors.

I tried to use the smaller balls up on the inside, working my way outside with the larger balls and skeins. Maybe when I'm done with the colors I have it'll be big enough for Joseph to be able to use for awhile-he's only 11 months old so I want to make it big enough for him to use into his toddler and beyond years.

I'll have a picture later, when I tie in some loose ends, I might wait until I finish to take a picture.

Oh yes, I'm using a K hook and it's going pretty fast.

Before I ball it up

This is my latest skein of dyed yarn. I think it's going to be another pair of socks. I'm going to use #2 DPNs this time and should hopefully get a pair out of one skein. The stitches will also be smaller, resulting in a denser fabric that will also hopefully still be soft. I have an idea for a pattern and will be trying it out as soon as I get the lilac sock off my #2 needles. I just got the heel turned yesterday and am now going up the leg-it's my version of the Seaweed sock-toe up and it seems to be working. I'm using RH baby yarn and #2 needles and the stitches are really small. I'm not sure how far I want to go up the leg, probably about like the socks I just finished-which will probably be six repeats of the pattern with the smaller gauge.

Stay tuned, the lilac sock will be lonely for awhile but I'm eager to see how this yarn will stripe. There will be splotches where colors merged but it should stripe for the most part.

I changed my mind

I said in another blog that I didn't like wrapped or YO short rows. I've changed my mind-about wrapped short rows, anyway. I figured out I was doing one side of them wrong and twisting them, that's why one side looked fantastic and the other side looked wonky. No, I did not frog back and fix them, it was a learning experience and I'm keeping it as is so I can remember what NOT to do. Wrapped short rows are my friend now. I like both wrapped and Japanese now so if I don't have safety pins with me I can still do short rows if I have to.

Now that I can do them right, they look just as good as the Japanese short rows. Now I don't have to worry about which decreases to do on the toe of a sock, I can just short row them from the bottom around to the instep and graft there. I know, more stitches to graft, but kitchener stitch is also our friend and if you remember the mantra-K, P, P, K-then you too, can have an invisible graft and having more stitches to graft together will not send you into a panic. Just remember to pull the yarn snug but not tight and no one will be able to see where you grafted. Now you can do your toes and heels any way you want and not have to worry about what the pattern says.

A little more about K, P, P, K:

You must have an equal number of sts on both DPNs. Cut yarn, leaving a long tail, this tail should be on the back DPN and to your right. Thread this end through a tapestry needle.

Insert tapestry needle into first st on front DPN as if to K, slip this st off DPN. Holding st just taken off DPN on the tapestry needle, insert tapestry needle into next st on front DPN as if to P (leave this st on DPN) and pull yarn snug, insert tapestry needle into first st on back DPN as if to P and slip this st off DPN. Holding st just taken off DPN on the tapestry needle, insert tapestry needle into next st on back DPN as if to K (leave this st on DPN) and pull yarn snug.

Note: Do not pull yarn tight, just pull it snug.

Repeat these directions until all sts have been worked off needles.

If these directions are followed then you should have a seamless join.

It's out and drying

The yarn I just dyed. It looks like there are some light pink streaks in the yellow that are really interesting. There are also two shades of red and that purple-which looks kinda purpley-mauve now and is really pretty.

Unfortunately, my camera is at the house and I'm not so pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. It'll probably still be damp in the morning but I have it hanging in the baby's room, out of everyone's way-Joseph sleeps in their room in his crib-one day he'll be moved to his room, when Jen is comfortable with it, right now, he still coughs in the night and wakes up around 4 am so he still sleeps in their room.

More dyeing experience

I've recently discovered the fun that is creating your own yarn colorways. Since I found Lion Wool at our local W-M I've been trying it out. I had to do two balls the same to avoid SSS and I have another ball cooking right now.

I mixed Berry Blue with Tropical Punch in one jar, two cherrys in another, two lemonades in another and two strawberries in another. The first one has an interesting shade of purple that I can't wait to see how it turns out when dried. The strawberry looks like it's going to be a deep red and the cherry looks like it's going to be a bright red. There's some bleedover from the cherry and strawberry into the lemonade so there will be some orange spots there, I'm sure.

This will be pretty close to self-striping since I wound a hank about 9 feet long but with the bleedover from the jars there will also be some surprise spots-good, I like surprises and consistency scares me-most of the time ;)

Anyway, pics will be forthcoming when it's all cooked and hanging.

I can finish my socks now!

Maybe I should clarify, I don't know if I posted anything about this here but I dyed a ball of Lion Wool a couple of weeks ago just to see how hard it was-it wasn't hard at all and I got some really pretty varigated yarn to play with. I decided to do some socks but I ran out when I turned the heel of my second sock. Determined not to leave that first sock lonely I dyed my other ball of wool yesterday the same colors as the first, I even remembered the order of the dye. I just finished balling it up, making sure I balled it so that the colors came out in the same order as the first ball, and now I can finish my socks and probably have enough left over to do a hat or a scarf or something to match.

See here

This was the first ball I did, and the first sock. As I experiment with short rows I should be able to make them better, I left the mistakes and ugly rows to remind me of what not to do. Since they're for my feet I figured I could do that.

I'm definitely making more socks, they're very comfy.

A new pattern

I had a pattern for top down wristwarmers running around in my head last week so I broke out some yarn and a hook and tried it out. It worked and now I have written the pattern out and posted it to my Pattern Blog.



I really like how fast they work up and you can play with them by using different yarns and hooks. You can also do the ribbing in different colors if you need to use up some of those pesky leftover balls of yarn that roll around in your stash. I'm working on some like that in RHSS so they'll need to be washed with fabric softener before they'll be soft enough to wear but I have a lot of that in my stash.

Anyway, enjoy the pattern and stay tuned for the knit version coming up as soon as I get the needles that I need.

Ribbed Wristwarmers

These are so easy and versatile because you can adapt them to any yarn or hook size. I like making them with WW yarn and a larger hook so they're warmer and take only a couple of hours to make a pair.

I think it's the perfect mindless project for Christmas gifts, especially if you need something last-minute.

Just remember when you use bulkier yarn and larger hooks you won't need as many stitches or rows as called for in the pattern. I'd measure around your wrist and thumb and then allow about an inch or so for stretch but no more than 2-3 ribs (4-6 rows) for thumbhole, you don't want it to be too big. For the extra stitches added on for the top, depending on the bulkiness, I would add no more than 10+1 for turning-depending on how much of your knuckles you want to cover.

Cute doggie

I made this yesterday for our little toy pomeranian, Furby. She gets cold in wintertime and I knew it would be really chilly today and didn't want her getting cold. She hates sweaters when they're first put on her and sulks for awhile but after about a day she's ok with them. I might sit down and write down how I did it but it would only fit tiny dogs about 5 pounds or so.

I used Bernat Softee Chunky in True Yellow and a K hook.