false start…

Whenever I am teaching someone about knitting, one of the main things I like to get across is this. If you’re not prepared to pull your work apart, you’re not ready to knit. This is something my Mum always used to say when she was teaching me to knit.

Realizing that you’ve made a mistake in your knitting can be a really disheartening moment. You’ve worked so hard, and concentrated for so long, and you still manage to screw it up. Pulling it apart and starting again can sometimes be a hard thing to swallow.

I cast on the gorgeous Kit Cami last week, and got all the way through the 2.5 inches of half linen stitch, before I realized that I had cast on for the wrong size. How on earth did I do that..?! I blame watching The Vampire Diaries while casting on, obviously I’m easily distracted.

I cried about my mistake to my friend Nyome, whom I’ve been guiding with her knitting. She smiled, and said “If you’re not ready to pull it apart, you’re not ready to knit!”

Touche!

Frogging this at lunch time today…!

mothers day…

It was Mother’s Day on Sunday, and this year, I didn’t have to think too hard about a gift for Mum. You see, even though I still think she is a master knitter (compared to me!), she had commented a while ago that she had never knit a pair of socks! I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that my mum is highly sensitive to the ITCH-FACTOR that can come with wool.

I found the perfect blend for my mum to try.. Misti Hand Painted Sock Yarn is 50% superfine alpaca, 30% merino wool, 10% silk, and 10% nylon. I got the Northern Lights colourway, but really, I could have bought one of every colourway, they are all gorgeous! I wouldn’t mind knitting a pair up myself!

Along with the hank, I bought mum 2 pairs of 2.75mm Addi circular needles, so she can knit 2 socks and the same time (a technique I am LOVING!) I also wrote her a little poem, which I embroidered and put in a frame.

I’ll post some photos of my mums socks when she’s done!

It’s safe to say, your circulation, really is quite poor. Plus the fact, your naked feet, pad across an icy floor. I have the solution, I’m proud to say, needles & wool to knit some socks, and really make your Mothers Day

knitted socks WIP update…

After just a few days work, I have successfully cast on two socks to be knitted at the same time (on 2 circular needles), increased for the toes, and knit a decent portion of the foot.

I am already so much happier with this method of knitting socks. It really is very simple, once you get your head around it. I’m really enjoying slipping the sock on after every couple of rows. The thought of getting to the end of the knit, and having two identical socks, is just wonderful. No more SSS for me!

SSS is a real thing…

I tried to make it work, I really did.. Frogging is my worst nightmare! I despise ripping back row after row, I feel like it is such a waste! BUT. I know it must be done.. * sigh *

You might remember when I wrote about my new sock knitting project, and the line about not wanting to have to frog. Well, I might have cursed myself there.

This is how far I got with Rainbow Sock #1. I was quite proud of my efforts, as this is the first toe-up sock I’ve tried, and the first time I used a Provisional Cast On (thanks PurlBee!). I did, however, have a few problems.

Other than the fact that it was a little baggy around the toe, I wasn’t happy with the construction. As you can see on the left where I did the Provisional Cast On, that dramatic colour change was going to bug me, even though it would be on the sole of the sock. I think this method would be really fantastic if I was using a solid coloured yarn, as you wouldnt be able to tell where the join was. The other problem came with the ribbing. I was freaking out a little about it not fitting up my leg, and ended up increasing in the rib at weird points. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to remember which row to increase on with the next sock… so…

I pulled the whole thing apart. To knit, the sock took me the good part of 2 weeks. It took 1 minute to frog * que dramatic music *

Towards the end of this socks knitting life, I felt like I was coming down with a bad case of SSS (Second Sock Syndrome). I was really excited to see how the colours would change on the next sock, but I was so demotivated by failed sock #1. The cure? Buy two 2.75 circular needles from LoveKnitting, and learn how to knit 2 socks at the same time!

After one night, this is my progress. I am one very happy girl. All credit of my efforts goes to Heidi from Heidi Bears, without this brilliant tutorial for Judy’s Magic Cast On, I would never have got anything on the needles. Plus, she has another wonderful tutorial on knitting 2 socks at once. I was a little scared by the thought of this process, but honestly, it’s not as hard as I thought it was going to be. If you want to try this method, please head on over to Heidi Bears, you won’t be dissappointed!

the fluffy vest…

I love it.. I love it!! Look at it, in all it’s fluffy glory! (Sorry for the shameless selfie..) This was such a simple (but time consuming) knit, and I pretty much made it up on the go. As much as the final product has won me over, I will admit, that for someone who lives for instant gratification, this was pushing the boundaries of my patience. Maybe, if I didn’t have four other things on the go at the same time, I could have completed this a little earlier.. I’ll never learn..

Anyway, if you’d like to make a fluffy vest to impress friends and strangers alike, you can print my original pattern here. This pattern has not been tested, so use at your own risk! 😉 Please, feel free to share photos of your finished vests too, I’d love to see them!

wip… knitted tie

I feel like I’m getting nowhere fast with my two current projects! Do you ever feel like that sometimes? Maybe it is because I’ve been crocheting a lot lately, which I find to be very quick, compared to knitting.

If you’ve had a look at my page “the project list” you would know that been dreaming of knitting a tie for my boyfriend. I found this wonderful pattern for a reversible stripe scarf on the PurlBee, and thought it would be just perfect! The pattern isn’t very difficult, but you will have to concentrate when you’re starting off.

Can I just say, wow! This is what I love about knitting! By doing a series of different, but simple stitches, you get an amazing and complicated looking pattern. On what I’m calling the ‘front’ side, the stripes work vertically up the tie, and on the ‘back’ side, a really cool continuous horizontal line appears. It took me a while to wrap my brain around how this works, but honestly, once you’ve done the pattern repeat a few times (and made a few mistakes) you’ll get the hang of it.

I’m using ‘Luxury’ 8 ply 100% wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills, in Navy Blue and Stone. You can’t knit this pattern on straight needles, so I’m using a 4mm circular needle. For the actual shape of the tie, I’m just going to eyeball it off another knitted tie. At the moment I have 11 stitches, and I’m working on the back end of the tie that wraps around the neck. Once I get a bit more length, I’ll increase by two stitches so the front side is slightly wider.

I feel that I’m getting nowhere with this tie because I’m working on my fluffy vest at the same time! It is also knitted, and although I’ve done over 40 rows, it is still only about 11cm long. However, I shall persevere, and I will (eventually) end up with two wonderful items, full of love, time and patience!

Footnote: After looking at the photos of this pattern on the PurlBee, I’ve noticed that my ‘back’ side looks different to the original.. It seems I am keeping the stone colour yarn to the back of my project when turning the work, instead of wrapping it around the edge. No worries though, I like the solid navy boarder on this tie! A happy mistake!

Here are a few WIP posts from other bloggers you may enjoy:

• Work in Progress Wednesdays (vernellc.typepad.com)
• WIP-Cracking Wednesday: Roundup (secretlifeofyarn.wordpress.com)
• Knit, knit, knit (hollychayes.wordpress.com)