moving

Well, I have been looking for a job for the last 4-5 months and have gone on numerous interviews. I am in the process of moving to my hometown, and have started the moving process. 1/3 of my stuff is moved, and another 1/3 is in boxes. I now just found out that one of the jobs I interviewed for called 2 of my references. YAY!! I have gone on at least 8 or so interviews, and no one has called any of my references until now. How great it would be to get a job offer for my birthday--could turn it into a not-so-bad birthday....
Anyway, I am still knitting away at my Layered Berry Surprise socks. I just started decreasing the toes, so I will probably finish them tonight. I got a couple other socks Im going to start in September, but I will have to find something else to work on for the next 4 days.......

2-at-a-time socks part 2

Well, I completed day 2 of my newest venture (2-at-a-time socks on 1 circular needle) , and I am still not loving this method. I just completed the gusset, and worked the first round of gusset decreases. It took forever to get the gusset completed, because I was just not getting it at first. I was more than just a little tempted to slide my stiches back onto my trusty DPN's at least to finish the gusset, but I persisted. I got it, but not convinced this way is better.
Now Im thinking that maybe I just got too good with my DPN's, and found ways to work around the things most people dont like about DPN's. For instance, like I said before, I use 2 sets of needles and work back and forth between 2 socks so that I dont have 1 finished sock, and have to start all over on the 2nd one. 2nd, I usually carry a small notebook with me to mark rounds as I complete them. I never have to go back and count rounds or measure and compare socks like other people have complained about.
Anyway back to the actuall socks at hand. I have officially named them Layered Berry Surprise. They are very thick, and feel a little velvety, and the deep pinkish red screams Christmas. My neice is already adorable, but with THESE socks on her precious little feet--Look out!!

2-at-a-time socks

well, I just finished my seaweed socks over the weekend, and had a week to kill before beginning my september socks. ....So, I decided this would be the perfect chance to knit my neice a pair of socks. I found a skein of Sassy Stripes, which is pretty thick for sock yarn, but this would make it a lot easier to get them done in the next week. (i have a feeling i will be getting some gorgeous sock yarn for my birthday this weekend) this is my first experiment with 2-at-a-time on 1 circular needle. I got about 2 inches done on each cuff last night, and frankly im not sure what all the fuss is about! I usually use 2 sets of DPN's so I never have to worry about SSS (2nd sock syndrome). I've heard people say 2aat makes sock knitting portable, but I ALWAYS have a sock on DPN's with me no matter where I go. And how is carring 2 socks and 2 skeins of yarn more portable???? With this method, I feel like most of my time is spent adusting the cable and the stiches on the needle; and very little time actually knitting. I actually havent heard of anyone who tried this method and went back to DPN's, so am i missing something?? Well, Im going to keep at it, maybe by the time I reach the toe I will suddenly love it, and throw out all my DPN's...........well, that will NEVER happen even if I do stick to this method.
Happy knitting!

seaweed socks

Well, I am currently working on a pair of seaweed socks--using a beautiful yarn in shades of orange. Problem is I bought the yarn sooo long ago (before I was on ravelry) and cant remember the name of it. Any way I am now working on the leg part (they are toe up), and they look enormous! The last pair of socks I made came out to small, even though I used the large size pattern, so this time I used a #2 needle instead of a #1, now they are toooooo big. Im starting to feel a little like goldilocks. Oh well--maybe they will be used for those reeeeally cold nights when you need 2-3 pair of socks.

green gansey socks

I am currently working on the diamond gansey socks. This is the second time I tried the short row heel--this time without picking up the wraps. This worked very well, and I like how the heel looks. The only problems is I started the heel tooooooooo early. These were supposed to be for my step-dad, but I only did 7 diamonds, and I think the foot part will be too short. They look to be about the length of my foot, but I am assuming his foot his a little longer than mine........now I got think about who has a shorter foot and would like green diamond gansey socks?????? Of course they are about the length of my foot............. what to do? what to do?

Diamond Gansey Socks

Yarn: Spud & Chloe (Cricket)

Needles: size 1 dpn

Toe: Figure 8

Heel: Short row

Bind off: to be announced

Start date: 8/1/09

Finish date: ???

My new goal in life

So, lately, (if you couldn't tell already) I have been obsessed with sock knitting. And have been thinking I want to be an expert at knitting socks. I've also been thinking christmas is never far enough away, and I ALWAYS run out of time before finding somethinng for everyone. So why not combine my 2 goals (1. expert sock knitter 2. have christmas presents for everyone by Christmas) into one goal??? I have been researching different techniques, styles, and patterns and am going to try and use all of these in order to knit a different pair of socks for each person in my family. My son's will be the first pair, as I am more than halfway through, and have used the toe to cuff method. My goal is to have knitted 10 different pairs of socks, each one incorporating a different technique, style, or pattern, by Christmas.

knitting confessions

So, I have been knitting for about 5-6 years and have NEVER knitted a guage swatch. Well, now that I think about it, I think I did knit 1 a couple years back. Not sure if I even knitted the whole thing, but I do remember now that it came out all wrong--and left me even more confused. This may have something to do with my resistance to paying attention to gauge. I also never had the patience for that kind of thing. Spending my time and yarn on something I would never really use, and wasting that time on yarn on something other than creating something beautiful. So, this morning I decided to really look at the guage on the first sock I just finished for my son.....8 spi. Turns out that was the exact guage the pattern I was using called for. I will mention that I had actually used needles one size bigger, than the pattern called for--which was apparently the perfect size. At this point as I have been obsessed with the idea of becoming an expert knitter--so I may just start my journey checking my gauge.

sock knitting techniques

So, I have been looking around at some other sock knitting techniques in order improve my sock knitting skills. I have done a countless number of socks using double pointed needles working from cuff down. So when I started knitting the pink pair of socks for my son I decided to use a toe down patter. I really like this way--no grafting. The only set-back was getting re-aquainted with increases; and I just learned that I need to learn to bind off much looser.
I also had been thinking about knitting another pair using the magic loop method--Im thinking my stitches will look more even on this method. I then saw a book on knitting on socks 2 at a time on 1 circular needle. Wow, I was really excited to try this. But then I got to thinking....2 skeins of yarn going at the trouble would equal a big mess to untangle. Plus, it might ruin one of my favorite aspects of knitting socks: The portability. My socks go EVERYWHERE I go. This may not be as easy when I have 2 socks, and 2 skeins of yarn. There are also many other stich patterns that I have been seeing and want to experiment with., and am not sure if experimenting with a brand new technique AND pattern will be a good idea. So, after getting about 3 new books on different techniques, I am now thinking of sticking with my regular double pointed needle way----although I think I may primarily toe up designs.

D's sock yarn

this is the yarn I am using for my son's pink ankle socks. It is sooooooo soft.

pink socks

I just finished my son's first sock last night. This was the first time I used the toe-up technique, and could definitely use some practice in increases. Unfortunately I ended up getting the yarn in a knot when I first started and had to break a section off, so now there is a line where the color was missing from skipping a section of the yarn. My son's favorite color has been pink for the past 2 years--and he will not budge on this. Maybe he will be the one to make pink truely a masculine color...........or he will grow out of it and hate me for buying/making him anything pink.