Ironic musings

I had wanted to learn to knit a long time before I actually sat down and learned.  I loved the way knitted stitches looked, I liked the way the patterns formed, the versatility, the fabric created.  But there was one item I saw many years ago that I just had to make for myself that really got me motivated to learn how to knit for myself.  It was a beautiful blanket I saw someone using that was made of grey ragg, which is a type of yarn that has a color thread twisted with a white one.  It was so pretty and it stuck with me.

I learned to knit on some super cheap yarn I picked up at Michael's, the same stuff I had learned how to crochet on.  Horrible, scratchy, awful stuff.  But, knowing how to knit meant I could make my blanket.  I researched how much yarn I would need, what kind, what the color combination was called.  I went to Zellers, which had a great yarn selection, found huge balls of Bernat in a perfect grey ragg and bought three of them, more than enough to make a good-sized blanket.

I thought I should probably practice a bit first, get my technique down, my tension evened out.  So I started making scarves and other bits and pieces.  I got entirely sidetracked.  Now I am in a fit of sock knitting.  In going through my stash the other day to find my beginner sock yarn, guess what I found?

Yep, that grey ragg, the very yarn that first motivated me to start knitting in the first place. Still unused, still waiting.

Yarn like groceries

What?!

Ok, lemme explain.

When I go get groceries, it is usually because we are just about at the point of having to drink ketchup.  My fridge is either brimming, where I have to open the door, throw something in and close the door really fast to prevent it from falling out, or it's completely empty.  So, when we go grocery shopping, I come home with all this loveliness.  Wonderful, crisp, fresh produce.  Delicious cuts of meat.  Spices, sauces, marinades, dressings.

That being the case, I usually want to just sit down on the floor and eat everything all at once.  I have bought enough for several meals, but I want to just consume it all because it all looks so yummy.

I have found I am exactly the same with my yarn.  I go to the store and buy yarn for a new project that may be down the line and I immediately want to abandon everything else I have on the go and start knitting with all the new yarns at once.  This is physically impossible, I know.  It doesn't stop me from wanting it nonetheless.

This is my current dilemma.  I learned how to knit socks and I promptly want to only knit socks with all the delicious new yarns I bought expressly for that purpose.  But I also have hat patterns that I want to try now that I can knit with dpns.  I have the perfect yarn for that tucked in my stash, of course.  And then there is the neon blanket to make.  Plus, there are the other projects and orders I have going.

Sigh.

I have settled on four.  The neon blanket won out because it is just a brainless pattern I can just zone out on, the pair of short heel row socks I had already started, the linen stitch scarf I started for myself and the giant gypsy shawl I am making for my sister.

Think that's enough for now?

The danger of Michael's

This is entirely my sister's fault.  Ok, not completely.  But mostly.

I haven't shopped at Michael's in ages.  This is primarily based on the fact that I have developed a severe case of yarn snobbery and don't buy acrylic anymore.  However, after the sock success, I felt the need to grab some cheap yarn to practice on.  Back to the basics, I guess you could call it.  I didn't want to waste yummy yarn on my clumsy sock learning process.  One day I will be proficient enough to spend $30 on luxury sock yarn, but I need to practice first.

Doesn't it just figure?  The yarn I had fallen in love with for my first pair of socks - Bernat Sox - has been discontinued by the company.  This stuff was great - super soft and squishy, warm and lovely.  Nope, gone.  I'm glad I grabbed three from wherever I bought them.

Off I went to Michael's to find something to work with.  First round resulted in a couple balls of Patons Kroy Sock Yarn in Clover Colors and Lion Brand Sock Ease in a blend of pinks (no surprise there), but overall I found their sock yarn selection a bit limp. I suppose I have been a bit spoiled by the Needle Emporium having an entire room of sock yarn.

The problem came when I walked into the larger Michael's store in our area which has a substantially larger yarn selection that the other one, and walked right into a whole new line of Caron Simply Soft in the most gorgeous neon shades.  I'm an 80's baby; how could I resist this?  So besides my sock yarn, I walked out with five neon colors of the Simply Soft to make me a fun blanket.

Then doesn't my sister message me a few days later and say, oh hey, Michael's has a big sale on yarn.  Everything on sale and coupons and everything.

Aw, man.

Off I went again, husband in tow to help me exercise some measure of control.  I had plans to grab black for the neon blanket as a contast color, and while I was there I decided to check out if they had restocked their sock yarn.  They hadn't, but I realized I had missed an entire line of yarn I hadn't realized was a sock weight.  It's by Loops and Threads, had stunning colors, was incredibly soft, had a ridiculous yardage of 678 yards (can you say knee highs?) and was only $3!!

This is the denim, which I bought two of, and the purple.  I also got a color called Mauve which was entirely misnamed because it is a garnet red.  Who names this stuff? A neon blue and purple Caron Simply Soft were added to the blanket colors as well, which now consists of pink, yellow, green, coral, orange, blue, purple and black.

Oh the potential.....It's a good thing hubby came along.  

Sock SUCCESS!!

I made socks!  Look, look!

Ok, I know, not a huge deal to countless knitters out there.  However, this was a monster for me.  I tried early on to knit with dpns and cast them down in frustration. I used them as stitch holders on other projects for the most part.   Dpns were my knitting nemesis.  That being the case, I was limited with what I could do.  Flat, rectangular or triangular items, or ones with enough of  a circumference to be completed on circular needles.  But socks were always in the background, taunting me, whispering rude insults directed at my knitting prowess.  They needed to be put in their place.

So I tried "Magic Loop".  What is this??  I don't know who thought this weirdness up or why it is so crazy popular among the knitting community, but I hated it even more than dpns.  For those who don't know, you basically knit in a circle of any size by using a super long circular needle but only two needles.  You knit on one, then pull the cord through and knit on the other one.  Weird, awkward, awful.  I was annoyed and put off.  But wandering about on Ravelry I kept seeing these "easy" sock patterns.  Grrr.

THEN! HA!  In my internet meanderings I found someone who said that if you have difficulty using a set of four dpns, try five.  Five?  Five.  You put your stitches on four needles instead of three.  Huh....this made sense to me.  A square turns out a better circle than a triangle (I'm sure there is some complicated knitting physics involved there) and most patterns use a stitch number that is divisible by four, not three.  Hmmmm....I was intrigued.

Time for a trip to my LYS.

There, I met this wonderful little firecracker of a lady.  She was tiny, round and elderly, but that wasn't slowing her down!  I had never met her before; it has always been the owner and another younger lady working there.  I told her my frustration with making socks and she proceeded to tell me six wonderful tips...

1) Knit with five needles instead of four.  (Better circle from a square, she tells me.)
2) Knit your cuff first, or at least about an inch of the top of the sock, flat, not joined in the round.  That way you have some stability to keep your needles from flopping all over the place. It's easy to seam up that little gap afterwards.
3) Use a grippier type of material.  Metal is slippery but the Hiya Hiya stainless steel needles she recommended oddly enough are not anywhere as much.
4) Keep the two needles you are working with ABOVE the other needles.  That way the others just kind of hang out without being bothersome. And if you have the right needles, they won't slide out of the stitches.
5) Focus only on the needles you are using at the moment.  That means two.  Don't worry about all those other needles.  Don't try to handle all of them at once.  If you aren't working with them, they are essentially stitch holders.  Ignore them.
6) To prevent ladders (a line of loose stitches created when you move from one needle to the next), tug on the SECOND stitch in, not the first.

Well then.  I bought two sets of Hiya Hiyas - one stainless and one bamboo and off I went with a new sense of cando.  This is going to work.  I cast about online for a good stretchy cast on so that I could actually get these socks on my feet if they ever actually became a finished pair, and found the German Cast On. Figured out which one of these "easy" patterns I was going to attempt. Cast on....knit an inch flat...divided the stitches onto four needles and joined in the round.

Wait a tick...I CAN do this!!

Yes, I had to tear out and redo sections (part of this was due to the fact that the pattern I was using had one line of instructions reversed and I tried it three times thinking I was doing something wrong before I realized the pattern was goofed), but slowly, slowly, it turned into a sock.  I ended up combing two separate patterns simply because once I realized the one had that error, the pattern I found to fix it had some portions written clearer and vice versa.  I finished that first sock while visiting my parents, my dad sitting on the couch beside me, watching me intently as I neared the end. My Kitchener stitch toe wasn't the prettiest, but I did it!  I had knit a sock!

This success opens up a whole new world of knitting.  Thanks to that wonderful little knitter at the yarn shop, I can now not only knit socks, but being able to knit properly on dpns without endless frustration means I can knit hats, mitts, gloves and sleeves.  Oh dear.  I think I am in trouble.  I already have three giant binders full of patterns, based entirely on the fact that I couldn't knit with dpns.

I have now finished the second sock as shown in the picture at the top and have started my second pair.  Like anything, the first pair was a major learning experience and I am expecting the second set to go a bit smoother.  I have found that overall, I have to use a needle size one down from the recommend size on the yarn label, and that seems to be true with socks as well as these turned out to be a bit big and more like a slipper sock. On this pair I am using the same yarn as the first, but with a size down of needle.  This means trying the bamboo Hiya Hiya set I purchased and I am finding I really don't like them at all.  I will be buying stainless dpns from now on.

I have investigated different ways to do toes and heels and the pattern I am doing now is a different kind of heel.  My first pair I did used a heel flap and gusset which looks like this.  The current pattern is called a short row heel, which basically has a single diagonal line across the heel and looks like a sock you would buy in the store.  It is supposedly quicker and easier than a flap and a gusset, but it requires me to learn the wrap and turn technique.  Eeep!  We'll see how that goes.  I have about an inch of the cuff done, so I am a ways off from having to work the heel.

Funny how Michael's just happened to have a major yarn sale as I finished the second sock...

Another linen completed

This seems to be a trend.  I make a linen scarf to order for someone and another person sees it and wants one too.  No problem for me; it's one of my favorites to do.  There is something very addicting and satisfying about watching the colors come together and produce such a lovely fabric.  This one was done in Madeline Tosh Sock, color Whisky Barrel.  This is a weird yarn.  It feels expensive and lush but when you knit with it, it somehow feels smooth and sticky at the same time.  Luxury with a bit of grab?  I can't put my finger on it, but I am not loving this one.  Maybe it's that the fabric that I am used to linen stitch creating is usually soft and flowy like cloth, but this turned out stiffer than I am used to.  I'm not really sure. I love their color palette, but for the money I think I would hesitate to use this line again for a linen stitch scarf.  Nevertheless, the customer loved it and wears it on a regular basis, although he had to be shown how to tie it properly as he had never worn a scarf before.  Apparently his mother tried to steal it, so I may have another order coming my way before too long.  :)