Luvsknitting's Blog

Big Foot Has Been Found!

luvsknitting — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:06:27 +0000

Knitting with friends & family. Sharing things that I think about. Sometimes humorous and sometimes not.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Big Foot Has Been Found!

Big Foot has been found! I had foot surgery to remove a painful bunion on June 1st. Now, all I have to do is rest & recuperate. I’m knitting a sweater & a sock. Photos will follow later.

Foot Surgery Soon

luvsknitting — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:11:36 +0000

I’m going to have foot surgery soon to take care of acutely painful and annoying bunion. So, I thought I had better get some new yarn and some new knitting needles to help pass the time while I recuperate with a cast on my foot for about 8-wks.

My order arrived from Webs awhile ago, but I put off casting on until it got closer to my surgery date. I can’t wait any longer and it’s close enough to the first of June for me. I couldn’t wait to play …er…knit with the Regia Bamboo (color 1065). It took me awhile to find the right pattern for this yarn, which has a marbling effect, but I decided to knit the Tidal Wave Socks again. I know….there’s enough sock patterns around that I could probably knit socks for the rest of my life without having to repeat a pattern, but considering that I had gifted the other Tidal Wave socks and I really liked them and the pattern, I figured it was OK to knit another pair and keep them for myself this time.

So far…I’m liking it.

Side note: I’m using Addi Turbos instead of the Inox Cirs, because I’m using size 1 and Inox Cirs aren’t available in 1′s.

Finished Opal Socks and New Knitting Needles-redone

luvsknitting — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:37:08 +0000

I’m not too sure what had happened to my previous post, but I’m re-doing it, so hopefully the photos will show up this time. Thanks Joansie for letting me know. The pics were there last night.

I finished my Winterscape Socks by Kay Redding in Opal Yarn. This pattern was fun & easy to memorize. Kay Redding has a lot of neat sock patterns on her blog: From The Backyard, stop by & say “Hi!”

I’ve kind of lost count of how many socks I’ve made, but now I’m into counting all my rows of my socks, so that they match in size better. I love they way that these feel and fit. They are a little warm for right now.

Last week, I celebrated Mother’s Day & my 50th birthday. For Mother’s Day, my family gave me a new cordless keyboard & cordless mouse or is that a tail-less mouse??? Nice! They also gave me one of those water filters that fits on the kitchen facet. I like ice water and I’m trying to drink more of it. For my 50th B-day, I ordered some new Inox circular knitting needles & some new sock yarn from Webs of Massachusetts, (Not Maine as I had erroneously posted previously).

I’ve never used Inox knitting needles before, so I’m anxious to try them. In my opinion, they’re sort of in between the Knit Picks & the Addi Turbos.

I also ordered Regia Bamboo Yarn & some Comfort Sock Yarn. I haven’t used the Regia Bamboo before, so I’m looking forward to trying it. Now, I’m off to look at some patterns.

Back to Focusing on 2 Different Socks at The SameTime

luvsknitting — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:10:57 +0000

I’m taking a little break from the pink toe-up socks & I’m going back to focusing on 2 Different Socks at The Time.

I really don’t like working with the pink yarn of the toe-up sock, however, I’m anxious to try another toe-up pattern with a different kind of sock yarn. Now, all I have to do is get some more yarn!

Attempting To Do Toe-Up Socks Again-part 3- The Heel

luvsknitting — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:57:30 +0000

OK….so I ended up ripping out the heel & starting over, because the foot was too long & the heel was too high up.

So, I re-did the heel & I decided to try a different type of heel, one without “wrapped sts that needed to be picked up. To knit the heel: I used Priscilla Wild’s method used in

LifestyleToeUpSocks–NoSwatchNeeded by Charisa Martin Cairn.

In my opinion, this is such a neat way to work a heel of a Toe-Up sock.

I don’t have it down perfect yet, but this is a practice sock.

This the pattern on the back of the sock. Boy……is it ever hard to take a photograph of the back of your own leg. LOL! But, I think that you get the idea.

Like I said before, I’m not crazy about this sock….it feels yucky. So, I will make this a short sock just so I get the practice of the ribbing & the Cast off with EZ’s sewn cast off. (please scroll down for EZ sewn cast off).

I Wanted to Share This

luvsknitting — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 05:24:41 +0000

I read this today and I thought it was worth sharing. Please read:

http://lilacknitting.blogspot.com/2009/04/interruption.html

Attempting To Do Toe Up Socks Again-part 2

luvsknitting — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 06:34:43 +0000

I’ve made some more progress on the Toe-Up sock. I got the gusset & the heel done, but I’m not too sure that I’m all that satisfied with it. My young daughter, who is a beginner knitter and who has not even attempted to knit socks yet thinks that the foot is too long. I’m not sure, but she does have a good eye for these sort of things.

So, I’m not sure if I should just continue and start working the leg or…..maybe I should frog back a few rounds and re-check the fit? This is a practice sock and I’m not all the certain that I’m going to proceed with making the second sock. I really dislike this yarn. I ordered it on-line through a craft catolog. It was cheap for a sock yarn. It’s been kicking around in my stash for about 3 yrs., and I just keep using it for practice.

So, I’ll play around with a little bit more, then I’ll decide about Toe-Up socks. If I do like Toe-Up sock knitting, then I’ll try it with a yarn that I do like!

I do need to get back to some other socks that need finishing…..after I get some house work done.

Attempting To Do Toe Up Socks Again

luvsknitting — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:32:18 +0000

I started my journey into the sock-knitting world about 3 yrs. ago. First, I had struggled with trying to figure out how to knit them on DPNs. I just couldn’t figure out what all the fuss and the fascination was about knitting socks. Then, I discovered the technique of knitting socks on 2-Cirs. With a lots of help and encouragement from friends, I had knitted my first pair of socks. They were slightly too big, but I was hooked!

I have about 4 sock books and sock software and all sorts of circular needles and some sock yarn. I discovered the fascination with socks is that there are endless ways to design & create socks. So far, most of the socks that I’ve knitted have been done on 2-Cirs from the Cuff Down and I’ve made a couple pairs of socks using double-pointed needles.

About the same time that I had started to enter the world of socks….I wanted to try everything! Even Toe-Up socks. There are so many ways to cast on for Toe-Ups. I even blogged about it:

Toe-Up Socks….let me count the cast-on ways, but I haven’t had as much success as I had hoped. I’ve had a lot of false starts trying to learn to knit Toe-Ups, and at one point, I kind of resigned myself to the fact, that I’ll probably never be a toe-up sock person. But, I hate being beaten by a knitting technique.

So, there I was, just plugging way with my 2-different socks at the same time, please see previous post and I became bored with all the stockinette knitting involved with the foot part.

Hmm….bored, but needing to knit something…..so back to the drawing board with the toe-up socks, but my cirs were currently in use. Hmm….I know! I’ll really give myself a challenge…I’ll try a toe-up sock on 1-Cir aka Magic Loop!

I found a couple more methods for casting on for toe-up. The first one for from the The Knitting Fiend: Toe of Toe Up Sock, which worked well, but I ended up using this method from Online Knitting Classes by Kristin .

The pattern is called Express Lane by Diane Mulholland. Is pretty easy and it keeps my interest. I’m almost to the point of working on the gusset and the heel, so I’m trying to decide on which method might work the best. My Sock Wizard PC v. 2 has a lot options besides the one that’s offered in the original pattern.

I’m Still Here Knitting

luvsknitting — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:59:15 +0000

I’m still here knitting. I just haven’t had all that much to show or blog about lately. I’m still working on the 2 different socks at a time. I’ve begun to work on the foot (all stockinette) of both of the socks.

With the Easter holiday and the preparation for family and friends and cooking and cleaning; it left me with very little time for knitting.

I also had to make time to go out and get my haircut. I’ve been wearing my hair short for sometime now and I was long over-due for a cut, but yikes! I wasn’t ready for all that gray hair to spring forth! Is that really me? I was just 21 like…..yesterday!

I’m so glad that the Spring is finally here. I will try and get outside with my camera so that I can take some photos of my sock knitting progress. My photos of my knitting seems to show up so much nicer when I take shots of it out doors. My son keeps telling me that’s not why they got me a new digital camera for birthday….so that I can take pictures of my knitting!

I did manage to remember to take my camera with me when my son went to take his driver’s test. Yes! He passed on his first try. He has his driver’s license. Now, all he needs is a job and a car and insurance!

I must be a glutton for punishment….I got a little bored with the socks that I’ve been working on, so I’m attempting to learn/knit socks from the Toe-Up again. More about that later.

2 Different Socks at The Same Time

luvsknitting — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 06:26:10 +0000

No, I’m not trying to start a new fashion trend. I decided to knit 2 different socks alternately. The variegated sock is an Opal yarn that needed to be knitted in plain stockinette, but I was able to find a pattern that had a little bit a variation in it to keep me interested. It’s called Winterscape Socks by Kay Redding of From The Back Yard blog. Check out the Back Yard blogspot. There’s a lot of nice easy sock patterns there. The Winterscape Socks are also available on Ravelry.

The teal sock is Lisa Lloyd’s Pink Ribbons (Breast Cancer Awareness) Socks.

Ravelry Link:

This Teal Ribbon Sock is close & dear to my heart. Teal is the color for Ovarian Cancer Awareness & I have 2 loved ones that are survivors of this silent killer of women.

This sock is so much fun to knit. I love knitting cables & this fits the bill for me.

Close-up of Cables:

The details: Both socks are being knitted on their own sets of 2-Cirs. I knit about 10 rounds of 1 sock, then I might switch off & knit about 10 rounds of the other sock.

Winterscape Socks: (Opal yarn)

Addi Turbo’s: Cirs, size 2, CO 64 sts, then dec. 60 sts for the rest of sock.

Teal Ribbon Socks: (Baby Ull Dalegarn) (wonderfully soft!) CO 62 sts

1 Knit Pick Cir, size 3 & 1 Addi Turbo, size 3. The original pattern is written for DPN’s, but I’m knitting on 2-Cirs, then I switched to DPNs for the heel, because the sts. needed to be rearranged so that the ribbons are positioned on the side of the leg. After I re-positioned the sts for the heel, I switched back to using 2-Cirs. I just found it easier for me to do it this way.

No Second Sock Syndrome (x2) for me!

Thanks to Wendy form Wendy’s Knits for the idea of using a stitch holder & a stitch counter on the socks!