first socks 2013

During the post reno cleanup last week, it was a little difficult to find time to work on my first sock, but I did manage to get some work done on it.

I was able to finish the heel flap:

and complete the heel turn:

I have to say, the heel turn was not as difficult as I thought it would have been (unless of course I’m not doing something right … LOLOL!). Since this is my first sock, I just followed the instructions as written. I did have one extra stitch when I was done, but I figure I’d just fudge it and decrease it when I’m doing the gusset decreases.

This week coming up should give me some time in the evening to work on this one so my goal is to finish this by the upcoming weekend.

What are you working out now that the summer heat is hot, sweltering and sizzling? 😀

… and I did with great results. 😀

For the last year, I’ve been trying to knit socks. I tried it with dpns; I felt as if I was fighting with a porcupine. Plus the ladders were as wide as a tightrope so that method was just not cutting it. Then I tried magic loop. Honestly, some days, magic loop worked for me, other days… I have no idea what the heck happened. 😳 But even with those dismal attempts, that didn’t stop me from wanting to make socks!

When I was asked about knitting socks, I typically responded: “my name is Nicky, and I’ve NEVER knit a sock. That doesn’t stop me from buying sock yarn or saving sock patterns or reading sock books.” For the last 6 months, a couple of times per week, this was my bedtime reading:

I’d drool over the patterns, try to work out the popular techniques (dpns & magic loop) but my progress was not consistent enough for me to actually start making socks. 😦 After a while, I was beginning to think that I was slow! 😛 I just couldn’t understand how these techniques connected well for other knitters but not for me. But I’ve since learned that everything is not for everyone and I just needed to persevere and find what works for me.

One day I was going through “Getting Started Making Socks” by Ann Budd. This was gifted to me in one of the first swaps I ever participated in on Ravelry . The index card my swap partner attached to that gift fell out and it reminded me that she knit socks with a 9 inch circular needle. Of course that had me scouring the internet, Ravelry and Youtube. From each source, I got invaluable resources; this post by Kara of Rockin’ Granola and these videos from Pat Springer (now dubbed Sock Knitting Rockstar by me 😀 ), pushed me over the 9 inch edge and sock knitting became a real possibility for me. Then I thought of all the other fun stuff I could do with these small diameter needles — fingerless mittens, sleeves — woooooooooooooo weeeeeee!!! 😀

I ordered some 9 inch Chiaogoo needles from Handsome Fibers and some Hiya Hiyas from Pat (which the post office claims they delivered but I haven’t gotten mail for the last four days and they don’t know what happened to the packet … ughhh 🙄 ). Since the Chiaogoos got to me in three days, I was ready to start. 😀

I’m not going to lie, it took a little practice to get use to the diameter of the 9 inch needles but once I loosened the death grip that I typically have on my needles, I was off and flying! 😀 And before long … I had this:

the beginning of my first pair of socks. 😀 Right now, I’m following Pat’s videos and doing a basic, vanilla pattern. I figure I’d get myself familiarized with sock construction and knitting before I begin busting out the patterns from my other sock books. Since there’s not much out there on knitting socks with such small needles, I know I’ll have to make some adjustments when knitting other patterns, since they are not customised for these needles. But I don’t care … I’m just glad that I can actually do this!!!

This week got even better craft-wise:

I got my new W.I.P basket (just beeeyoutiful :D), bought cheapo placemats from Ikea and made sock blockers using this tutorial (ain’t they pretty 😀 ), tried on my sock on my home-made sock blocker, and got yarn I ordered two weeks ago to make Andi Satterlund’s Miette to replace my VS cropped sweater that had bitten the dust. Some Berroco Lustra; just lovely! (Don’t even ask about coldsheeping — I restarted that as at June 25th 😛 ) Couldn’t ask for a better week craft wise.