Getting past the cast on

I finally have cast on enough to make a toe and it's actually looking something like a sock. I decided for this first one I'm going to use a basic pattern while I'm trying to figure this out.

 I'm not all fond of patterns.  I have a hard time remembering where I left off. I do have some help with that though.  I'm fond of Knit Minder Lite.  It lets me have multiple stitch counters per project. Yay!  I just have to remember to hit the button at the same time to finish the round/row.  I have a few short term memory issues.

So... the pattern I'm using... Simple Toe Up Socks  by Melanie Fraser aka Shoediva.  It's a good basic sock with easy to follow instructions.

Here's where I am so far...

The yarn is Patons Kroy Sock yarn in the Denim Jacquard color way.  I purchased it at Michael's Arts and Crafts (your welcome for the plug dh).

Show Me

Now that my finger has healed to the point where I can knit with a band-aid.  With the book I began figure out the cast on.  While the pictures were good and helpful I'm a person who needs to be shown how to do something. Which is a little rough when all the groups in town tend to meet at a time when I'm usually at work. And it really doesn't help that my schedule is not regular at best.

 My next stop was YouTube.  My search term was "Toe Up Socks."   Here is where I discovered Very Pink Knits .  She has a 4 video tutorial on toe up socks as well as many other techniques I look forward to trying.   She starts with the provisional cast on.



I wasn't very fond of that technique.  It has it's uses but it stressed me out trying to get the scrap yarn out.

I've heard such good things about Judy's Magic Cast On. I found this video from Knit Purl Hunter.



I did watch Cat Bordhi's tutorial as well but that left me with questions that this one answered.  I think this is it. Time to cast on.

Learning to Knit Socks

My goal this week was to really delve into learning to knit socks in a quest to never hear the phrase "Mama it has bit hiiiilllsss!"  This is my daughter every time I try to put shoes... and socks on her feet.  Lately, it has graduated to "Mountains Mama!" lately. Em has decided that she doesn't like the seams on the top of commercially made socks.


 I was more than a little derailed early in the week as I decided to wash my hands in the dish water and forgot that I put the chef's knife in there.  Yep, there is a big ol' gash in my middle finger.  It has such perfect placement that I could easily stick a 2.5mm needle in there and scream in agony as I try to keep the blood off the yarn. And nope band aids don't really help.


I decided to make good use of my time to do the research to figure out how to do this.  Quite a while ago I heard on the Knit Picks podcast and interview with a designer, the name completely escapes me at the moment, and she extolled the virtues of toe-up sock knitting. I am someone who likes doing the hard part of a project first.  This sounded perfect way to start for me. 


The first stop was the library.  Tulsa library has a fairly good selection of knitting books. This is where I discovered Wendy Johnson and "Socks From the Toe Up".  She breaks down with nice illustrations how to do each step of the process.  Ok, now I'm inspired!  


 A month ago I had bought some needles (dpns and circular). I bought some sock yarn from the hubby's store in preparation for this.  I now have to hurry up and wait for the finger to heal. *sigh*

Tips and Tails

My first work with more than one color. It's the small left overs of other projects I've done. It's all Caron Simply Soft. All I did was one back and forth in each color but man-o-man keeping track of the balls was not fun. No matter my attempts to arrange the balls they continued to tangle me. I don't think I could do fair aisle work. That's a lot of little balls to keep track of.

The next project (s).... The challenging project will be learning to do socks. The comforting project is a variation on the diagonal lace project.

Finished Object!!

Ok, here it is... My first lace project.

Up close...

This was really easy to do! It's a basic 6 row repeat. It didn't take me long to learn the pattern so that I didn't have to read it all the time and keep track with my counter. I love the hand of it with the Simply Soft. I'm pondering expanding this to shawl size.

But for now onto the next learning project. Knitting with 2 colors...

What's new

I finished the knitting on the diagonal lace scarf. I still need to block it. I'm excited to see how it will turn out. It wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I expected. I'm now looking for the next knitting challenge. In the meantime I am bound and determined to finish the diagonal market bag. I've simplified the pattern and it is going faster. It would be flying by if I could follow the pattern. I'm still having to rip back fairly often as I am a dork and can't seem to pay attention enough to get the proper number of double crochet in the proper order. Sigh. Must press onward. Pictures coming soon when the pattern on the bag is more visible.

Diagonal Lace and the Market Bag

My current lunchtime project is My first foray into lace. It's a lovely and simple diagonal lace scarf by Helena Frank @ Midnight Purls. I was smart and did a swatch as I've never really done this kind of knitting before. Here are the results--

It is Caron's Simply Soft. It seems to be an odd choice as most knitters go for the natural fibers or at least blends, only using man made fibers sparingly so as to enhance the natural fibers. The two things I really like about the yarn are the hand and the feel after it's blocked. It lives up to the "soft" moniker. The drape of the swatch is so smooth. I used size 8 needles and blocked it with the iron instead of the steamer. Most of stuff I've blocked with the steamer still curl a bit. So, far not a curl with this swatch.

And then there is the market bag I've started. Check here to see my travails with this thing. Well, I've decided to frog the whole thing and start over. I've gone back to the bottom base and started the pattern over again simplifying the non-diagonal parts and the sides. Pics of that progress are coming soon. I don't have anything to show yet.