I've been teaching myself to knit socks. This first one, shown here, was completely knit and re-knit maybe three times until I got it right. There was shrieking; there was hair-pulling. The dogs quickly learned that when the sock came out, they left the room.
However, the second sock (since finished) turned out to be an absolute breeze. All my hard-learned lessons--manipulating all those little poky needles, making heel flaps, turning the heel, working the gusset, and decreasing for the toe--just came together smoothly and the second sock was done practically painlessly. After all, I made all the possible mistakes on the first one!
The design looks a lot more complicated than it actually is, because it is made with self-striping yarn that gives it almost a Fair Isle look, when all along it is just straight knitting, right from the ball of yarn.
Yarn: Heart and Sole by Red Heart. 70% wool superwash, 30% nylon. It has aloe vera added! The pattern called for 2 balls, but there was a lot left over from the second one.
Pattern: LW 1619 Self-Striping Knit Socks (downloadable for free).
7 comments:
But did you finish it with my nemesis, the kitchener?
Beautiful! And beautiful photo on your homepage.
Oh, Mary, the Kitchener Stitch! The first time was a nightmare; the second... still a nightmare! I finally found some directions that made sense to me, but somehow remember reading elsewhere that the stitches should not all be drawn up until the end. Not so, not so, cries the embittered and weeping sock knitter.
It is almost impossible to draw up the stitches at the end, as they come from such mysterious places. As much as I decry the overuse of the word "epic" these days, I have to tell you it was a struggle of EPIC proportions. I used a lighted magnifying thingy hanging around my neck. I used every tiny tool I own (and dropped them, lost them, found them). I worked and worked at finding the source of each loopy piece of yarn. I worked for hours. I frightened the dogs once again with my shrieking and gnashing. Bill retreated to his man cave.
With only the last two loops remaining, I then found myself in a struggle of MYTHIC proportions. These loops were infinite, with no beginning, no end. Hours into the search for the ying and the yang of my leftover loops, I finally (looking over my shoulder) compromised. The last two stitches of my sock project, and I compromised. I pulled the loops to the inside and, muttering and weeping, sewed the dang things together.
I will never be able to show these socks to my knitting group. I will probably have to limp when wearing them because of that bad final toe graft.
Mary, Mary. You saw right through me. You knew I spoke too soon about sailing right through that second sock. Bring sock knitting when you visit. We can practice wailing and gnashing.
And, Auntie, thank you. I wish my header photo showed the green bark of that palo verde tree a little better. It was amazing.
How do you wash them ? Hand or machine ...
I never learned to knit. So, I am in awe of your talent.
JC, after what I've been through with these socks, I plan to wash them by hand. I left them on the table in the living room last night and the cats played with them. Yikes.
Two sock knitters wailing and gnashing... Sounds like Dante's seventh ring of the Inferno. Bill has it right, to the Man Cave!!!
You're doing a great job with the socks. I like the colours too. I haven't graduated from dishcloths yet though I did knit one or two pair of slippers some time back ;-)
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