Wednesday, April 7, 2010

So I can't come up with a catchy title today...

that doesn't mean I don't have anything to write about, right?  I should be upstairs, deep cleaning the bedroom...but I'm procrastinating.  I do have a couple things to share, after all.

Yesterday, I did some serious sock knitting on the Butterfly Garden socks.  A couple years back, Knit Picks offered these awesome kits - six months worth of yarn and sock patterns, so you could do a sock a month.  They also had a KAL on their site.  I got all excited...I ordered both kits - a whole freakin' year of cool socks!...I joined the KAL.  I even did all this in January, so I was on track to knit right through the year.  Then I got my kits and dug out the yarn and the pattern for January.  And I was stopped cold in my tracks.  Toe-up socks?  What the SamHill are toe-up socks?  What's a "backward loop CO"???  The instructions I found on the internet just didn't make sense, and I was too embarrassed to post on the KAL I'd just joined and say, "I've got no frickin' idea how to do any of this.  HELP!!!!!!"  So, I tossed it all in the closet and tried to forget I ever thought I'd be able to knit socks. 

If you've been reading my blog even semi-regularly, you know that what that really meant was the idea was simply marinating in my brain, among all the other ideas that ferment up there till one day they pop to the forefront of my consciousness like a big bubble of determination.  I WILL figure out a backward loop CO!!!  I SHALL KNIT SOCKS!!!!  You can insert a video of Mel Gibson in "Braveheart" here...or John Belushi in "Animal House"...yer pick...I'll sit here and scritch Wilbur's belly till you get the mental image you prefer.  Got it?  Okay...

Just like that old adage about the teacher appearing when the student is ready, or perhaps the knitter having developed a certain level of concentration that just wasn't there a couple years ago (I'm betting on this one!), when I got the pattern out a couple weeks ago and looked at it again...it just wasn't nearly so intimidating.  I perused a couple books on sock knitting and of course checked the internet for that pesky backward loop CO...and it all made sense!  I grabbed my needles, cast on a toe, knit for about 2", then tried on the sock...it was too big.  Frogged it, went down to #1 needles and started over again..and the results (so far) are below. I am a proud sockmamabear!  Yes...there are a few holes...it's my first, remember...
Is this an awesome toe, or what?
Yes...there's a little hole where the heel meets the instep...sigh...
Nice heel...even if the instructions were a little confusing...
Instep with lace pattern
So...all I need to do is finish the leg, and my first sock will be done!!!  And you KNOW you'll be seeing lots of pictures of it.

Last week, Discontinued Brand Name Yarn was offering the chance to win an Easter basket full of delicious (and not nearly as fattening as candy!) yarn with every order.  Who could pass that up, right?  Sad to say, I didn't win the basket, but the yarn arrived yesterday, and I love it as much as if it were a whole basket of yarn.  It is, after all 996 yards of Indie Dyer Supersock Lace in the most amazing Emerald City colorway.
This yarn is so soft!!!
Auntie Em!!!  Auntie Em!!!
Pay no attention to that woman behind the yarn skein...
Yarn porn at its finest...Happy knitting!

2 comments:

  1. Nice socks! It's addictive........be careful!!!

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  2. You can take a little crochet hook and close up that little hole by the heel. It's pretty easy with a little finessing.

    The pattern on the instep is lovely. Congrats on almost finishing your very first sock.

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