The second sock... for the second time!

I finished my second sock about a week or two ago, and I was excited, of course, especially as it had gone so quickly. So I eagerly tried it on, and it was HUGE. Realized I forgot to do two decreases in the gusset. Are you kidding?? Haha, what a stupid mistake. The pattern explicitly says "make sure you have 12 stitches on each needle", and I definitely counted, but I finished up the foot with 14 stitches on two of the needles. Boy, oh boy.

It was way too big for me to wear. How annoying, right?? So I asked Elizabeth what I should do. Her words of wisdom: "I was reading this book about knitting one time and it said that part of making projects you like is being willing to rip out and redo them over and over until they're right." Well, I listened to my wise, patient knitting partner and unraveled the foot of my sock. Redoing it really took me no time, and I am very glad I did it because now I can actually wear them.

I like them!! And see? They fit! Actually, though, they don't fit perfectly. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm definitely pleased with how they came out, but here's the deal. The smaller sock (on my right foot) seems to fit better, but the heel seems to slide up as if the length of the bottom of the sock is too short. But the top looks perfect.

The sock on my left foot kind of looks big on the top, but the heel sits in the right place on my foot. E, do you have this problem? I think next time I'll try adding a row or two to the bottom of the sock and THEN start the toe. Oh, but that might not work on second thought. Hmm. I can't quite picture it. Maybe I'll ask the people at the Knit Nook what they think. I wish I were working there this summer.. sigh.

Now, the stripes (see pic to left). I think they turned out better this sock around, at least by the end. I know I messed up a few times and forgot to slip a stitch or something, but when I did it right, the diagonal line was much less noticeable this time. I guess it was just practice that helped. But I'm still going to see if I can find a better way to do stripes. Oh, and I wish I had thought to make the diagonal line go down the SIDE of the sock instead of right smack dab in the middle of the front.

I love these socks. I really do. They were a fun, quick project and I think they're adorable. The yarn I used (Lion Brand Microspun in Mango and Purple) is comfy and it was nice to knit with because it is pretty soft.

Now I'll leave you with a picture of my socks matching oh so well with my orange slippers. It just makes me so happy. Aren't they cheery?


Love, T

PS- Do you like my white sheet and natural lighting?

One Down...

I finished the first of my 2nd pair of socks, and I love blogging, and it doesn't happen often enough (come on, people, let's get knitting!!), so I thought I'd blog. This is my first experiment with different colors. I just did stripes of different widths with purple and orange yarn. The colors are a little shocking, but I think with the pattern it works alright. Aaaand, look how adorable the colors are with my orange slippers!!

The yarn I used is really soft so it was fun to knit, and this sock went pretty quickly, which is nice. I used one of the patterns from E's book. I forget which one it is.. the most simple one, 48 stitches, a little ribbing at the top, stockinette the rest of the way. Same ol', same ol'. I used the same toe I used on the second sock last time. I love that toe. My kitchener's stitch turned out almost flawless this time (picture to the left). I'm so pumped. I followed the instructions here, which I assume is the way I tried doing kitchener's last time, but for some reason it worked a lot better this time. There is a little bump in the middle, but for the most part the seam is unnoticeable.


Now, the colors deal. It wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be. Or, rather, just not as perfect as I'd hoped. I found two methods here to do "jogless stripes" because when you knit in the round, the stripes end up being one stitch off. My pictures and that website probably explain it better than I could. I tried both methods while knitting. The first one (stationary jogless stripes) didn't look very good. It was just really obvious that one of the columns was getting shorter and shorter. It was weird. Ick.

The second method (traveling jogless stripes) was better, but still noticeable. The website warns that a spiral will start to be seen, and it is. That's annoying. But it is less obvious than the first way. I don't know, I'll keep surfing the web and see if I can find anything else. If I do I'll try it out on my second sock and let you all know.

Well I think that's all I've got for now.

OH ! NO. I lied. So there's this sweet online network called Ravelry. It is a bunch of knitters, and you can get a profile and upload patterns and pictures of stuff you've knitted for everyone to look at. I just joined, and have surfed around on it a little bit, and it seems pretty cool and useful. They have a waiting list or something to register with the website, but it only takes a week or two for you to get the email to go join, and it's completely free! I recommend.

Happy summer. Finally lots of time to knit!