I was so excited I ballled it up without taking a picture of the unwound skein. Oops. I'll be sure to take a photo of the skein from the April kit. The colorway is called "Monsoon" and it is inspired by the forest and rain in the Pacific Northwest. Other people are complaining of camouflage overtones, but living here in TN, I totally understand. The greys and browns are lovely, but the greens are my favorite.
Since this pattern was written to allow the use of dpns, two circs, or Magic Loop, I decided to try the 2 circs. After knitting a little while with my friends over at the church on Tuesday I headed over to Threaded Bliss for some Addi Turbos.
Side note: This was going to be my first adult-sized pair of socks. I took a sock class a few weeks ago where we knitted a child's sock with size 5 dpns in worsted weight. No problem. Feeling confident a few days later, I grabbed a ball of Sockata out of my stash, grabbed my size 2 dpns and thought I'd knit a pair of socks for Doug. Now, I know there are a lot of knitters out there who love their dpns--David, if you read this, I love ya and you are still my guru, but all those little needles made me NUTS! I hated them, and I am a pretty easy-going person. I cast on about three times before I gave up. I think if I could start on circs and switch to the dpns after a couple of inches I'd be okay, but I just quit before I lost an eye...
Okay, so here I am with my beautiful, squishy yarn, new Addis, and my pattern for a toe-up cabled sock. Given the above experience with dpns, I wanted to learn to knit socks on 2 circulars. I read through the pattern a few times, called Blue Moon and spoke to the designer (they are top-notch with customer service), checked out the club member blog, got more confused, watched Knitting Help videos, and took a deep breath. Whew! Sometimes, when a pattern looks intimidating it helps me to just start. Do one step at a time and trust the pattern. So I did. Hold on to your knitting---here is my First Sock, First Toe-Up, First 2 Circs, toe:
I am so proud I think my feet aren't touching the ground and it's FUN! I know, it kinda looks like a...um, ...a mushroom. Yeah that's it, it looks like a mushroom. Check out the Yarn Harlot's blog from March 16 for more (and better) humor on this rather unusual toe. Apparently, this pattern is causing quite a stir for those who are knitting this project in public. heehee
In any case, I LOVE my sock, LOVE the yarn and how it is pooling, and mostly, I LOVE knitting socks on 2 circulars. It's like going from a manual transmission to an automatic. And with about 300 fewer "intersections"! (no ladders!) Vrooom!
Back to knitting while Rachel is in school...Check back for more pics soon!
2 comments:
The cables are fairly easy. Just remember to breathe! Loosen up, use even bigger needles, and use a cable needle (or one of those double points you didn't like) to hold the 6 stitches you are going to twist around the 5 you knit first. There WILL be a hole where the twist happens. I am at that point on sock one. I've used DPN's, a 12" ADDI, and am now using two circulars for the leg.
I happen to LOVE the dpns!! It will help to start in two circ and then change to the dpns after you have it established for practice. I taught myself dpns when I was working on my first hat, and they were the large metal Susan bates ones, and they kept slipping out! But now I have tried 2 circs, magic loop and dpns and know I like dpns. as far as laddering goes, at each needle change, just knit the first two stitches and then pull them REALLY tight before you knit the third, and you will be fine.. you really need to do the same at the break in the two circs or you will have the same problem. Love the sock!
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