First KAL Finished YAY me!

Well for my first KAL, I think I did alright!  I had a lot of fun doing this and enjoyed the discussion boards.  The project was a small one and knit level - intermediate - I didn't want to overwhelm myself on my first KAL and go to far outside of my experience level.  I look at each pattern as an opportunity to learn something new, within reason of course LOL

The first mitt went pretty quick, while the right mitt took me a bit longer.  Not entirely sure why, And of course the rounds I tinked back for the left mitt stands out in neon lights to me. Might have been better off frogging it back and doing it again, but this is acceptable and isn't making my OCD twitch to bad - just a quick tick here and there,

There is a shawl KAL and this fingerless mitts KAL to choose from. A friend of mine has been knitting them up lately and they are beautiful and tweaked my interest, Shawls require more yarn than mitts.  I've decided that new projects need to come from my stash whenever and where ever possible, and there just wasn't enough for the shawl.  Least with the fingerless mitts, I've made mitts before, even wrote my own pattern - so there is a base to work from there.  AND I had more than enough of this yarn for the project  I didn't even use the whole skein for these mitts

The cuff is really unusual and unique.  There are a gazillion 1x1 cable stitches in there - drove me a bit batty to do that many itty bitty cable stitches.  It creates a comfortable fit around the wrists that goes further up the arm and covers more area.  Also goes down the fingers just to the knuckles.  One thing I did not do was change needle sizes for the ribbing at the top and for the thumb.  I would rather it be larger than way to tight - larger is easy to fix with a bit of elastic

I do have smaller hands than most adults.  I can wear children's gloves and mitts comfortably.  I made these in the size that it was written for with no modifications.  Shocking right? I actually did not make one modification LOL    You can see how the mitts are a bit long for my hand as the pattern gets a bit lost fitting my hand - they do not feel overly large or loose - quite comfy actually.   The decision to use US2 for the thumb was ideal.  I believe that if I had changed needle size, it would be way to snug around the thumb



The pattern is very delicate and feminine without being girly.  I've been finding myself drawn towards lacy and cable patterns lately.  Gives you just enough of a challenge without it to much over the top or boring.

The designer Qianer Huang has some beautiful patterns and I'll be keeping my eyes open for other KALs that she has going on.  First I want to finish the socks I stopped half way through and get back to my blanket.  Starting to feel a bit guilty about that, although having more and more socks speaks louder than my guilt LOL

Blossomlace KAL Progress

Have you ever had one of those days (weeks .. months) where it seemed nothing worked - not even a smidge??  It's rather been like that for me for the past 2 weeks.  I've been battling a bug.  This critter has my throat so swollen my Dr thought I had tonsils!!!  Good Grief!  Well ibuprofen, cepecal, neo citron and sleep - LOTS of sleep got me to the point where I can at least concentrate again.  Still feeling ick, but better.

I was tinking more than I was knitting while dealing with this critter at it's height - so I put it down and just gave into the inevitable and slept for two days LOL  No I don't feel totally rested, still tired, but not fighting to stay awake at least.

I wasn't in the mood to watch tv or a movie, so I found an app that reads epub (digital format for books) outloud, loaded up my book, grabbed my project and got to work.  I'm very proud of my self as I only tinked back twice and managed to get 10 rounds done :S  YAY me!!!!

It was a total win-win for me!!  Got to 'read' my book and got some rounds done on the left mitt.  The pattern is starting to show  - not quite enough as to be totally visible, but enough so you get the idea.  Another 15 rows and I start the thumb!  That is my goal for today - the thumb - and if I get further along then kudos to me ;D

Ravelry link - 1st KAL
KAL Group - HiyaHiya Patterns

1st KAL - fingerless mitts

I'm so giddy!! I've been wanting to participate in a KAL for so long, but I kept managing to miss them. For once I checked my ravelry messages in time and got the invite to participate in HiyaHiya Patterns KAL - There was two choices for the KAL - A shawl (which is absolutely gorgeous) or a cable lace fingerless mitt pattern.

The pattern is free as long as you finish the project by December 31, 2016.  So based on project size and the fact that I need to use my stash for new projects, I opted for the fingerless mitts.

I've been spoilt working with sock yarn for the past few months,  Going back to 100% acrylic was an adjustment of sorts LOL  I was hoping there was enough sock yarn left over from my projects for these mitts, but no -  I was close with one, but still short about 50 yards and didn't have enough of a contrasting yarn for the cuff area etc to take the chance.  I really don't want to frog this project at all.  Even though it's a running joke of sorts that I seem to frog each project at least twice. So not having 161 yards of sock yarn left over, I dug into my stash and pulled out Bernat Baby Solids in Blue - I've 2 skeins and will likley only use half of one.  I'll have enough yarn left over to do up a pair of ankle socks with the remains.

The first clue contained rows of 1x1 cables on every other row that created a beautiful basket weave pattern for the cuff - it's harder to see in this picture - the first picture (shown top) shows the pattern better.

I got the second clue earlier today - this part seems to complete the body of the left mitt, the thumb and the cuff for top and thumb - I'm going to assume that Clue 3 will cover the shaping etc for the right mitt.

This KAL offers prizes too and discounts if you use certain products  I've got Hiyahiya needles so I'm using those :)  I'm just tickled that I was able to join in a KAL.

Creeping Towards Two

Despite any intentions I subconsciously had to the contrary - this sock turned out pretty good!  A good snug fit around the instep of my foot - and they fit from toe to heel nicely.  Not to tight and not to loose fit all round.  I do wish it was a bit snugger above the ankle and around the lower part of the leg.  I've noticed that on the socks I've made.  Granted I normally wear ankle socks so mid calf are rather new to me LOL

I was rather expecting some major incident that would mean I would have to frog the entire sock, or tink back sections as I've had to on previous attempts - but no, this went off rather without a hitch. I hope I just didn't curse the next sock by saying that.  Each sock is a learning process and the curve has been pretty steep initally - it's way more manageable now LOL

I did find a great bind off at Slip Slip Knit - worked quite well! Not tight at all - easily able to get over my foot and heel with no issues.  It was a bit wibbly though - that could be because I didn't drop down to a smaller needle when I was doing the ribbing or casting off - another great lesson learned.  I'll be sure to try it on the next toe up pair I do.

I've been eyeballing Bavarian Style of knitting for the next socks I make.  They are absolutely gorgeous and I'm definitely itching to start them.  BUT  not until I finish this last socks :)

Bamboo N Lace

A great way to spend Sunday is with coffee and my knitting until my football teams play. Yes, it's teams - I've been a Raiders fan since 1984 when a friend took pity on me and explained the nuances of the game. The Raiders just happened to be playing and I picked them as my team to cheer on. And I fell in love with the Saints watching their homecoming ceremony after Katrina - so I'm lucky this week in that they don't play at the same time :) Yea Me!!  So in the meantime I knit while I wait

Not sure if you remember me mentioning that one of the rows was going sideways on me.  I finally counted the stitches in the row in the pattern and it was short.  Lucky for me, someone mentioned in their project notes on Ravelry what the error was and a correction!  YEA!!!  So now, no more sideways rows

The metal needles are still slippery as hell for me and I'm getting a grip on it so to speak and my stitches look better now  Even so, I ordered some bamboo needles from Knitpicks and I should have them next week!  I will now have bamboo needles for sizes 0 - 4 and they are 5" long instead of 7" which is a tad long for knitting socks - those super long needles make it tricky in the cast on section of the pattern.

On the social media front, I finally caved and installed and signed up for Instagram.  I'm sure I'm going to regret this, but least I'll have fun LOL  My instagram is g_quilts and I'll post not only knit pics, but pics of my family, dogs and other hijinx I manage to get myself into LOL

Ravelry link - Toz Up Enya Cables N Lace

TozUp Enya - It's begun

Going from fingering weight yarn on US2 bamboo needles to light fingering weight yarn on US1 metal needles has been an adjustment.  Bamboo which have a certain stickiness to them; the metal are super slippery and I've done the battle of dropped stitches and not being able to find them more than once LOL  It's proven especially tricky doing the magic toe cast on with those itty bitty stitches ... Definitely a learning curve going on here, but I'm still having fun and am learning quite a bit - foremost - bamboo needles rock and I've got a few sizes on order.

I was surprising to me that there wasn't a lot of light fingering weight sock patterns that appealed to me - there is a difference (enough of a difference) between fingering and light fingering that would have made the size all messy - Finally I decided on Enya and so far I'm not disappointed - I just have to get my fingers doing this weight and needle size with no thought - it'll come :)

There's only 3 sets of cables so far in the lace pattern for the foot - not sure if there are more in the leg part.  The pattern is pretty easy for the most part; there's 2 rows I'm struggling with - I'm thinking it's because of the way I'm doing YO between purl stitches - of course I've frogged it a few times  - bloody dropped stitches!  That should be my battle cry.

There will be enough of this yarn left and the pink skein that I might be able to do a pair of colour work socks .. we'll just have to see

Sunset toes up - almost there

First there was one, then there is two!  I'm so glad I'm done with these, but I'm not happy with the bind off.  While I've got enough room, they're just a smidge to tight at the top even with using US3 for the bind off.  So as usual, I've done research and there's a ton of hits for stretchy bind off.  I'm tempted to undo the bind off and do the stretchy bind off so I'm 100% happy with them.  They fit well and sit well on my feet and legs.  There's just that bit of tightness.  I don't have this issue with casting on.

The second sock knit up with no issues with the heel as I resorted to using stitch markers to keep track of where I was at with my heel turn/wrap and while I didn't have to back up, I still have to practice more :)

The patterning in the yarn worked well with this pattern and I am happy with result and how it looks

Not sure why one side of the heel is loose and the other is spot on.  Could be the fact that one is on the purl side and the other on the knit.  I'm not really sure.  I do know that one stitch seemed to be 'longer' on the needle than the rest.  I tried to keep the pressure off the end stitches, but apparently I didn't keep enough pressure off the stitch.  I'll figure it out and of course practice makes perfect.

Now to find a nice patterned sock to use with a solid colour yarn.  I've the kettle dyed green yarn that I'm still working to find the perfect pattern.

Notes on Threes

There is truth in The third times the charm. Took me three patterns before I found one that worked well with this yarn. I've found several gorgeous ones for solid colours and they are on my list for the solid colours I've got. And of course there is the green kettle dyed yarn I've got which needs the perfect pattern. But this one, had me scratching my head. The stripes in the yarn made it tricky for a texture pattern and cable patterns do not work well with any sort of multicolour yarn. I found Sunset Scales on Ravelry that spoke to me and spoke with this yarn very well.  Easy to memorize - another increase and decrease pattern that is very easy to do that looks stunning and way more complicated than it actually is.

This is a Toe Up pattern.  I tried three (2nd set of three) different  ways to do start the pattern and finally settled on (and fell in love with), Judy's Magic Cast On shown in video - I use the Thumb Long Tail Cast On so this method is in my wheelhouse!  This is by far the easiest way to cast on for a Toe Up sock!  I love the challenging patterns cause it means that I learn something new / different each time!

My next set of three (hopefully the last three) attempts is my short turn heel row.  Yes, it actually took me three attempts to get it to the point where I am somewhat satisfied with the result.  I know I can do a better job on the heel; it's just going to take a bit more practice.  The reason I let it be is that the 'holes' fall in line with the lacey holes in the pattern.  Part of my issue with the heel this time is that the multicolour yarn made it difficult to see the bumps that are created when the yarn is wrapped.  I finally fell back on using stitch markers to keep track of where I last wrapped and turned.  That solved the issue, but doesn't look all that great - just going to take a bit of practice.  And less abused yarn LOL  The things I do yarn while I knit and screw up patterns haha

One thing that I'm surprised and very pleased about is these actually fit nicely with only 58 sts cast on!  I'm using size US2 bamboo needles - even with my wide foot, you can see that this fits me just right.  I'm not a huge fan of super tight socks at all - Just a wee bit snug.  The toe looks a bit wonky, I have read there's a way to get it right or left slanting.  That will be a step in the future for perfecting a toe up sock pattern

I like these!  I'm pleased with the progress and what I've learned :)  Yea Me!!

Ravelry Link - Sunset Toes Up

One sock .. two sock!!! YEA ME

Two months to the date, I can call this project finally finished!  They feel so great on my feet and are going to be nice and toasty warm!  Not that I'm a huge fan of snow, but I say with these socks I can handle it!

I did learn a lot on these socks.  I do like doing the short row turn heel; the different coloured toes and heels are pretty cool looking - not a huge fan of this toe type though  I did a kitchener stitch for the toe which was fine and worked out well - but the toe is boxy looking.  Maybe having less stitches would make it less boxy looking??  Not sure - I'll play with different types of toes to figure out the best look.

These socks are a wee bit to long for my feet, but I imagine there's going to be some shrinkage on this yarn.  I hope not though as the amount they're to long isn't enough to worry me  I will use the delicate setting for the washing and drying of these socks with this yarn.

I've several skeins to try different socks and bamboo needles of different sizes.  I picked up Socktacular and it shows me how to make several different styles of heels and toes - toe up - cuff down.  Squeeeeeee  LOL  I know .. I've lost it, but it's so much fun losing it.

Now to decide what to make next - another pair of socks, a few dishcloths, or another block in my KAL blanket.  decisions - decisions

Ravelry Link - Midnight Oil Socks

HAH one down!

I'm still deciding if I date to exhale after holding my breath through the last 20 rounds and the toe section. I could barely believe it when I started with the kitchener stitch ..

I'm stunned that I finished all the stitches and then started to weave them in ..

Good lord I finished a freeken sock!!!

YAYAYAYAYAYAAYAYAY

*knitterhappydance*

Now .. sock two!

Twenty something ....

I'm almost afraid to say it out loud. ... ive almost finished one whole sock. . It's only taken almost two months. 

I'm super confident and excited that I'll have a complete sock ., yes it's just one I know ., but I'm thinking how quick the next one will go .. my son and friend are having a blast saying it's almost time to frog it again ... the abuse I take lol

All the lumps and bruises got taken out on this one lol ,, I almost feel sorry for the poor thing .. almost.  I learned a lot and will take what I learned forward to its buddy and all other victims ... errr other docks I knit

I've also been working on my own pattern in my head as well .. not sure it'll ever be publishable or for my own amusement. . Specially since there's a ton of sock patterns already

Yeah tomorrow a finished sock

Third time is definitely a charm!

You'd think this pattern was freeken rocket science with the issues I've been struggling with to get the heel done.

The first time I did the short row turned heel, I did too many wraps and the heel was actually at almost 180 degrees LOL  I was bout ready to bang my head off the wall.

The second time, I kept losing the wraps - how a person can lose wraps is beyond me.  But I refused to give up

And of course because I didn't listen to a friend of mine to put in a lifeline, I had to slowly and painfully tink all those messy nasty stitches back each and every single time.  And we won't even begin to discuss the sneaky stitches that liked to hide out and drop out of sight until 6 rounds later . oh bloodyhell

Finally - it happened!  It worked!!!  I should have maybe done another wrap or two - but this is acceptable!  From this I will be able to draft my own sock pattern that fits me and my wide foot self.  And that is never easy .. we won't even begin to discuss the trauma I suffer when I try to find shoes that fit me.  I'm sure there's other ladies out there that suffer from the same thing - it really is traumatic.

Anywho - lookie!!!  A short row turned heel!  The colour is exactly what I was looking for, the pattern is flowing nicely!  I just have to do 2 ¹/₂ - 3 more rounds and I'll be ready to do the toe - which I've never gotten to knit yet LOL

I'm extremely excited about this.  These socks are going to rock!  And yes - I'll be putting a life line in at the end of this round set.  I'm actually starting to think ahead a bit about my KAL blanket, another sock pattern or even a dish cloth

**knitterhappydance**

Stash busting idea

If you're like me you have those pesky one and two skein yarns kicking around that you just can't figure out what to do with them.  Berroco  has an excellent idea how to use up those awkward bits of your stash ..

If you, like me, find yourself daunted by the amount of yarn in your stash and want to use it up quickly, one way to do so is to knit with your yarn held doubled. That simply means that you hold two strands of yarn together while working on your project. Holding two strands of fingering weight yarn held together gives you a gauge that’s close to a DK weight yarn. Two strands of sport weight yarn held together are approximately the same as one worsted weight yarn.
Say you want to knit a sweater pattern that calls for a DK weight yarn, but you have an extraordinary amount of fingering weight yarn at hand. You can swatch the fingering weight yarn held doubled and, if your gauge is right, use that instead of having to purchase DK weight yarn

Read More

Take Three ish ...

To bad this colour didn't grow on me like I was hoping it would.  But that's okay - I gave it an honest try - that's all I can ask for.  You know how sometimes a colour or combination just grows on you - that didn't happen here - even looking at this pic - it still isn't growing on me.  It didn't pick up the blues / purples like I was hoping it would.  I'm thinking it did the exact opposite and just 'blurred' the colours together.  Not to sure, but not for me

I know I really wanted a gray or brown for the heel - and that thought / wish must've been niggling in the back of my brain - also the idea of a short turn row heel speaks more to me as well.

I finally got a chance to check out the 'new' yarn store not to far from me - nice place :)  she features local yarns as well - hand dyed yarns .. I'll treat myself to them soon enough - I've some other socks to knit up first before I go ahead and purchase a hank of that.

So yet again,, this poor sock was frogged back to the beginning as tinking back all those rows was more patience than I had right then.  I've not knit in a day or two.  I'll be casting on this sock again tonight after I get done with supper - right now I'm off to make some home made pasta to have as a side with some spicy grilled chicken breasts that are for supper tonight.

So this time, the right colour and I'll do a short row heel for it as well .. the look of that heel is speaking to me :)

And of course we can't forget this is 9/11 - Never forget - Always remember

Back I Go

A huge thanks to Fiber Babble!  In response to her comment on my last post I answered my own quandry - If I continued and finished off with different yarn for the toe - not a big deal, but what happens in if the yarn doesn't end in roughly the same place on the 2^nd sock?  My OCD beastie wouldn't just twitch, it would convulse like mad!  So back I go to the heel shaping and use a different yarn.

I ran into a small problem when I pulled out the yarn I picked up to finish these socks - they are light fingering weight, while the yarn I've been using is fingering .. ah crap!  The wraps per inch are way short and it could be solved by doubling the yarn, but I can see severe issues when decreasing and trying to pick out the stitches I need - I would go mental and rip out my hair.  It's really to bad as this yarn would be perfect to finish off the socks or even as a contrast yarn for the heels and toes.  DRAT!  Next time check out yarn weight before buying it.  Although I can do other socks with this yarn - so a win there!

I dug into my oddball stash of single skeins and leftovers and found a few that are close in weight, but the colour wasn't the best match.  I picked the best one that is going to be a decent match - it will pull the purple and blue colours out of the yarn.  Should be an interesting mix me thinks.  It will prolly look as good as the pink could - I just had a different look in mind, but that's okay - My original choice was gray or brown.  So I'll be spending most of the day tinking back - the temptation to frog it all and start all over is almost overwhelming as it'll take the same amount of time to get back to the heel shaping, but naw .. don't want to put more frog stress on the beginning of the skein as there's already been enough with all the frogging from the previous sock pattern attempt.

I really am okay with this and not frustrated at all.  I know it's going to be worth it for the final product :)  I'm tempted to try the short row heel method as I do prefer the look of it - I'll decide when I get to that point

Update:  I opted to frog back to the beginning - tinking back all that way was just more than my patience could handle today LOL - I started at the other end of the skein where the yarn hadn't been abused yet.

So close ..

Just as I feared - I'm short. I'm roughly 1 ¹/₂" short.  I have to decide if that's close enough to the toe that it won't make my OCD twitch.  I'm thinking it's going to twitch like mad regardless LOL

On a good note, my yarn ends on a the dark colour which blends to the pink colour - which is rather lucky as I picked up a pink for the filler.

I tried on the sock and it's not as bad as I feared - I think I'll just go all the way to the end and then use the pink to finish with.  I'm supposed to end on row 9, 10, 19, or 20 - and I'm on row 7 now - so this just might work out me thinks .. me hopes LOL

It's either that or tink back to the heel and do that in pink and the toe in pink - not sure I want to tink back 30 rows for the instep / foot and then all the heel shaping to change to pink for the hell shaping - redo the foot / instep, then change to pink for the toe.  It might take just as long to frog the whole sock and start again as it would be to tink back all the way ..

I am of the mind to just keep going to see how it's going to look - if I don't like the way it makes my OCD twitch then I can tink it back to heel shaping.

At least this time, I'm not having issues with the pattern directions LOL

Ravelry Link - Midnight Oil Socks

Scratching my head ...

There are times, I am beyond amazed at my own ability to be a twit! I've been knitting along happy as a clam with the Candlepower pattern - my only concern was if I would have enough yarn - I still don't know .. it's going to be very close.  I guess I was so stressed about the amount of yarn left that I wasn't really paying attention to the stitches closely.

This pattern has S2KP and SSK - The part I'm working on right now has several rows that start with SSK and Kx - Instead of doing SSK, I was doing S2KP,  But on thinking about this - they are both double decreases - just slant in different directions - so I still have no idea where I went wrong.

Soooooo - tinking back roughly 5 rounds as that's where I know where I was on track.  Chances are I'm going to end up frogging this whole thing if I'm short on the yarn, but that's not the point - I want to do it right - just in case I've got enough and only have to do the toes a different colour - Anything is possible.

I am having fun with this project and can't wait to get then done and get to wear them.  Not that I'm wishing for cold weather . oh HELLZ NO!  Just want to wear them LOL

9.1.2016 - Update

I tinked back to the last round of the YO before the SSK began (8 rounds) and it's all worked out now - all stitches are where they're supposed to be - yea me!!

Keeping me on my toes

This pattern has been a lot of fun so far. Pretty easy to memorize the pattern stitch and it flows nicely.  The only issue I'm having right now is if I'm going to have enough yarn for each sock.  So I've been thinking of how to solve this issue.  Easiest one - do the heel and toe different colours and that should give me enough yarn.  There's only one little thing wrong with that - I've already done my heel (sigh) - so that would mean I would have to tink back (good lord not that) to the heel and redo the rest of the sock and finish with a different coloured toe.

I am tempted to just continue until I run out of yarn and go from there and make a decision then if needed. I picked up this yarn tonight along with a few other fibre goodies.  It's a good match for the pink in the sock.  It was hard to find a colour - they've got the fall colours out in the yarns now and blue isn't in the fall palate for some silly reason LOL.

I walked into a deal and a half at Micheal's tonight.  I had a coupon for 40% off one regular priced item.  I decided to pick up some Sock Ease and used the 40% off for that skein; the yarn I picked for the toes was 4.49 so I picked up 2 of those and they had Bernat handicraft on for 1.99 so I grabbed two of them.  The cashier decided she liked me and put another discount on my purchase - So I managed to get 5 skeins of yarn for just over $20.  What's nice about the pink and olive green I picked up is that those skeins are over 600 yarns and most socks use around 300 yards - I might manage to get 2 pairs of socks out of each skein . how cool would that be??  So in this bundle of yarn I got here, I'm looking at the future of 5 pairs of socks and 2 dishcloths There is a really cool pattern included in one of the Bernat skeins that I am definitely going to make.  I will definitely be getting back to my afghan blocks soon as these socks are done :)

Ravelry link - Midnight Oil Socks

Burning the Midnight Oil

I can just imagine that I left everyone thinking I was frothing at the mouth, eyes spinning, ripping my hair out, and steam coming out of my ears and totally losing my mind.  I definitely felt that way.  If I had printed out the pattern, I would've taken a match to it.  Instead I frogged the whole thing with total and complete glee  LOL  But happier times have prevailed :D

I wanted a simple pattern that looked complicated.  Something with texture without having to do cables (I love cables,, but am not in the mood for doing them right now); you know - increases, decreases and YO type things.  Took me three or four hours of sifting through what felt like a million patterns, but was prolly just a hundred or so and I found the  pattern that fit my mood perfectly!

Designer Photo

They've got a nice flowing design reminiscent of candle flames.  Easy to memorize - Just have to watch out for the sneaky dropped stitch that always happens. I contended with one already and just ripped it back.  This time I'm being super careful and have caught the little buggers before they breed issues.  I'm super excited about making these.  I've had a few super busy days and haven't managed to get much knitting done at all - I'm gonna start to growlz if this keeps up.  I've two doctor appointments tomorrow, but hopefully I can knit afterwards - although there's a few things in the yard that needs to be done if the rain holds off and let's things dry out - not going to complain to much about that, we've had a super dry summer and the rain is much needed.  Just wish I would let me get my stuff done outside first LOL

This pattern is looking great so far and really shows off my yarn nicely!  I know I know .. I said that bout the last pattern and it would've happened if I didn't have so many issues with it.

Pfft I'm over this!

This pattern has just bout rendered me speechless, frustrated me to no end, confused the hell out of me and almost made me not want to knit. And that doesn't happen often. I officially give up on this pattern.

First there were all the issues with the cuff and then finally settling for ribbing instead.

Then there's an issue with this pattern twisting, it was stated that this only happens with the cuff - when you don't pick up the first stitch and join it with the cuff stitch exactly.  Well since I'n not using the cuff, I shouldn't be having the twisting issue right?  I noticed some ppl had reversed the stitches to compensate, but I found that out when I started to do the heel turn

Then there was the struggle with the poorly written short heel turn instructions.  I found a more user friendly tutorial on Silver's Sock Tutorial and on Laura Chau's blog and was able to move on from there.

What finally did me in was finding this GAPING hole after I had gone a few rounds past where I started working the whole sock again.  I honestly thought I had dropped stitches when I put my project in my bag, so I picked up what I thought were dropped stitches, and the noticed I had 20 stitches on my needle instead of 16 - so tinking I went, and then I finally realized that I would not likely be able to fix this.  Add to that the twisting sock and I have just had it with this pattern.

I'm really disappointed that the designer didn't include pics of the cuff set up, the heel turn and Lord knows what else since I'm stopping here - time to pick another sock pattern!   Buh Bye Nutkin!

Relapse time

Me thinks my heeling moment had a relapse. Bah!  I knew it was going to good to be true LOL

I thought I was doing it right, and followed it step by step .. apparently not since I should be working over 32 stitches (16 on each needle) and this is way more than 32 stitches.

The pattern reads:

1. Knit all sts until there is one st remaining. Turn the work.
2. On the wrong/purl side, yarn over and purl all sts until one st remains. Turn.
3. On the right/knit side, yarn over and knit up to the stitch/yarn over pair. Turn.
4. On the wrong/purl side, yarn over and purl to the first st/yo pair. Turn.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until 10 sts between the st/yo pairs remain (each needle will have: one st on the end, 10 st/yo pairs, and 5 sts toward the center). This occurs on a k row. 

I've been doing the repeat of steps 3 and 4, but  according to step 5, my number of stitches  should remain the same, but they aren't.  So tinking back and will figure out where I went wrong.  I'll read up on forum posts and other blog posts and see if anyone else had the same issue or maybe I'm reading the steps wrong . well I am reading it wrong, but I'm wondering how it's supposed to go ..

sigh

Addendum:  Should I have 25 stitches on each needle???  10 st/yo pairs would be 20 stitches right?  

That Heeling Moment

Right now I'm doing a combination of the *knitterhappydance* and a cross of giggling and cackling all at the same time.  I know .. the mental image of that one is almost awful LOL  All you need to do is add moonlight and burning feathers hee hee.

The reason for the knitter joy?  Simple, I've nailed it. Or mostly I accepted that there are going to be larger holes in places due to where the YO was done - and I'm good with that.  It's a mindless repeat with the YO and the SSK moving over one stitch each round in order to create the texture of the pattern.

I'm almost at the point of starting the heel turn.  Silly me got into the mindless repeats so much that I forgot to mark how many repeats I've done, but that's simple enough to figure out.  I just count the number of pattern repeats :)

I should start the heel turn in 2 more rounds.  I'm pretty excited about this!  Loving the way the colours are coming out in this yarn.  And looking forward to having another pair of socks that will be great for my winter boots and the bloody snow.

Bloody Hell - Tink time ..

This is what makes me loose my noodle. I manage to get to the 3^rd repeat and BOOM, I find a mistake!  FFS  Bloody Hell!  And since I was only 20 rows in I would just frog the whole thing.  I'm freeken tired of frogging the whole thing - my option - tink back 4 rounds to get to that hole and bloody well fix it properly.  I tried to ignore it, but I can't .. my OCD just twitches sideways and I can't let it be and just sit there - I've been trying and it mocks me on each round .. so I'll try the tink method and try to fix it - please don't make me frog this one .. pretty please.

I should have this sock almost done by now - but nope .. nada .. nyet ,.  nin .. nil ... FECK

ARGH!!!!!!

Nutkin Reversed

A name change for these socks might be a good idea.  I finally beat the cuff and got it to where I liked it - then as I went along I didn't like the look of it at all .. that was maybe 4 - 5 attempts to get the cuff done.

I decided to finally do ribbing instead and really like the look of it.  And I've finally gotten to see what the colour variations look like with this yarn.

For some reason I just can't seem to get past the 2nd repeat of the 10 row pattern - I end up seeing something I don't like, or lost a stitch somewhere or split yarn that's gone across 2 stitches - so I frog it.  That has happened 3 or 4 times at this point.  I should be at the heel turn by now, but Nooooooo i'm back to the beginning.  I'm currently at Row 3 on the first repeat of the pattern - let's see how far I can get this time LOL

Maybe I just need to stop being such a perfectionist.  Nah .. that'll never happen.  I take pride in what I make and while a little mistake here and there is 'fine' - wholesale ooboos aren't

Yup - Nutkin TurnAbout, Nutkin Reversed, Nutkin Retraction, Nutkin Turnback . something like that

Ravelry link - Nutkin Reversed

I've Been Cuffed

My cuff didn't leave me as pleased as I thought it would. I did end up doing the pick up stitches on the final piece - the trick was to use a larger needle for casting on - it did work and I'm pleased with it as it worked and looked pretty decent.  Then as I started to knit round by round, I stopped liking it.  It looked odd to me, and it wasn't the sort of odd I felt that I could get used to.  you know, you let a pattern develop and see how it goes.

The yarn is nice to work with - I've had a few sticky spots with splitting yarn, but nothing huge and didn't happen all the time.  Just in those areas where it was important the yarn behave LOL  Figures, eh?  I worked with it and around it.

The pattern is pretty and I do like that I can see the texture through the changing colours in the yarn.   So what didn't I like about it?  It's starting to look like the Sorting Hat from Hogwarth's.  Not my idea for a sock.

When I was first looking at this pattern I did a google search for Nutkin sock and looked at the image results.  This 'hat' look happens in everyone's sock that did it,  I also noticed that a lot of ppl did ribbing.  Didn't see a lot of reasons why, but I can guess.  It's a bugger to do the actual cuff for one, and for two I'm thinking that this cuff would allow the sock to slip.  I'd wear them a bit slouched as it is, so that wouldn't necessarily bother me.  But this look bothers me.  I've done 2 sets of 10 rows so far, and I'm not liking it any better.    I decided to let it sit over night and decide when I got up - so I'm thinking I'm gong to rip it out instead of going all the way through with one sock to see how I'll like it.  Normally, I'd do one sock and see how I like it, but not this time.  I know I'll obsess over that cuff all the way through.

On a more positive note:  I've been having a yen to make my own pasta, and I finally did it.  I found a recipe for pasta for two so I wouldn't have a ton of extra pasta dough that I didn't want.  I used my food processor and found that that recipe needed more oil that it asked for.  It is possible it was over worked a bit too, that will come with practice and experience.  Rolling it out by hand was a pain as I needed to be as thin as possible; Home made pasta puffs a bit when you cook it,  I got it how I wanted it and cut it with a knife, with no regard to thickness LOL  This afterall was an experiment.  I found a recipe for a Mushroom Garlic Sauce that really appealed.  I made adjustments as I wasn't  cooking a pound of pasta.  I must say, I'm pretty pleased with the result even though it was hard work.  I'll be doing it again and will cut the pasta thinner or maybe even with a pasta machine!