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 :)

Brioche .. Bagged

Finally, I got back to my scarf ... took the threat of snow to get me moving tho .. but its finally done .. This was such an easy pattern to do, least it was once I found a pattern that make sense to me! I shared my 'adventures' with you in this blog post

Now I'm digging round for a slouchy beret pattern  that uses a cable like this .. Think I need to do a combination of two patterns that I found on Ravelry ..the band from this pattern ... (I can do the brioche stitch for it if I want)  Having an issue deciding between Star Crossed Slouchy Berry or Spring Beret. I'm leaning towards the Star Crossed one as its a more slouchy version and I dont have to fuss with the pattern

Brioche Begins

I finallly got my head wrapped around the brioche stitch, or got my head unstuffed enough to just TRY it!  The attempt was ... interesting ... to say the least, but i frogged it and tried again.  I also did a wee bit more clicking and research and found another pattern that made more sense to me.  Don't get me wrong, the orginal pattern i had found was decent enough, but I think she went to far to explain things - and made it harder than it needed to be.  This other pattern I found at Fireflower Knits made way more sense to me for some reason. Maybe because she laid out it with simple knit directions without the explanation.  It was nice to be able to start the pattern without having to read a full page of explanations that came before they needed to.  (Hmmm - maybe that's why i had such an issue with my Seafoam Flower sweater - it was over explained, and didn't have instructions where they needed to be ...food for thought there).  This specific line was my personal lifesaver "Edited to add: Slip all stitches purlwise with yarn held in front throughout."

The stitch itself is pretty mindless and creates its own rhythym once you get going - granted i needed to keep my eyes on what i was doing because of the yarn overs.   The brioche stitch itself is 3 stitches (sl 1, YO, K2TOG), and each row starts and ends with a K stitch.  Easy Peasy! 

As you can see in my pic (go ahead and click, it'll open in a new window), I got the first cable started - and also shifted my stitches over by one :( ... not even gonna try and tink (reverse knit) this, and i'll just frog it and start it again - this bit here took me less than an hour to do, so I'm thinking it's going to knit up pretty fast.  Back to the cable part - she has you slip the stitches to your cable needle, then slip them back - not to sure WHY this needs to be done .. im thinking that's where i shifted my stitches over is doing that .. ah well .. I'm excited and pretty pleased so far, even though Im gonna have to frog it and start again ..

Im doing this with Red Heart Super Soft in Royal Purple with US 10s