Sock on 2 circs

The thing I love about knitting is learning new techniques. I often get ahead of myself and luckily, I am totally okay with ripping out and trying something else.

I discovered quickly that I was ahead of myself trying to knit two socks on two needles. Somehow, the direction of the needles ended up backwards and I couldn’t figure out how to correct it. Not wanting to tax my brain…I decided that it would be wise to knit a single sock on two circs first. So I ripped the two socks on two circs and started a single sock on two circs.

Getting used to how two circs work with one sock is fun! I think that once I am done with this pair, I’ll be ready for two socks on two circs!

Sadness and Happiness

Sadness is: Running out of yarn when you are just about to start the toe of your second sock.

Happiness is: A wonderful knitter on Ravelry is sending me her leftover Jitterbug sock yarn to finish my second sock!

Happiness is also: Starting two socks at a time!

Here is the first run of a Toddler Moc-a-Soc I am making for my nephew. I had read that the pattern runs large, so I made the smallest size for the first boot. I am awaiting measurements from my brother so that I can make the correct size. This is just an adorable pattern and fun to knit. I used Patons Canadiana yarn for the boot and Regia Cotton Tip & Top Color for the sock. Great pattern you can purchase directly in Ravelry here or from the designers etsy here.

Happiness is also: Finishing the baby sweater. I need to block it, and weave in the ends. Now I have two baby sweaters in this state….I don’t like weaving in ends and mattress stitching up my finished projects.  A bad habit to get into I think, but I always have the next project on my mind and don’t like being bothered with the finish work!  Eventually, I’ll need to REALLY finish these projects!

Broken Needle and Redbox

I discovered Redbox movies recently…so I’ve been renting a lot of movies. I know that Redbox has been out for awhile, but I’ve never actually gone up to the kiosk and investigated how it works. McDonald’s has a promotion going, if you purchase a large drink, there is a promo coupon for a free Redbox rental. So, I’ve been buying large iced teas, and hording free movie rentals! What a deal!

Don’t even bother to ask what I rented. Funny thing about me, I can watch a movie, throughly enjoy it, and not be able to remember the name, or the plot of the movie two days later. This has caused me to rewatch movies by accident on many occasions. I’ll be watching a video and be 1/2 way through and think to myself, “hmm, this sure is familiar” only to find out that I WENT to the movie theater and watched it when it came out. Sometimes I shake my head at myself!

While enjoying my free Redbox movies, I worked on my second sock. I did the heel flap, completed the heel turn and was on my way down the foot, when SNAP! I broke one of my size 1 bamboo needles. I giggle now at the pure sense of outrage and shock that overcame me! How could my needle just break like that? Don’t the knitting gods know this is my second sock that will complete my first ever pair of hand knit socks? Minutes after the shock and outrage I smiled at the fact that if this is my biggest problem of the day, life was pretty darn good!

Since one of my needles was broken, I took a closer look at how my sock was coming along. I had knit through several fairly intense movies that took concentration, Elizabeth – the Golden Age and Gone Baby Gone both excellent movie choices. I figured it would be wise of me to take a close look at my work. Sure enough, I had dropped a stitch and mixed up another way back at the heel turn. So, I frogged all the way back to the heel flap. Now I just need to get another set of needles. Which means I need to take a trip to a LYS to purchase them, since size 1’s aren’t just available at the nearby Michaels. Woe is me, I HAVE to go to the LYS. heh heh

Baby Sweater and Entrelac Scarf update

Several posts ago, I talked about a baby sweater I was working on. The pattern is free and can be found here.

I learned how to do picot bind off, where you cable cast on 2, then bind off 4 and repeat. This basically doubles the stitches you have tobind off and produces this beautiful dainty edge.

I did a google search on how to do a picot bind off and found this great tutorial on Knitty. I didn’t realize there were tutorials on Knitty. Knitty is one awesome site for sure!

Next up is crochet picot along the center and collar…I didn’t find anything on crochet picot on google, so I’m not quite sure yet how to do that! My crochet skills are very basic. The pattern states ” Crochet picot along center and collar. * slip crochet stitch 4 st, chain 4*, So I guess the slip crochet stitch is what I need to figure out first…we’ll see how it turns out! Then I’ll do the Tracery pattern on the sleeves, bind off and this project will be complete!

In other knitting: I’m into the third and final ball on my entrelac scarf. Entrelac is fun to knit, really not as hard as you might think, once you get into the swing of it and this yarn is just perfect for it!

Comfort Food

I finished Kate Jacobs new book “Comfort Food” this weekend. What a pleasurable read! I felt like I made a new group of friends in Gus, Aimee, Sabrina, Troy, Carmen, Hannah and the other characters in the book. There were many unexpected twists and turns that kept me wanting to read more.

I won’t give anything about the plot away, but thought I’d give you a glance at the book. The main character, Gus Simpson is a middle aged (50, just a few years older than I am!) single mother of two daughters in their 20’s and she has a cooking television show called “Cooking with Gusto.” I can relate to the being middle aged, and having 20 something children…but I do NOT cook, and trust me, this book is not for just those that love to cook! I loved reading every word of this book! I highly recommend it!

Kate Jacobs also wrote “The Friday Night Knitting Club” which is being made into a movie. I will not be surprised if “Comfort Food” is a movie shortly thereafter. Click on the link and you can read the first chapter of the book…the book will be released on May 6, 2008.

Thanks again to Kate’s publisher for sending me a pre-release copy of the book!

Mama has a sock!

Yahoooooo! I’m the crazy woman dancing around my house right now, because I finished my first sock! OMG I totally love it….it fits like a glove, and the wool feels soooooooooooo wonderful! I never want to wear anything but hand knit socks again! All you sock knitters out there are laughing, cause you know another Knitter has drunk the koolaid!

Ravelraiser ‘08

I saw this on Eat, Sleep, Knit’s blog and wanted to share it also!

As some of you already know, Ravelraiser ‘08 began this weekend – this is a push to raise funds to support this amazing free community. If you aren’t on Ravelry yet, you need to be, and if you are on Ravelry, you’ve probably found yourself wondering what you did for patterns, yarn information, stash management, and daily knitterly online entertainment before it existed (or while we were on the seemingly endless waiting list last year!).

What started out as a husband-and-wife team working on a weekend project has become a global knit and crochet community with tens of thousands of active members from all over the globe, in every age group and skill level. Ravelry has contributed so much to the knitting community, and now we want to give back.

If you go to this thread and donate 10 lousy bucks, you’ll be entered into drawings for fabulous yarn-and-fiber-related prizes, including the grand prizes – five (or maybe six now?) “Dream Stashes” – and the other prizes, which include yarn club memberships, yarn, roving, and gift certificates to several fine yarn establishments. You get one entry for every $10 you donate, and check out all of the amazing prizes!

Seriously, $10 bucks is such a bargain. I have spent endless hours of PURE enjoyment on Ravelry. Good luck too all who donate!!

Books and booties

Two new books arrived this week! The first is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s latest book, “Things I Learned from Knitting…whether I wanted to or not.” I’ve only read a few pages, and its enjoyable. Just like reading her blog! I like that it is a small book, it fits perfect into your knitting bag, without weighing you down!

The second book to arrive was a nice surprise for me! I received an email a few weeks ago from the publisher of Kate Jacobs. Kate is the author of “The Friday Night Knitting Club”, which I had mentioned on my blog last summer. The publisher was so kind to email me and send me an advanced copy of Kate’s latest book “Comfort Food.” I’ll let you know all about it once I finish reading it!

I look forward to reading this weekend! I’ll also be sneaking in some knitting (of course) I have a ton of projects on the needles. One of these days I’ll actually finish one of them! heh heh I will say that my sock is gorgeous if I say so myself (I continue to swoon over the heel…I turned a heel yahooooooooo) and I cannot wait to wear it and start the mate.

Here is one little bootie I finished the other night. This pattern is delightful and quick to knit. These booties are said to stay put on a baby’s tiny feet. I need to find a piece of ribbon to put in the eyelets, and finish the second bootie this weekend. You can find the pattern here!