I haven’t worked on her in a couple of days, but it’s going quickly.
You can see in the second picture that I made a blooper, but I think continuing on has straightened it out. I can’t say as I mind too much…I like perfection as much as anyone but I know that I probably won’t get there, at least not yet. So it’s good practice taking it in stride.
So…emboldened by my test sock success, I decided to try a sock with fingering weight yarn on 2s…in other words, sock weight yarn on sock needles. It looked like it was all going well, but the whole thing fell apart within 3 rows. Which is fine. But I’ve decided to wait a bit before trying again. The yarn is becoming something else but I don’t have pictures yet…and am still hoping that turns out lol.
Not the greatest picture and definitely not doing the yarn justice, but that was the triumphant first row lol.
I’m struggling with my phone camera. It’s supposed to be good but I haven’t figured out how to make it behave. It’s not something I know much about.
I’m finding that right now knitting is a solitary activity for me. Even simple projects take enough concentration that I can make a mess of things pretty quickly if I get too distracted. And sometimes being simple is the problem; I made a pretty elementary mistake today when I started having a conversation partway through a row and lost track of which row I was on. That’s my own fault for not having marked the right side, but I am so accustomed to easily reading my crochet that it didn’t occur to me until just now.
Everything in knitting feels so high-stakes. Ripping back is harder than it is in crochet, and a dropped stitch seems like a disaster. I know these things will get easier but for the time being I’m on the edge of my seat.
It’s pleasurable, though. There’s such a lovely rhythm to it when all is going well, and solving a problem is so satisfying. Colors play together in a different way and even just as a beginner–and I really am a beginner again–I can see the possibilities. Everything I encounter just makes me want to dive deeper. So that’s exactly what I plan to do.
I’ve been knitting a lot lately and my latest project is Grain by tin can knits. I wish I had a better pic, but this is the very start of it:
This is perfect TV knitting now that it’s underway, but it was my very first provisional cast on and first garter tab.
I’m really enjoying the straightforward knitting and I think it’s going to show off the yarn nicely. I’m doing this in Hobbii Horizon. The colorway is Sunup Sky:
I’m looking forward to trying more of their patterns.
So I have two new knitters/crocheters in the house and they are fearless. My oldest actually learned to knit by making their first sock. Fearless.
I’ve knit socks in the past but it’s probably been a dozen years. I got so excited over their sock, though, that I decided to relearn it. I grabbed some random worsted and Silver’s Sock Class and dove in.
Not going to lie, it was a bit of a struggle. And the finished product is a little rough, though it looks good in pictures:
I don’t think there’s any hope for the ribbing, it’s Red Heart Super Saver and between the lack of elasticity of the yarn (do not for a minute get me wrong, I *love* RHSS, it’s just better for some things than others) and my lack of skills on DPNs I’m not sure I’m going to do any better the second time. Still, it’s ribbing, it’s in the round, and in that sense it’s a triumph.
It took me a week to get to casting on the second one, but it’s started and I’ll have a pair of house socks soon. I’m actually really excited about this. I didn’t expect to knit another sock like, ever, so my wonky acrylic socks are a huge accomplishment.
Next step: sock weight yarn.
I’ve always thought of myself more as a crochet addict (I wrote patterns in it, after all) but looking back through my Ravelry projects shows that I’ve done my fair share of knitting. I was actually surprised at how much.
I had an unfinished scarf that I picked back up (this one) and somehow despite its beautiful simplicity I managed to make a mistake that I could only figure to solve by ripping back a bit. Somehow I managed without everything going everywhere, got it back on the needles, reoriented the stitches and re-knit it. Just this moment I feel it’s fair if I call myself a knitter. Feels a little strange but I’m going with it.
Of all the techniques I’ve forgotten, I think I miss this one the most. If you’ve never had the pleasure, it makes your starting chain and your first row happen at the same time, which gives an edge that is not so restricted in stretch as a chain. It’s downright flexile, in fact. Here’s a tutorial with several variations from Vashti Braha.
I’m not on the verge of starting anything new, but next time I need a foundation chain this is where I’ll turn.
I’ve been thinking about doing a temperature blanket for a few years now but haven’t been able to wrap my head around the details. I’m 100% certain that I picked up the notion of doing a scarf from somewhere in my wanderings, but it popped into my head as if it were my idea. I think it would be a much more manageable project, though I still feel as if it might wind up suitable for the Fourth Doctor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Doctor) (if you scroll down you can see the scarf in question). As a scarf it’s quite low-risk in time and yarn cost compared to a blanket, so I may just give it a go. And seeing as my birthday is next month and I love having a ton of projects going, I may just make it birthday-to-birthday instead of Jan 1 to Jan 1. I get to go yarn shopping for my birthday that way!
I couldn’t sleep last night so this went from a few inches to almost 2 feet long:
I’m sure there are mistakes in it but I love the overall effect. The stitch came from a book by Tracey Todhunter called The Step-by-Step Guide to 200 Crochet Stitches.
This is number 125, Garland Lace.
The yarn is Red Heart Soft in Light Grey Heather.
I’m mildly obsessed with it, so it might actually be done before the weather turns truly cold. I’m keeping this one for me. 🙂
It was 87 degrees today! Not weather for a lap full of crochet. Looks like it will be cooling down into deeper fall over the next week, which delights me. It’s been a beautiful summer but I’m ready for things to get cozy.
With the warmth the last couple of days there’s no crochet progress to report, but I did plan out another project and order the yarn. It’s for someone close to me so I feel I should be cagey about it, but if all goes as planned it should be fantastic.
What I have been doing is gaming. My other huge hobby is video games, and most of the time it’s The Elder Scrolls Online. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s an MMO and like all MMOs it’s a crazy time sink. I have to be careful of it as there’s a ton to do and it’s easy to let hours pass. Instead of cleaning my house today I decorated one of my virtual ones. It does look amazing however.
As I really get back in the crochet groove, though, I find I have less and less time for it. The game can’t compete with the rhythm of the stitches and the fabric growing under my hands. It’s a kind of satisfaction that you can’t really explain, and I can’t express how glad I am that I picked it back up.
© 2024 The Annex at Neatly Tangled
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑