Socks

I finished a pair of socks for Far Guy yesterday.  They are almost a matched pair!  I was doing great until it came to the toe!  Possibly I knit an extra row or two someplace....or perhaps it was just the yarn!

The yarn was Patons Kroy a color called Torquoise Jacquard.  I fit the sock to his foot several times...he thought it was strange trying them on with four needles!  I told him that I would only make him do this once...or twice and I would have a pattern to go by.   I knit socks two at a time, that way my old brain does stuff twice and makes less mistakes. 

More socks will be cast on soon.  In my opinion casting on the Four Double Pointed Needles is the hardest part.

It is bitterly cold here.  Errands were accomplished.  I am reminded why I fill up when the car is half empty...it is too cold to stand out there for too long and I never leave the gas nozzle unattended....just one of my quirky self imposed rules.  I see other women starting the gas pump and then getting back in the car.   If we had a Full Service Gas Station that would be great...we had one I used all the time in North Fargo...Ted's.

No car wash either it is too cold for the one in town.

Far Side

Projects

I am having great fun with the Crochet Along Project, learning new stitches.

Someday there may be enough squares to make an afghan.

I need more solid squares...I will work on them in the next few days before the next design is released.

I also had a little bit of time to work on knitting on my socks.  Soon I may have a finished pair to photograph!

My other baby brother stopped by.  I gave him the wood carving I finished for him.

It is a wood carving of a Fireman, my other baby brother was a Fireman for many years.  He liked it!

Far Side

Some Yarn

I have some yarn.  Some.

As I walked down the yarn aisles in Hobby Lobby....I let the yarn speak to me.

A coppery color was speaking the loudest...it wanted to join the crochet along (CAL) that I am working on....I still have a week to do the latest stitch/squares.  It may look a tad like the orange yarn that is in my basket...but it is most certainly a different shade!

It is the largest ball in my CAL basket.   I wind all my yarn into a ball...easier that way...I do a quality control check at the same time.  Nothing worse that meeting a join or a thin spot in the middle of a project.

Then it was the sock yarn... a color I have not seen before.  I swear it jumped right into my basket.

Yarn was 30 % off...who can really resist?  Certainly not me.  I just need time to knit socks...or perhaps I need to resist other projects that take away from sock knitting time!

I contemplated yarn for a baby blanket that I want to make.  The color I wanted was not there so I picked a different color...walked around with it in my cart....took it back and exchanged it for a different color...decisions...decisions.   It will be fine...babies don't care what color their blankets are!  I have about 8 weeks to make the blanket...it is a good winter project as the yarn (Baby Bernat) is so snugly warm.

Far Side

Socks

I finally got my second pair of socks off the needles...it only took me 7 or 8 months.  At this rate I won't have to buy more sock yarn for years.

This is a yarn called Regia. I used 4 mm needles ( Bamboo Needles)...next time I will use a smaller needle.  I made them to fit my feet.

I have two more socks on needles.

These are Paton Kroy socks...using 3.5mm needles..I like them better than the 4 mm ones.  But these needles are 7 inches long and I have found out I like 6 inch needles for socks.  Yes that pattern I finally perfected row by row fits in a page protector and with the Post It Note I can keep track of where I am...except when someone yet unnamed uses it for a telephone number and takes it off my page protector.  The strange color yarn...is my lifeline...I can rip back to that area of the sock if I make a horrible mistake.  The other sock for this pair is stalled at the heel flap and will catch up when this one is along further.

I started another pair too...I have one sock started and the other I will cast on soon. Casting on and getting the correct join on four needles is the most challenging part to me.   Knitting socks is addictive.

I have the pattern and extra needles packed in my "craft suitcase" ready to go out the door with enough sock yarn for five pairs of socks should we ever get "the call" to go to the cities for the transplant.

Far Side

103

That is the number of Christmas Ornaments that are complete. The paints are put away and the dining room table has been cleared off.  The ornaments are in three boxes awaiting Christmas bags or boxes of their own...

It has been rainy the past two days, yesterday morning I could not see how my day would progress as it was a "me day"  so I did some laundry, scrubbed the Furnace/Laundry room floor and continued on into the kitchen.  I took apart the vacuum cleaner and cleaned it up real good...my vacuum not Far Guys robot vacuum.  I worked on some bits and pieces for stage two of the ornaments.  The sun peaked out for a bit and Far Guy was able to buff up the last few of stage one...I put the last coat of sealer on them and at 9 PM last night I was finished with the 2019 Ornament Project.  Yeah us!! 

I even found time to transcribe my knit sock pattern in the afternoon and have a 20 minute nap.
The sock pattern is tucked into a page protector with extra sticky notes so I can easily keep track of which row I am on.  Yeah me!  Hopefully I didn't make any mistakes or typos!  ( I still have two pair of socks on needles)

Liatris  more than likely the Floristan White one.

Far Side

Slow progress

Appointments are done for the week!  I am making slow progress in Physical Therapy.  It is a literal pain in the butt.  My "sit bone" is still painful.  Sometimes it is better and sometimes worse.

 
We can finally see out the living room window...well we could see out before but it was all snow.  At least now I can see trees and the sky and sunshine!

My socks are coming along.  I have two pairs of socks going at once...that way I do stuff four times and maybe my old brain will "get it." I am just beginning the heel flap on this set above.

This pair is working up nicely.  I am still  working on the legs of this set. 
I am learning as I go...I am keeping notes...and keeping track of my rows.
I am reasonably glad I began this adventure in socks, when I get these four socks off the needles I will make a final decision about my ability to knit socks!

Far Side

Knitting: Heel Flap, Heel Turn

I have been making slow progress on my pair of practice socks.

Top sock …I learned how to do the heel flap.  The bottom sock has a heel flap and a heel turn!

The purple yarn is a lifeline I put in just in case I made a mistake…and I did use it on the first sock.  When you use a lifeline and make a mistake you can just rip back to the lifeline and put that row of stitches back on your needles and start again.

Here both heels have been turned.

Work has begun on one socks gusset

I use the plugs on the needle ends when I am not working on them…that way I can put them in my workbasket and all my stitches will stay put.

Learning to knit socks sure has been an adventure.  I have notecards with directions for each step…I watch Marly Bird Red Heart Videos. I usually watch the video and make my notes and then follow the video step by step.

Last week I thought…maybe I can find someone to finish these socks if I can’t do it…but step by step I am getting  it done myself!

Onward to finishing my gusset decreases and get back to my original amount of stitches on my four needles then the foot and toe and I will have a sock! 

I have begun a sock with real sock yarn…I frogged it several times.  Apparently I cannot count correctly.

It is working up nicely. I really like the bamboo needles.

The weather is very cold, I fed the birds and power shoveled the walk as we got some more snow just before it turned cold. 

Far Side

Legs and a drift

First the drift.

This spot will drift everytime the wind blows…unless it rains then the snow will get a crust on it.  The roads were pretty good.

We had to go to town for my Physical Therapy session.  They think it is more than just my Hamstring Tendon that is injured…time will tell.   I can sit by the dining room table as the bench is wood and supports my leg/butt…but sitting in a soft chair or on the couch…forget it…the only reason I can sit in the car is because of the heated seat!  I have no pain walking or standing, just sitting, until recently I had no problem laying down…but now I have pain most of the night.  Heat and Aleve and Extra Strength Tylenol help.  I am supposed to avoid  movements that cause pain.

I have finished the legs of my sock…actually two socks.  I knit at the dining room table.

The  two on the right are ready for the “Heel Flap”…I watched the video and it seems pretty easy.  I am hopeful that I can do it.  I also have written instructions and made my own recipe card for socks.

On the left…I splurged on two sets of bamboo needles for my Schachenmayr REGIA sock yarn and I have begun a cuff. 

We have five appointments this week…one down …four to go.  I am not real thrilled when it is an appointment week….especially dental appointments.

Far Side

Knitting

I learned to knit as a teenager.  I used to go over to my Aunt Marie and Uncle Otto’s house to help with the twins and then my Aunt would take out a few minutes to teach me how to knit.  I can still hear her say “Don’t make your cast on stitches too tight or you will be in big trouble.”

I decided I wanted to TRY knitting socks.  OH MY it was harder than I thought.  I am using the four needle method.  I  cast on…frogged…cast on…frogged. ( Frogged is when you rip out all your stitches and begin again)  Threw the needles on my desk and gave up many times.   I watched videos.  I learned a long tail cast on.  I watched how they made their join.  More frogging …more giving up…one video said “Keep at it, if you have to cast on and knit that first round 100 times eventually you will GET it.”

I wanted to spend more time with my Aunts that knit…but sadly they are dead. Both my Aunt Marie and my Aunt Mia were extraordinary knitters.

I dropped some stitches, four needles is a challenge…I knit my join too loosely and made “ladders.” Uffda.

Finally I made an acceptable join.

AND I have a cuff!!!

I am now working on the body of my sock. My reward for making it this far was to go to town and get some more needles and some worsted weight sock yarn that is a wool mix…sock yarn is quite expensive.

I was astonished that I still knew a knit stitch from a pearl stitch…and could do both decently after all these years.

Will I be able to do a heel??  I hope so.  This first pair is made out of some practice yarn…I will let you know how it goes.  I will wear these socks no matter what they turn out like!

I have to remember to relax and go with the flow. Relax was my word for this year.  I do find knitting relaxing…I keep my yarn and needles on my desk or the dining room table and when I take a break I can do a few stitches.  I have found out that knitting uses different muscles in your hands versus crochet.

Far Side