I finally finished the first sock of the Snicket Socks I am making for my Sister.  I am still unsure about the size.  They fit me perfectly, but I am pretty sure my sister’s feet are bigger.  Hopefully, they will stretch for her.

This is the progress I have made on the Yoga Wrap Sweater I started quite a while ago.

Those are the arm holes. On the right side I am almost done – it has to be as wide as the left side. Then I will still have to knit the two sleeves.

Remember this is all stockinette stitch. I has become my travel project. I end up only working on it when I am in the car (as a passenger), at the movies or watching a movie at home. After tearing out 15+ rows that were stitched wrong while watching the new Transformers movie – I may not stitch in the movie theater anymore.

All the yarn is purchased – it would be really great if I can finish this before it gets cold.

Have you ever seen the movie “Lemeny Snicket’s a Series of Unfortunate Events”? This is one of my sons favorite book series. Probably the only books he ever read because he wanted too.

When my sister asked for a pair of socks, I went looking for a pattern and came across the Snicket Socks on Ravelry. I picked out the perfect yarn – it will match her work uniform perfectly.

I have started these socks and torn them out about 10 times. I am on my third set of DPNs. OH – this is sock #1, I haven’t ever started sock #2.

I have been plagued with dropped stitches, broken needles, and major sizing issues. But I think I am finally past it. This was my first attempt at a cable pattern.

My latest knitting project is a pair of socks for my sister.  I got the pattern off of Ravelry, of course.  They are called Snicket Socks because the design was inspired by the sleeves of the dress worn by Violet in Lemony Snicket.  (FYI – this is  a serious of young adult books that was made into a movie; Dustin loved reading this series)

So, here is how it is going so far.

This is my first time cabling and I will tell you that I do not like it.

This past Friday, I was at a knitting class during my lunch hour at work.  I was showing off my sock progress and complaining about cabling.  Another women showed me her cabling needles she picked up from KnitPicks.  They are as cute as pie.  And she is letting me try one out for the week.

I put it on an envelope so you can see the size of it.  It has these little grooves that grab the yarn.

So far, I still don’t like cabling but this little needle has made it easier.

The past two nights have been “Family Movie Night” at my house.  My husband brought home a bunch of movies home and I felt obligated to sit with him and watch.  Since I was working on my new knitting project, I couldn’t have been happier.

I have heard of stories of people knitting without looking.  I always thought that one day I would get there.  I pictured myselft watching TV and not even paying attention, looking down and seeing a completed sweater.  I could knit while riding in the car, so I could knit anywhere.  Plus, if they could do it, I could too.

My husband has a bit of OCD (just kidding, but he does get obsessed with things).  One of his pet peeves is having the lights on when you don’t need them.  When the movies started it was still daylight out; thanks to day light savings time.  But half way through the sun set and I found myself sitting in the dark – knitting.

Now, I could have very easily gotten up and turned on the lamp.  Or better yet, called one of my slaves (oops, I mean kids) to turn the light on.  But heck!  they could do it, so could I.

Warning – don’t do this without practice.

Tonight, the lights are on.  I looked at my work and God only knows what I was thinking.  It looks like I turned halfway through a row in several spots.  Not that I remember doing this.  So, I have spent the last 2 hours tearing back three rows of stitches.  Remember, I cast on 272 stitches.

All is better now.  I have learned my lesson.  Although I get lots of messages of how well I knit and how amazing it is that I am tackling a sweater already or how incredible it is that I have made socks as my second project; I think I am letting this go to my head.  For now, I will practice the “not-looking” thing and check my work often.

This week I picked up the most wonderful yarn from a new yarn shop close to my work.

They don’t sell online yet, but check out their site  www.fourpurls.com.  It was heaven walking in there.  IT IS A REAL YARN SHOP.  OK – I will go more into it on the podcast, but this weekend I had a terrible experience as the “so-called” yarn shop near my house.  It was such a joke.  Then I went to Four Purls.  The owner is Laura and she was WONDERFUL.  She helped me pick out the perfect yarn for my Yoga Wrap project, looked up the notes in Ravelry, figured out how much yarn I would need, held the hanks (is that what they are called) that I couldn’t afford to purchase right away, made needle size suggestions, and taught me how to adjust the pattern to fit the yarn I wanted to use.  Everyone should have a “Laura” in their life.

I am heading back there tomorrow because I found out that I have every size needle imaginable except the one size I need for this project.  But I don’t mind, being in her shop was such a joy.

Sorry there was not a podcast this week.  The sound went out on my computer and by the time I figured out what went wrong, it was too late to record.  I will be back next week, but probably on Saturday.  I have to Chaperone a Girl Scout event on Sunday.

Don’t forget to call me and leave a voicemail.  This will enter you into a drawing for a “Purple Thang”!

On my to-do list:

• Adding a page on how to start a podcast
• Post on the pot holders I made and sort of designed
• Adding a page with all the podcasts

I promise I will get to these things.  But I know I will be knitting the next few days.  Too excited to start a new project.

OK – the picture may make them look good, but they are not without their flaws.  The right one is too big and so when I made the left one, I did the instep shorter; fits perfectly.  On the left one, I forgot to do the decreases when I was stitching the instep, so I did several rows of decreases right before the toe; you really can’t notice this problem.  I need more practice on picking up my gusset stitches when turning the heel.  I tried two different methods and neither one looks perfect; but they worked.

Don’t you love how the strips match!  FYI – I used one ball of yarn and just a tiny bit from my second ball.  If I didn’t make the right one too big, one ball would have worked.

I enjoyed making the socks, but I am done for now.  My next knitting project will be something different.

I finsihed my first sock – Yeah!!!!

It really wasn’t that hard.  If you have been thinking about trying it – I say go for it.  I was listening to a Knit Picks podcast that encouraged me to try it.  The speaker was talking about new knitters and the projects we choose.  Scarfs can be the most boring things to knit, she implied.  So she encouraged people to jump into socks or hats.

So, that is what I did.  Yes, I had a bunch of stumbles along the way; but, WOW!  It was so much fun.  You can’t really see it, but there are a few holes here and there where I dropped stitches or mixed up the purl and knit in the pattern.  But who cares?!  I did it.

I can’t wait to finish the next one.  I don’t know what I will knit next, but I feel like I could tackle anything.  Maybe even a sweater.  Heck, if I start now, I may have it finished by next winter.

What do your think I should conquer next? Gloves, hat, Sweater, Shawl,……..

Felt like working on my knitting these past few days.  I had a sock on my needles and I had stopped because I was at the point of turning the heel.  This was a little bit out of my experience.

I picked this pattern because I thought it was easy and the directions were clearly explained.  But, this part of it I just couldn’t understand.  Today, I found a great video the showed it and I finally understood the instructions.

So here is my first attempt.  I think it came out pretty good.  The stitches are a bit loose, but I think it will work out.

I should have had the scarf finished by tonight, but that is not the case.  I did get slightly bored this week and I cast on some socks.  I found a simple enough pattern on Ravelry that will give me a good start and hopefully teach me the basics of knitting socks.

I have never worked with DPNs (Double Pointed Needles).  It is quite an experience.  I have almost poked my eye out a few times.  Plus the sock weight yarn is sooooo tiny.  I feel like I am knitting with about three strands of embroidery floss.  That being said, I think my progress is pretty good.  I have made some errors, but I am getting better at recognizing them and fixing them.  The yarn is a superwash morina wool, so they should be comfortable.

I made sure my hands were in the picture, otherwise the needles look very small.  I did test my guage out and it was good – but the socks do look a bit small.  I am not going to second guess myself, though.  I will continue on and if they don’t fit in the end – oh well, at least I learned something.

I have recieved several emails about my knitting so here is an update.

I have finished about 15 inches of the scarf.  It is not going smoothly, I repeat NOT going smoothly.  But I am not discouraged, I will prevail.

I found a great app on my iPod call Stitchminder by Quilts2go.  It is great at helping with counting rows and pattern rows, among other things.  I have not lost my place once since I started using it.

I am still dropping stitches, but I have been told to invest in Bamboo needles to help with that problem.  I think I will do that for my next project.

I am still gaining stitches.  I now understand how I am doing this and I am trying to be more careful, but to no avail.

The worst thing that happened is that my ball of yarn “pooped” out this mess.  It took me two lunch hours to untangle the mess.  Am I supposed to be preparing my yarn in some way to prevent this?

Today, I started to teach myself how to knit.  I took a trip to Hobby Lobby and JoAnn’s.  I picked up the “Taught Myself to Knit” kit – the same kind I got when I taught myself to Crochet.  I also picked up a few free sock patterns and 4 skeins of yarn.  The yarn is super soft.

Right now I am working on learning how to cast on….wish me luck!