One Row Forward…

Then rip it all back.

The Whisper Lace socks. Those beautiful, damned whisper lace socks. The bane of my existence for the last two days. I actually made progress today. Good progress! I was almost done with the first round of the lace pattern. 13 rows for the picot edging, and 9 rows out of 15 in the lace pattern. And you know why I am starting from square one all over again? Because I made a dumb, dumb, stupid newbie mistake! At some point I decided that I would just weave in the cast on tail, rather than weaving it in later (because that's so much easier, right?). But instead of just carrying the tail, I knit it along with the working yarn. And the strands were two different colors. Orange and blue. And I didn't realize until I started the lace pattern that there was this odd row of blue stitches, right in the middle of the orange at the tail end of the picot cuff. And it was only on one side. So it wasn't the striping gone wacky. It was me. But I was much further in before I realized that it really was me, and that I needed to fix it. As you can imagine, I really wasn't in the mood to start ripping. Again. So I took a small crochet hook and just began teasing the strand from the row. And it was working! For awhile. Then I came across this tangle of blue and orange that I, for the life of me, couldn't undo. So I grabbed my scissors and began snipping. And wouldn't you know it? I snipped a real stitch.

Damn.

So, my "practice skein" is done for. I'm not ripping all that back again. I have plenty of yarn so it just feels better to cut off the dead weight and start with the actual skein.

I will make these socks. And they will be worth all the effort because they're so beautiful, but man, it certainly hasn't been easy so far.

I suppose that's what happens when you don't think things through.

When I've made real progress and the pattern starts to emerge, I'll be sure to post a pic. But it may take awhile!

Oh, The Futility!

You see, it started out with this beautiful skein of sock yarn for 50% off. Opal Feelings in color 1702 (I bought two other colors, but this is the one I'm starting with). For once, I am making something for myself.

At first, I was making these Go With The Flow socks from Interweave Knits Favorite Socks. I cast on, did the body of the sock, got all the way to the heel, and then decided that I was going to frog it, and start all over on a different sock pattern. But rather than ripping it back, I just cut it off, then ripped it, and began using that yarn to start a different pair of socks. It has now become my practice skein.

Enter baby fern socks from More Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch. But I had to adjust the number of stitches and it wasn't turning out right.
Rip, rip, rip.

Then yesterday I came across the Whisper Lace socks pattern. I cast on, finished the cuff and slipped it over my foot. It was too loose. My gauge was off. Bummer.

And once again- Rip, rip, rip.

So, here my goodies sit. My two US2 circular needles, my ripped portion of Opal Feelings sock yarn, and the pattern. Dare I try it again? Just so that I'll rip it back. Again?

Yeah, I think I will. Because the satisfaction of finally getting it right and having a super cute pair of socks that I made by myself and for myself will be fantastic!

I have also been knitting the socks on two circular needles. Harnessing the fabulous power of google, I found a great tutorial from Washington KnitWit, and also this awesome video tutorial on youtube to fill in the gaps.

The actual knitting in the round is going quite well. The one thing that I tend to find frustrating is that when I turn my work I have to sort through this tangle of hanging needles and yarn to get it situated for knitting the next row. Maybe it will get better with practice?

Seriously, pictures soon, because what is a knitting blog without pictures?

Long Time No Post

Gosh, it's been so long since I last posted! Not that I haven't knit anything since July, I have. I just haven't gotten around to updating this blog.

I got my invitation to Ravelry today! yay! I'm lw1977, if anyone wants to look me up!

Right now I'm casting on a pair of socks- I'm actually making something for myself for once! They're the baby fern socks from the book More Sensational Knitted Socks, and I'm using opal feelings yarn color 1702 which I got for 50% off at littleknits.com.

I already have a few projects I need to photograph and post, and I'll do that soon, I promise.

Until then, everyone have a Happy Holidays!