Socks

I'm knitting socks. Well trying to teach myself how to knit them actually. Things are off to a pretty slow start. These teeny tiny baby needles, and this precious fingering yarn that is finer than hair! That pattern that I don't understand...I mean Old Norwegian cast on? I have never heard of that and I looked up the video on knitting help but there.was.no.sound! You have got to be kidding me. I read the directions from the pattern and watched the video but I am still lost! I need helllp! Because those totally are not my socks over there. :)


For now I'm just using the cast on method that I know. I'm sure it will make things weird or screw something up in the pattern. I'm just too tired to mess with something that I worked at for at least ten minutes and know the same about it as when I first started. If I was not so tired or anxious to get on with the sock knitting I would give it more time. I'm sure that tomorrow, well not tomorrow but the next time I pick up my needles I will put more effort into learning this new (to me) cast on method.


If only I owned that book over there to the right! Then maybe I would have more to go off of! LOL! Then again there are plenty of resources on the internet, and I know that I will figure all of this out. If anyone has any hints or tips for me please let me know. Any information ya'll have to share with me about sock knitting would be great.

Wish me luck!

Update: I have been knitting for at least an hour and a half. In this 90 minutes I managed to get the right amount of stitches cast on, divided them the way I was supposed. Then everything all went terribly wrong. I somehow managed to have my work on only two needles instead of three. I figured out how to remedy that pretty quickly. Then it became increasingly clear as I went along that I could not follow the simple *K2, P1, K2, P1, repeat from * pattern. I pressed on anyway hoping that I was wrong about the (several, I'm sure) mistakes I made in this simple repeat. Then when I went to the second round I got through about 10 stitches and suddenly realized that I was no longer going to be using those set of repeats (I should have switched to *K1, RT (see Stitch Guide), k1, p1, RT, p1; rep from *
to end), but I did not bother to double check the pattern. I just kept on with my knitting and purling and totally forgot that "rnd 2" was supposed to be using a different set of repeats.

So I can:
1-Rip out and start over
2-Keep knitting the cuff pattern (yes they are top down socks) until I get it and THEN frog
3-Knit the whole sock even though there are bound to be many, many more mistakes along with the laundry list I have provided thus far.

I am rooting for option 3 because:
1-I am not going to knit two socks when the first one is so jacked up so,
2-I can just knit this one "practice" sock and frame it
3-Learn all of the things I have no idea how to do at this point including: Learn how to keep stitches tight when I switch needles, turn the heel of a sock, and make a toe.

I'll keep everyone updated as I progress. It might take me FOREVER to knit this one very ugly sock, but I'm going to get this all figured out even if it hurts my tender little fingers and makes me cry! Trial and error, my friends, trial and error.

Insanity, people, insanity!

Oh my gosh! I am officially obsessed with knitting. I have always loved knitting, but things have reached a new level. I have so many projects in my ravelry queue that it is insane. I cannot even AFFORD to buy all of the yarn (along with the knitting needles in various sizes that I do not currently own) to make said projects. I am always either doing actual knitting, looking up new projects on ravelry and the many other sites I have found patterns on, reading knitting patterns in books or magazines, watching knitting how-to videos, or reading knitting blogs. And when I say that is all I have been doing, I mean it! For at least the past week I have been obsessively doing anything and everything knitting related.

Now all I have to do is get a job that pays well enough to pay for all of the necessary supplies to accomplish all of these projects I want to knit. And by "pays well enough" I mean something that is at least six figures. Ha!

I want to learn how to knit shawls, sweaters, socks. All of these projects will take yarn that currently does not reside in my stash, needles I do not own, and possibly knitting books that I cannot afford. Oh, how I love books. Knitting books? Perfection.

I do not know what I am going to do with my new knitting fetish. All I can do is keep on knitting. And purling. :)

Something that keeps me grounded is the fact that I know I am not the only one that is this possesed with the need to knit, and to be surrounded by all things knitting. Trust me, people, I know about you and your stashes and your enthusiasm. Yay for knitting! Yay for other knitters! Yay for other knitting blogs!

Aunt Purl

So I have mentioned this amazing knitting blog that I have found once before. It is some of the funniest material that I have ever read, and it is even funnier because it is real. Very real, fun, emotional, knitting-related, and just so nice to read. The author refers to herself as Crazy Aunt Purl, and is a very talented writer and pretty nifty with computers because she often includes tons of pictures with captions and all sorts of other fun stuff. Ya'll will just have to check it out.

It is more than knitting because she started it just a couple of months after her husband left her. So it is about learning how to knit, learning how to emotionally deal with divorce, and her four cats. She calls her house Chez Spinster, even though she totally socializes all the time! I have been reading the archives because this blog started in 2005 and it is definitely worth my time to read all of the old posts. I encourage all of you to do the same. Or to at least START reading it now!

The link to this hilarious blog is here.

Knitting videos

Lion Brand Yarn has a YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/lionbrandyarn) with about ten different knitting technique videos, and more to come. The videos are all less than a minute long, but very informative. I was excited to find this because other channels that have videos are sometimes hard to view. However, these videos are simple and easy to find.

The techniques that they currently showcase are all simple stitches, increases, and decreases. Hopefully as they add more videos there will be more complicated stitches, etc.

Here are a couple of examples:







Enjoy!

Knit Princess

There is a webcomic about knitting! I know, I couldn't believe it either. I almost squealed when I happened upon it. I found it through another webcomic that I read, and I literally could not believe what I found. I am working my way through the archives as we speak.

I am now an even happier nerdy-spinster than I was before. :)

It is called Knit Princess and can be found at www.knitprincess.com

I am a...

Nerd, yes.

Spinster, yes.

Nerdy-spinster, priceless.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

I have been OBSESSED with Harry Potter for a very long time.

I long ago accepted the fact that someone involved in the process of turning the books into movies is obsessed with changing as much as they think they can get away with. Meaning I try my best to think of the books and the movies as separate worlds, because that is in fact the case.

With that being said this movie is brilliant. Until the end.

I am angry and sad about the ending to this movie. I (stupidly) still hold some hold some hope that the seventh movie (which will come out in two installments) will not be completely ruined by what was done at the end of this movie.

There are some people that hold the opinion that this movie is going to make the seventh better. I disagree with that opinion. However, it all remains to be seen.

FO: Thingy

I have given up trying to find a name for this thing. I gave it to my mom and she is going to use it on the dining room table underneath the center piece. So it really is just a knitted thingy. One would think that I would come up with a grander name for my first FO (finished object) post ever/in history/finally, but that is not the case, clearly. Anyway on with the awesome pictures of my knitted awesomeness!




Pattern: I found the pattern for this free online at Knitting Knonsense. Click here to see it.

Yarn: Red Heart Ltd. Super Saver Multis/Ombres in the Ocean colorway.

Needles: US7

Modifications: None

Who it is for: Mom

What I learned while knitting this project: I learned some basic lace pattern knitting stitches.

What I was doing/Where I was while knitting this project: I began this project at home, took it to Tunica, MS with me. So I worked on it at home, at the airport, on the plane, in the hotel at Gold Strike (the casino I was working at), and then on the trip home, and finished it right here.

How long: Almost three months. This sounds absurd. However, I am terrible at just knitting one project at a time. If I were to just sit down and knit I could totally do this in a day.

I liked this pattern a lot. So much in fact that I have cast on a second one and it will probably take me just as long to complete as the first one since it won't be the primary project I'm working on. I have memorized the pattern and the project itself is portable so maybe it will not take as long. That remains to be seen.

Frogging

I just learned something new from one of my podcasts Brown-Eyed Mom and from one of my blogs CrazyAuntPurl. Frogging is another term for ripping out. I have never heard anyone say this before and then all in one day two people have used the term.

I like learning new stuff about knitting! Well about anything really, but since I am so obsessed with knitting these days, learning new knitting stuff is a bonus.

Gryffindor Socks

Today I finished the round project, and picked back up the Harry Potter scarf.

The newest project I have decided to cast on is a pair of Harry Potter themed socks. This is going to be a big project for me. Firstly, I have not knit socks before. I have knit in the round before since that is the technique that I am using for the Harry Potter scarf. However, it is not with double pointed needles, it is with a circular needle. I have been doing some research online for what all knitting with double pointed needles entails.

Secondly, I have never done intarsia before and from what I hear from other knitters it is a complicated and frustrating process. But from the videos I see online it does not seem like it is going to be that big of a deal. It just seems like something else to pay attention to while working on a project. The part that is going to be most difficult for me is trying to figure out where in the project to insert the picture. The pattern calls for the designs to be embriodiered rather than to use intarsia. I'll figure it out when I get there.

Thirdly, I do not know any other knitters that I can meet with in person so, just as with all of my other projects, I am on my own. I feel very brave and excited about the start of this project. I think I will cast on tomorrow when I find my DPN's. I know they are somewhere but did not have much success because my mom is sleeping and I do not want to wake her up.

So if everything goes well during my haitus from dealing poker I will finish the scarf and be done with at least a good part of one of the socks. I always set these timelines for my knitting and never seem to accomplish them, but I will continue to do it because I have to at least pretend that I am not the slowest knitter in the world or the worst procrastinator when it comes to darning and blocking projects.

Still waiting...

Well I did not get around to anything knitting related today. However, it was a productive day since I got laundry and done and booked my plane ticket to Mississippi. I feel like tomorrow is going to be a good day for knitting. I have got a few small things to get done and then I can move on to a new project. My mom is wanting me to knit something for her dog so I think that I will try something from a pattern book she bought me that uses a technique I have not tried before. There are tons of projects that I want to get started with but I do not have the yarn to start those projects. So why not work on something that I can gift to my favorite dog?!

Be on the lookout for the FO post. I am so excited about it so hopefully I get some time tomorrow to get it taken care of.

Coming soon!

So today I finished knitting a project! So that means that very soon (hopefully sometime tomorrow) there will finally (finally!) going to be an FO post of this blog. Isn't that going to be crazy?! All I have to do is is sew the project together and block it and take pictures and you all will be able to see what I have finished. I am so excited to have finished a project for once. Well I "finished" the baby booties but they still have been put together yet. However, I have every intention of taking care of the loose ends of a couple of projects tomorrow and getting some work done on the Harry Potter scarf that has been on the needles for months now. I promised myself that I wouldn't start something new until I finish everything that is on the needles right now. And since I have a lot of great stuff that I would really, really like to start I have all the motivation I need to get those projects finished once and for all.

I really do have a bad habit of having multiple projects going at once. I'm like that with all of my hobbies. I have multiple scrapbook pages that are only part of the way done, short stories that need more attention, drawings that are only partly completed and have been that way for years, as well as the three or four knitting projects that I've been neglecting. So I guess what I am going to do for now is is working on not letting this habit take over my knitting like it has with everything else. There really is nothing I can do about the drawings and the writing because I only like working on that stuff when I feel like it. With knitting I always feel like doing that and it is much easier since I am following a pattern of someone else and not working from my own inspirations. Someday I will be able to say that I'm making my own patterns for knitting but that is a long way down the road. I want to tackle yarn dying and spinning and other stuff like that before I start designing patterns.

Something else I would like to tackle is uploading pictures of some of my finished projects from my scrapbook. Once I get my desktop computer hooked back up I will have access to my scanner and be able to do that. So when I have nothing else to share on here about knitting I can just share something about a favorite page or two from my scrapbook.

Another idea that I have been toying with is starting a podcast. It seems like it would be so awesome. That dream is nothing something that can come to fruition anytime soon but it is nice to think about. In the meantime I just take note of ideas for a show and daydream about what it will be like when I get there.

That's all for now! Look out for that FO post coming soon!

Tunica, Mississippi

Tunica, Mississippi is one of the more interesting stops around the country for me. This is the first time that I have been here, and I have found some really neat things here as well as some really weird things here. Let's start with the humidity and the mosquitoes. They are the two most unpleasant things to deal with here or anywhere really. Anybody that has heard anything about the South before already knows about the humidity. It takes your breath away when you walk outside and you get all sticky. In fact it is such a noticable change that it makes my eyeglasses fog up when I go outside after being inside for a while.

Besides the different weather than I am used to the only bad thing I would have to say about this area is how out of the way everything is. I mean I come from a small town, but this place is different because the casinos are out in the middle of nowhere. So I have to DRIVE to a small town from here to get to anywhere, including the laundrymat. Which is fine for the most part because my roommate has a car. It is just a pain to take time from my sleep schedule to get up before work and go out and run errands.

So enough complaining and on to the wonderful things about this area. I love how nice and friendly almost everyone is. The people are not quite as nice as everyone in Biloxi but still noticeable nicer than other places I have been.

The casinos here are pretty cool. They are fairly generous with their food comps which makes me happy because it helps me minimize my expenses. There is also plenty of poker action at the casion I am at plus the one next door so when I get off work there are games that I want to play. I can play here where I work (which I prefer not to do) where the touranment is going on (so of course there is going to be action) or I can go right next door and still find plenty of my type of action.

I can not put into words how different the South is, all I can do is tell everyone how much I love. The food here is the best part. Lots of yummy yummy dishes, comfort type foods as well as things I have never tried before, with good sized portions and lots of side dishes. I have not found a place to eat around here that I have not liked yet. There isn't anything amamzing that I have found yet, even though I know it is here since I am so close to Memphis, but everything is at least solid.

Okay that is enough about non-knitting related conversation.

Until next time!