Monday, March 12, 2007

Sex, socks, pretty much the same word*

Well, I've spent the last week working mostly on socks. The first half of the week was spent trying to get gauge on my Rockin' Sock Club February sock kit socks. I was unsuccessful so I started the toe with the easiest to use needles that gave me close to gauge and figured I'd hope for the best. Only then the toe looked a bit big but I figured I'd do a few rows of foot and then try it on. Only then when I finished the toe I tried to take out the provisional cast on and couldn't. Only after I struggled with it for ages did I realize that I had followed the instructions to "pick up and knit" from the crochet chain incorrectly. I had picked up and knit one then picked up and knit another when I believe I was supposed to pick up the stitches and then knit back across all of them.

Yet another feeling dumb moment brought to me curtesy of my knitting. I've been having a lot of them lately. The rosebud shawl was pulled out twice so is now on a back burner lest I actually burn it in a fit of pique. Another project had to be abandoned with very little time to come up with another option for the occasion it was supposed to be a gift for.

On the plus side, I relearned to think before I leap (I should have known about the pick up and knit since I've done it before) and discovered two modifications to my knitting technique vis-a-vis these socks anyway that I think will tighten up my gauge enough. One is figuring out that knitting from the other end of the skein of yarn seems to tighten the stitches a bit. And another is that threading the yarn around two fingers to tension it seems to also possibly tighten up my gauge a bit. Hopefully the two together will get me enough of that final 1/2 stitch per inch I need for my socks to fit comfortably without the knitting becoming too uncomfortable.

Since last posting I did finish one little project. The wristlets. They're pretty boring being a simple tube of 2x2 rib, so no pictures this time.

*Special Agent Seeley Booth on Bones in the episode "The Man in the Mansion" orig. air date 14 February 2007

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