Month: February 2006

I’ve been neglecting the blog. Life has been busy. This weekend was the first time since the Olympics began that I’ve had some time to myself. And I used that time to finish my socks. Some work has been left undone, as well as grocery shopping and laundry. But my socks are finished. I’ve got gold!

Socks always intimidated me. I’m not sure if it was knitting with multiple dpns or all those heel short rows. But they weren’t as bad as I had feared. In fact, they were kind of fun! Don’t get me wrong — there were a few false starts, some frogging, and plenty of cursing at the kitchener stitch.

But in the end it was worth it. I’ve conquered my fear of socks and will be wearing them for the closing ceremonies. Oh, and anyone who got a scarf for Christmas last year, there is a good chance you’ll be getting a pair of handknit socks this year.

I am totally digging knitting socks. Of course, I haven’t reached the heel yet, and my opinion might change after that, but so far so good. Friday night was actually a cast-on nightmare. I’m not used to working with such small needles and fine yarn. It took incredibly too long for me to to cast on and knit the first row. So long, that I’m not even going to admit to the actual time. Here was my progress as of Saturday morning:

After a whopping eight rows, I realized I cast on two extra stitches and my ribbing went around in knit 2 purl 2 with a big, honkin’ knit 4 right in the middle. I tried to convince myself to embrace the imperfection and to just keep on knitting. I couldn’t go throught that cast on nightmare again! But I was only 8 rows into the sock. It seemed silly not to rip. I got some online advice on the cast-on process, and it helped tremendously. I cast on using two needles for a looser stitch. I also knit the first row on one needle before I moved the stitches to the other needles. It worked! And totally saved my sanity. So now I am back on track and on my way toward the heel. Here is my progress to date: