Two Socks

I've finished the first sock. It fits. I've started the toe of the second sock.

I've learned a lot making socks, most of them disasters, none of them finished, over the last few months. For one thing, I learned that there was no use knitting a sock unless I could get 8 stitches to an inch. That required a tiny needle because like most people who knit Continental style, I knit a lot looser than people who knit English style. I normally need to go down 2 or 3 needle sizes to get gauge, and finding a double zero, 40 inch long needle, even mail order wasn't exactly easy. I bought a triple zero needle at the same time. It was even harder to find.

I've knit in the round before. 30-40 years ago I made mittens. But I've never knit a sock before. Turning the heels, using more than one method wasn't a problem. I always used double pointed needles for small projects. I've also used circular needles for large flat projects. Magic loop was a totally new thing. But because I've got large feet, I kept loosing stitches on the double pointed needles. I needed to master magic loop to actually be successful making a sock.

Doing toe up socks meant I needed to learn at least one new cast on method. I ended up doing a figure eight cast on for these. That provides a seamless toe. Quite comfortable to wear. I decided to try short rows for the first time with these as well. Lots of new stuff.

The second sock is going quite quickly. And it will be fashionably not matching the first one. I gather the not matching is an in thing. 

Take care all.

It's a Sock!

No question. It isn't just a tube of knitting. It is a sock.

I took this picture this morning. It is quite a bit longer in the leg area tonight.

I did a short row heel. These are the first short rows I've ever done. There is a small hole on each side of the sock which I gather is pretty typical of short row heels. It all went pretty well. It took about an hour to do the heel from start to finish yesterday afternoon.

This is what it looked like just before I started the heel. The second picture is what it looked like after I knit two rounds.

Not too bad.

It has been an interesting journey making this sock. I'll make the second one so I can find out if I like wearing hand knit socks. But I don't know if I will ever make another pair. I have yarn for 3 more pairs. Sock yarn is such interesting stuff these days. I totally understand why people get addicted to buying sock yarn. It has been a lot of fun seeing the yarn self stripe. I wondered if it would look weird in the heel area, but it actually looks pretty good.

I learned a lot. Lots of firsts. I learned Magic Loop. I learned a new cast on -- Figure 8. I did my first short rows. I figured out a way to actually get a really difficult gauge. I learned about negative ease and when you might want such a thing.

But whether or not this becomes something I do again will depend on whether or not I like wearing hand knit socks. And I won't know that until I've got a pair of socks to wear.

I have been knitting, obviously. But I have not been quilting. The Class Project quilt has been sitting on the sewing machine waiting for its binding. I've got all of the prep work done and just need to sit at the machine. But I have not been energetic enough to do that. The papers should be taken out of the hexagrams as well. I need to cut the fabric for that project, but again, I need a bit more recovery time for that. I'll get there.

Take care all.

What is Normal Life?

I'm beginning to get back to normal. I haven't blogged in over a week, and this morning I felt a big desire to do that. And I even have a reason to blog.

It is time to turn the heel! This time I've got a sock that fits. Gauge is close enough. The size I chose to make was the right size for both my feet and the gauge. I've got magic loop for one sock down pat.

I'm making a classic 64 stitch sock in sock yarn on double zero needles. I chose toe up this time so I could keep trying the sock on as I knit it. Knitting hasn't gone fast, but quilting has totally stopped because I have not been feeling particularly strong the last month and a half. But the next time I pick up the needles, I'll be starting a short row heel.

I chose a figure 8 cast on and a short row heel in a plain vanilla sock. It took 3 books and 2 online classes to get to this point. I ordered the wrong classes but I did learn something from all of them. The first book was also a mistake, but that one wasn't my fault. One of the reasons to go to a local yarn shop is that you get help in choosing materials and books. And they did not head me in the right direction.

The second book was my fault. I probably could have made a sock using that book, but I realized that what I wanted to do was make a plain vanilla sock. No fancy stitches. Just plain knitting to allow the yarn to look as nice as it can. But also so I would know that it wasn't the fancy patterns that were causing the problems if I had problems. I picked the third book out from Amazon based on the description that there were three patterns for plain vanilla socks in the book. Three toes. Three heels. All interchangeable. And, in fact, I am making the toe from one of the patterns and the heel from other of the others. There are fancy socks in the book too, but right now, that isn't what I wanted.

The book that worked for me is SOCKS FROM THE TOE UP,  by Wendy D. Johnson. It is the perfect book for a beginning sock knitter. She even explains how to choose a sock size in a way that worked for me. At least one of my failed attempts involved making a sock that was way too big because I've never made anything with negative ease before.

What is very strange about this whole process is that I always thought I was an expert knitter and I realize now that the bar for expert has moved and it didn't take me with it. I'm totally self taught. I've been knitting wearable garments for 61 years. I've done two color knitting for almost that long. I've made cables and Aran sweaters. I've followed charts and directions from a lot of places. But back in my day no one was knitting socks and there was very little lace knitting going on. My next major knitting project will involve actually making a lace shawl. I'm doing a lot of thinking about how to go about doing that. I've knit lace, but only the very easy patterns I now recognize. And the whole process of learning how to knit socks has opened my eyes to a whole new world of knitting.

Take care all.

Macungie Spring

Spring is finally coming to East Central Pennsylvania. Macungie is a little area just south of Allentown, PA. And we have had a very long winter. A very, very long winter.

But this morning the daffodils in front of my house began to bloom. The daffodils in front of several other houses did as well. The willow trees are turning that funny yellow green they turn just before the leaves come out. The trees with the red buds are all blooming (and giving me a bad allergy attack, but that is a different post). There are tiny little leaf buds on the lilacs in front of the computer room window.

Spring! Finally.

Two weeks ago it snowed. Tomorrow it will be in the middle 70s here and in the 80s in Philadelphia.

Doing a Little Knitting

I haven't had the energy to do much in the way of crafting for the last few weeks, but one thing I have managed to do is a little knitting.

It has grown. I think it is actually going to fit this time around. I'm knitting on double zero needles, which are very small using magic loop. I hated magic loop with two socks, but it is fine with just one. last time I measured the sock was 5 1/4 inches long from the toe.

I need to knit until it is 8 inches long and then I can choose a heel. This has been a long journey. It took 3 books and two online classes to get me here. Part of that is just that I wanted to knit a plain vanilla sock. Until I got to the 3rd book, none of the books had a plain vanilla sock. The second online class was plain vanilla, but I'd gone for cuff down socks and it turned out there was a very good reason to try them toe up. You can try on a toe up sock done on a circular needle. It is a lot harder to try on a cuff down sock done on double pointed needles.

Another problem has been gauge. Even double zero needles aren't quite giving me gauge. The only reason it will work out is that I went down 1 1/2 inches on the measurement instead of only 1 inch.

Take care all

Feeling a bit better

It is Sunday night, just before I will be going to bed, and I actually have the energy to do something. So here I am blogging.

The cold is basically gone. The asthma is getting better, but it isn't gone yet. The knee has gotten all swollen again, so I've got walking issues again, but I've been icing the knee today, and even that is a bit better.

I've been looking through old copies of THE ARTFUL BLOGGER while I've been using the nebulizer. I have to have something to read while that is going on or I would got nuts with boredom. Beautiful photographs from the blogs they are highlighting. One of these days I need to go to one of the actual blogs and see if they are as amazing as the magazine article would lead you to think. But the magazine probably doesn't look anything like the blogs. Articles and blogs are two different things.

But still, the articles have inspired me to come here and just chat for a few minutes before I go to bed.

Good night all. Sweet dreams.

I am Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired

No, I haven't stopped blogging. I've just been sick. It started more than a month ago with a fever and some kind of viral infection. They didn't know what kind. They just knew it wasn't a urinary infection because they had checked for that because of my age. Some of the time with older adults that kind of infection can present with no symptoms except for a fever.

A week later I was feeling somewhat better, just weak, and not quite steady on my feet, so I pulled the cane away from the side of the bed where it lives and started using that. The feeling sick and the weakness lasted at least 3 weeks. Another week and I saw the doctor for a regular visit bringing the cane with me. I was feeling almost human except that every time I tried to sit in the car, sitting down hurt. I figured a way around that. I sat and pivoted into the car instead of putting a leg in and sitting down like a normal person. But it did allow me to move around some. Just not very much.

Needing a cane just tired me out. I'd barely manage food shopping using a scooter in the store. Bringing the bags in and putting things away took all the energy I had. I needed to rest in between bouts of activity until all the fresh and frozen stuff was in the refrigerator and freezer. Pantry items could wait for a long rest.

And then, last Saturday afternoon, I began to feel just a bit under the weather. Allergies? A cold? I did go to Church for Easter Sunday and out to dinner, and that was it. I got home Sunday around 3 and I haven't been out of the house except to put out the trash and get the mail since then. And I haven't gotten the mail for several days at this point.

Early Thursday morning, around 2 am, I almost dialed 911. Either I was having a bad asthma attack or I had a secondary infection. I recognized that the first thing they would ask me was if I was "using my machine?" I had gotten the nebulizer after one of those attacks when that was the first thing they had asked. So I got up, pulled the nebulizer out of its bag in the closet, and used it. I was actually able to go back to bed and even get some sleep that night.

I'm careful with the nebulizer. Every year I check to make sure the medication that belongs to it is not out of date. I actually have two boxes right now because during a general updating of annual prescriptions they gave me a new box of Albuterol. It wasn't expensive so I took it. I'm using the older box that is OK until late this summer first.

Anyway, today is the second day of nebulizer treatments and I slept almost normally last night. What I have is almost certainly a cold. No fever at this point. Just a runny nose and the cough. And the asthma is improving. The cough is better as well.  But I have been very TIRED all morning. And I still feel lousy.