A Pixel Nomad

I was incredibly happy to finish my very first pair of socks. I went step by step using a class from Craftsy called “My First Socks” – and it went wonderfully. The socks are comfortable, fit perfectly, and I couldn’t be happier. Of course I hope to make a few more pairs, expand my knowledge of ‘sock stuff’ and we’ll see if I can manage making fancier ones over time, but for now, I’m really happy with my plain basic ones.

The only ‘difficult’ part I had with the sock was when it came to the toes. The course goes on to teach you a method of chimney grafting. It teaches you how stitches lock together, and basically you knit an extra bunch of stitches like a chimney at the end of the toe, then tuck that into the sock, then link the stitches of your sock together and then remove the chimney. My issues is that with my first sock I ended up not linking the stitches properly (really easy to do when you’re working with sock yarn) and I ended up dropping all sorts of stitches which freaked me out because it could have unraveled the entire toe.

For the second sock I decided to do things a bit differently. I learned that the chimney graft is actually just an adaptation to the Kitchener Stitch, but it involves sewing (stitching) instead of knitting. I watched a few videos on how to do this stitch, and voila, perfectly grafted toes that look beautiful, and no stress from any dropped stitches.  It was much less stress and I’m really glad to have found the stitch. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a comfortable sock before, great for those winter months.

Each sock took a bit less than 50g of yarn, and took approximately a week off and on of knitting to complete. It’s small enough that they’re portable for when you’re going out and about and want to bring your knitting with you (waiting for a doctor’s appointment as a good example). I did have a few issues with the type of yarn I used, it was uneven in some spots and there were three knots that I came across through the skein which really frustrated me, but for the price I suppose I shouldn’t complain. I believe I paid less than $10 total for both 50g balls, which isn’t a bad price for a nice pair of custom fit socks. Of course I’ll be making more.

I have three other sock courses from Craftsy, and I’m eager to see how those ones go. One issue I have with the classes is that I find the instructors take too long to get to the point and tend to flood the video with stories from their lives, which is great but I’m not trying to form a bond with the instructors I just want to know how to do xyz thing. That’s one of the reasons I really like the instructional videos on YouTube, I can go and find one and all it does is teach me what I want to know, thus making them MUCH shorter. The Craftsy classes can be hours long, and by the time I’ve made my way through an entire video my attention span has waned and I’ve moved on to a new project. I wish they had ‘optional’ classes that just taught you the technical aspects without all the story time. Still, they’re great teaching tools and they obviously work.

Now that my socks are completed I’ve moved on to a few other projects, the scarf that I wrote about yesterday, and a new winter hat that I’ve been working on that includes my first attempts at colour work. I think it has been turning out pretty well so far, but that’s a post for tomorrow! Happy knitting. <3

There’s still so much in knitting that I don’t know how to do, and I’ve got a feeling that even if I were to knit every single day for the next couple of years, I would still be learning new techniques. Each instructor and pattern has their own way of doing things in order for your piece to turn out the way the designer intended. I’ve slowly been picking up the basics, moving beyond the simple knit and purl, and into working with colours (that post will be coming tomorrow) and cables. I’ve always really admired cables. They’re beautiful, the intricate patterns that just seem to draw your eye around the piece. Little did I know that getting into cables would be VERY easy.

I wanted to make a bulky scarf as a Christmas gift, and had 10 skeins of a Fairy Tale brava bulky yarn waiting for a project. I decided to find a very simple cable pattern that also looked pretty neat. I was really excited to begin this part of my knitting, and little did I know that it would be much easier than I had thought.

Cables in essence are just about knitting in a different order. Why always knit every stitch that comes up next on the needle after all. Honestly, I had no idea that that’s all there was to cables (at least the basic ones, maybe there’s more to the complicated ones, I’m still learning). The pattern I’m using for my simple cable is really plain. I work the pattern until I get to the part where the cable begins, then I slide 4 stitches purl-wise onto a holder that I then move behind my piece. I had to google what was meant by ‘move the needle behind’ because I had no idea. Turns out it means just that, just put it behind and keep on knitting. So once I’ve slipped my 4 stitches off to the holder, I keep knitting 4 more stitches that are on my needle. Then I slide those 4 stitches back onto my left hand needle (some people don’t do this step, they just knit right off of the holder which is fine too but I don’t feel I’m quite there yet), and then you knit those 4 stitches. You continue on with the pattern from there.

Knitting them out of order makes the glorious bumps in the piece that you can see above. Moving the holder to the front will make the cable curve to the left, moving it to the back will make it curve to the right, like in my piece. They’re all right hand curves.

I can already tell the piece will also need to be blocked properly once it’s completed too. You really want those stitches to pop properly, and since it’s a scarf I’ll want to make sure my edges are all neat and tidy. There’s a huge difference between a blocked piece and an unblocked one. Thanks to the bulk of the yarn the pattern is really quick to work up, and the scarf shouldn’t take too long to make. Of course I need to pay a bit of attention so that I’m following the pattern correctly, but I’m able to read the knit / purl stitches now so I know how to fix my mistakes at least.

I absolutely love the world of knitting that I’ve explored so far. I’ve found myself spending more and more of my off time knitting, which I don’t think is a bad thing. Everyone has their hobbies after all. I’m sure listening to me blather on about it gets pretty boring, but I’m hoping that some people share in my enthusiasm.

I have very little patience. I’ve been that way for as long as I can remember. Waiting for parcels in the mail can be a physically painful process as I run out and check it from the very first day I’ve ordered anything. I’ve been waiting for one parcel for 8 weeks now even though I know it won’t ship for at least two more. Because of that I tend to want to work on very quick projects that won’t take a lot of time. Projects that take between one week and four weeks are best. They keep my attention while I work on them but I don’t feel overwhelmed. A good example is the blanket that I started working on a few weeks back. Where is it? Tucked safely away in a craft bag. Those socks that take approximately 1 week or less to knit up? Almost done the second sock. That’s how I ended up finding the pattern for the ‘all in one baby top‘ pictured to the left. It took me only a day to knit up, and it’s so cute. This one in specific was for the 0-3 months age group. There’s no sewing required, it’s all a single piece.

Ravelry is a fantastic site for knitters and crocheters alike. You can find free patterns along with paid patterns, and a huge forum with many active yarn loving groups. You can find me there (of course) as Stargrace if you happen to want to friend up. It’s a great place to keep track of your projects, patterns, needles you own, your stash, etc. I’m using it mostly as a place to document my progression through knitting (aside from this blog which also serves this purpose).  Remember I’ve only been knitting for about three months now, so I want to see the new terms I’ve learned and my growth over time. Starting from flat pieces like my fingerless mitts, and moving forward to items like this baby top. Next I’d like to explore colour work, so there’s a hat in mind I’m going to try. I believe it uses stranding, and it’s very pretty. Of course I don’t have the faintest idea how this works, so it’ll be an interesting experiment to see if it turns out.

I learned a new term while working on the baby top above, too. I’ve been bookmarking all of the knitting videos I use into just one location on YouTube so I can browse them easily and come back to them. While working on the baby top I learned the m1 instruction, which stands for ‘make 1’. Basically there are two methods of doing this (technically I suppose there are three). The method I learned was to take the bar between two stitches, pull it up with the right needle, then slip it onto the left needle, and stitch into the back of it (so you don’t leave a gap). This “makes one” new stitch. It’s basically a fancy increase. Now that I feel secure with the basics, I like adding more and more information to the knowledge I already know. A lot of reading patterns (for me at least, so far) is just about trying to figure out what the pattern writer actually meant. Sometimes they’re very clear with what direction the pattern is flowing in, and other times they’re more confusing. I’m still not able to read charts and I’m not sure that I’ll ever be able to, but the written instructions work well for me.

On that note, it’s time to start the next project (maybe I should finish those socks, first). Happy knitting!

I took a bit of a break after completing my first sock just to switch things up. I finished off a few books, played some video games, and made plans for future projects. I know that when it comes to other hobbies I can get burnt out, and I didn’t want that to happen with knitting, especially since the colder weather is slowly creeping up on us. This week I decided it was time to get started on the second sock to my pair, and things started moving along much quicker than the first. I’m about half way done now, finishing off the heel flap so that I can begin the short row heel and then bring everything back into the round and then I’ll start the instep. I’m still not happy with grafting, and I’ve been looking at alternative methods of doing toes so that I don’t have to graft. I understand the logic behind it, linking your stitches and all the rest, but when I do it I end up missing stitches and then before I know it half of the sock has come undone. Not good.

I know it takes practice, and so that’s what I’ll have to do. I think part of my issue was it was my first sock and I was using a very fine yarn, makes it hard to see the stitches in order to graft them. Still, the rest of the sock was really easy and if grafting the toe is the only difficulty that I have, I can’t really complain about that.

I ordered some new needles last week to go along with my interchangeable set as well. I needed a size 17 for an upcoming project, and decided I may as well. Since I expect my interchangeable set will last me for some time I don’t mind adding to the collection. I also picked up an extension to the set so that I can make the cord longer for larger projects. I wish the default set had come with it, but for the price I got them at I’m not really too upset. I was just looking at knitting supplies in Michaels the other day and noticed that their bamboo interchangeable set was $230 (Canadian) where as the nickel plated set that I bought were only $45 (USD).

Of course since I was in Michaels I had to pick up a few more skeins of yarn. I ended up buying one more skein of a blanket type yarn for a blanket I’ve been working on (slowly), and I bought two skeins of sock yarn (really lovely colours, purples and reds) and a third skein that’s worsted weight but could be used for a number of projects. It’s very soft, so I may turn that into a pair of socks too. That skein looks like fire, strips of bright red and yellow that blend together. Absolutely beautiful. When my needles finally get here I’ll be starting a prayer shawl for a friend in-need. I’ve got a few skeins of a bulky royal purple colour that I think would be perfect and she has been going through a rough time so I want to make her something. I’m not sure what else I want to knit. I want to keep learning, of course, but making a decision on what to do next is difficult for me. I do have a few Craftsy classes for knitting mitts and gloves, I wouldn’t mind making a pair or two of that. Of course the other issue is that I don’t tend to keep very much yarn on me, I have many smaller skeins but not a lot of the same colours for larger projects. I also keep seeing people crocheting these awesome granny square blankets for their children and friends and I keep thinking that I should give that a try. Granny squares and me don’t really get along though. I’ve tried to make them a number of times and they always end up so weird. I’m not sure why. I’ve made stuffed animals out of crochet before and other items without issue (a hat, a scarf) but for some reason granny squares are the one thing I get stuck on.

Anyway, that’s what I’m up to these days. I hope to finish the second sock this week so the pair will be completed, begin another pair of socks for a friend, and begin the prayer shawl. What I’ll work on after that is anyone’s guess.