Category: Knitting

All things related to knitting including yarn purchases, needles, free patterns and pattern reviews as I knit, and how to information.

Just Finished Knitting My First Pair of Socks!

They are not perfect, but they fit, and today I finished sock number two. That gives me my first finished pair of hand-knit socks.

Many years ago, when I lived in New Hampshire, I took knitting lessons from a lady named Anne, of The Wool Room. I can’t find any recent info about the shop, and Anne was up in years way back then. Tiny, local shops in New England work more by word-of-mouth than website. But my time living in that area gave me great insight into hand-crafting and becoming self-sufficient.

My lessons were about making hats. My first attempts at knitting hats were sloppy and a bit crazy, but it was fun. My neighbor took lessons with me, and she decided to knit socks for her husband. I often wonder how many pair she has made since then.

Personally, I never had the desire to knit socks. Until recently. They seemed too difficult to make, and then to wear them on your feet where no one really notices… why? I couldn’t figure out what all the sock-knitting fuss was about.

My mind is changed. I want to branch out and make clothing which is useful rather than the typical cowls and scarves I’ve been making for years. Plus, how many scarves does a person need?

Suddenly I was ready to try making socks. But I needed an easy pattern to follow. After searching online, and eventually trying one free pattern that didn’t work out, I picked up my Knitting for Dummies book. I hadn’t flipped through it’s pages in years. I wondered if it had any sock knitting information.  Oh yes, it did.  I chose some Madeline Tosh Vintage yarn (Rocky Mountain High is the color) from my stash and cast onto my DPNs.

basic socks pattern
The “Knitting for Dummies” book has a “Basic Socks” pattern! Yay…

Although the socks are called “basic”, I still had some trouble. Eventually, thanks to YouTube, I got through my first sock. Wow…I was thrilled.

Because I’d had trouble with another pattern once I got to the gusset area, I chose to make my Basic Socks with a short rib section just in case I ended up having to rip it all out. Since I seldom wear socks at all here in Florida, these will be more like slippers for me.

picking up stitches
Picking up stitches along the heel flap

The gusset part of the pattern that called for me to “pick up stitches” got confusing. Suddenly I had no empty needles to use! Something was wrong. I went to YouTube and watched an experienced knitter explain this part of basic sock-knitting.  Her “pattern” is not exactly like the one I followed, but I got the general idea of what I was supposed to do.

Once all the stitches were on my 4 needles, I shaped the gusset, which decreases stitches to the correct size for the foot section. For this you need to know how to SSK (slip, slip, knit) and K2tog (knit two stitches together).

sock number two
Beginning sock number two.
pair of hand-knit socks
They are not perfect, but they fit!

I will never wear these socks with shoes as they are a bit thick. I did wash them in the machine, to see how they held up. They came out fine, but a bit fuzzy, so I will hand wash from now on. It’s a good idea to hand-wash fine knits no matter what.

hand knit socks
My finished socks!

Knitting the Typha Cowl in Shades of Pink

Finished knitting the Typha cowl. I had trouble figuring the gauge for this because I was not very experienced, but I should have gone up at least one size in needles.

Two tone cowl in lace pattern
Finished Cowl

I am knitting a cowl in shades of pink – the finished photo above most closely matches the actual colors.   This pattern comes from designer Kirsten Kapur and is named “Typha”.  The link takes you to the Ravelry page where the pattern is sold as a download.

The cowl is a simple one to create, with the first part being a simple garter stitch.  One row of knitting and the next of purling.  After that, a simple repeating lace pattern is followed to finish off the cowl.  The pictures below came out very “Pink”.

pink cowl knitting
Done a few rows of the lace part of the cowl.

The second part of the cowl is a lace pattern. After knitting a shawl in the Through the Loops Knit Along, this pattern is very simple to follow. And I believe that most knitters with some experience can easily follow the pattern. It is fun to do.

pink cowl knitting
Cowl knit in the round in lace and garter stitch

I will admit that getting started with this pattern was not easy. For some reason my cowl is coming out much smaller than the pattern implies (Go up 1 pr 2 needles size next time!). I did do a swatch to check gauge, but I am not familiar with figuring out gauge and finding it with a lace pattern threw me off. (Now I know to knit the pattern in a 4×4 square to measure for gauge.)

Consequently when I tried to cast on (for first the smaller cowl, and then the larger) the yarn did not reach, so I had to begin over.

My yarn is obviously thinner than what Kirsten used to create her cowl. The yarn she used is Fibre Company “Meadow”, which is listed as “heavier lace”, so I bought “heavy lace yarn” from Miss Babs, thinking it would be the same.   I guess not.  Live and learn… that is my motto, and once again, I have learned from making a mistake.

So my “long” version will actually be short, and probably not long enough to wrap twice. My plan was to make the shorter version of the cowl to give to my daughter, but now I will keep this one and try again to make a correct size for her.

I do plan to make this cowl again using a heavier yarn and trying to figure out my gauge. It’s a beautiful and unique cowl in the two colors, which gives us many color choices.

My Finished Shawl, TTL Mystery Shawl 18 Knit Along

July 27th was the day our last clue arrived for the mystery shawl knit along, provided by designer Kirsten Kapur / Through the Loops.  We knitters had until August 27th to enter our finished shawl photos to the Finished Shawls, TTL Mystery Shawl 18 thread at Ravelry for a chance to win prizes.    That means all done knitting, washed, blocked and photos taken.

On August 3rd I added my finished shawl photo to the thread. Finally the colors looked right as I took the shawl outdoors to get some photos.  Taking selfies of this long shawl on my own body was not easy, but finally I got it right!

MKAL finished shawl
Vine Pops shawl

Never before have I worn or knit a shawl like this one. It took nearly 2 skeins of yarn. As you can see, the lace pattern ended up gorgeous. I am very happy with the end result, and truthfully quite amazed that I could knit this!

Clue #1 was given out June 22nd, so in little over a month I had knit myself this beautiful accessory. Too bad I live in Florida where I will seldom get a chance to wear it. I will take it with me on every trip back to New Hampshire.

This shawl was named VINE POPS and the pattern can be purchased here on Ravelry.

The MKAL Story in a Nutshell, or Longer

yellow and blue balls of yarn
Balls of yarn (Miss Babs “Cumin” and “Coventry”) are ready for knitting

As I finish up with this fun event, looking back I first thought that I may have chosen my yarn differently. I love the Woodbury from Miss Babs, which is soft and wonderful, but I wasn’t too sure about the yellow “cumin” color.  The light blue “Coventry” is so pretty, I would probably use it again in another project.

Some knitters began running out of Color A yarn (my color A is yellow “cumin”) during Clue 3. The designer, Kirsten Kapur, suggested that I might want to use a third, contrast color, at this point. My yarn stash is pretty small, so all I could come up with was anther Miss Babs yarn called “Canyon Wren”.  This became my Color C, which was added in Clues 3, 4 and 6.

(This shawl pattern is available for anyone to purchase although the MKAL is just about over.)

Now that the project is finished, I do like my color choices.  I think adding the color C (rust red) was a good choice as well.  Not many knitters did that, so mine is a unique in that way.

knitting a shawl
Color C added in Clue #3 because I ran out of yarn

My stitch markers were a life saver, but during Clue 5 the markers moved! This really threw me off. When I counted my stitches they didn’t stay the same between the markers and I didn’t know if it was my mistake or the pattern. Someone in the forum said to look at the chart pattern, which would show this happening.  That did help me even though I can’t read a chart well.  (Something else to learn.)

I ended up okay, but made a bunch of mistakes during this clue. I did a lot of counting too, and the fact that Kirsten gave us counts for all the rows in her pattern was super helpful.  Somehow the lace ended up looking fine – that was pure luck!  It is so pretty.

finished knitting the shawl
Shawl is done!

I was very worried about the bind off, which was like picot flowers. It looked very involved, and I could easily see myself messing it up. Since it is an edging, it would stand out, and I didn’t want that mistake to be obvious.  Clue 6 was one of the easiest to knit, except for the bind-off.  Kirsten kindly created a video to show the bind off, but I still didn’t feel confident about it.

Mystery shawl knit-along in lace

When I visited the “Clue 6” forum at Ravelry, I saw that some other knitters had also decided not to do the fancy bind-off. Their shawls looked great. I did a regular bind-off and it looks fine.

Lots of Firsts For Me

I’ve never knit lace.
I’ve never followed such an intricate pattern.
I’ve never knit an asymmetrical shawl.
I’ve never before done a knit along, mystery or otherwise.
I had never done a cdd or sk2p stitch.
This was the first knitting pattern I have ever purchased online.

Because I have conquered all these firsts, and ended up with a decent, wearable shawl, I have the confidence to continue trying difficult, more advanced patterns. Kirsten has so many beautiful items, with patterns for sale. Since I live in a hot climate, most of what I knit is for my daughter who lives up north, or for me to take when I travel.

finished shawl mystery knit along
Nature and knitting – the finished Vine Pops shaw.

I love to knit, and to learn new things.  The only way to expand our knowledge is to step out of our comfort zone and dive into something new.

I’m wondering what will be next.  A summer shawl knit along is now offered, so maybe that……….

Keep Reading the Blog

Knitters and Our Many Projects

How many projects do you have on your needles? It is not uncommon to find that fellow knitters have many things going at once.

Pam's avatar by Pam

Year-Round Camping in Florida; Enjoying Nature While I Knit

The peaceful days of camping in the wilderness go perfectly with knitting. What could be better than having coffee outside, with knitting on my lap? We camped twice in the last month and here is a look at the knitting projects I took along.

Pam's avatar by Pam

Mystery Knit Along Clue Three Changes Made, Spoiler Images

I’m blogging about my journey as I attempt to complete a MKAL (mystery knit along) challenge.  Well, for me it’s a challenge.  I have spoiler images on this page, if you are beginning this KAL!

In the Through the Loops forum at Ravelry we are sharing progress, problems, questions, and ideas while knitting an asymmetrical shawl from clues doled out over the course of about six weeks by the designer. I’ve been behind from the beginning, but only by a few days.  This requires a LOT of knitting.  Far more knitting than I have ever done in such a short amount of time, and in a pattern far more difficult than I have ever attempted.

It takes discipline and concentration and I am having fun!

Although the shawl requires 2 skeins of yarn, a number of knitters were worried about running out of yarn.  Some ran out, and I am one of them.  As I began Clue #3 which would have had 3 rows of color A (my yellow color), I knew there wasn’t enough.

mystery shawl knit-along clue three
Starting Clue 3 and realizing the yellow yarn is gone!

I decided to ask in the forum if anyone had simply changed to Color B, or if that would mean running out of that color eventually.

The designer, Kirsten Kapur, suggested I could use a contrast color from my stash, which could also be added in later in the pattern. I liked this idea, so I wouldn’t have to stop knitting and fall further behind. Many people have already moved on to Clue Four at this point.  I guess I will also add this new color in somewhere else.  It’s my backup if Color B begins to get short.

The trouble was, my stash of yarn is pretty small. And I needed fingering weight in a color that would go with light blue and cumin yellow! Probably a pretty green or another shade of blue would have been the best choice, but I didn’t have either of those. So to finish up my Clue #3 rows I substituted a rust color for the yellow.

Now my shawl will contain three colors, but only little of the third color.  I hope in the long run it will all look okay.

shawl knitting clue 3
Added Color C, which is rust to finish up Clue #3

I have now begun Clue #4, but it’s a toughie, so I’ll wait until morning, when my mind is fresh and full of coffee, to do more knitting.

By the way, some people are actually knitting 2 of these shawls at once! And many knitters get the clue finished within a day! Then there are those who have only just decided to start, or are behind like me. At least I don’t feel like I am the worst knitter in the group.

Miss bags rust color ball of yarn
“Canyon Wren” is a rust color yarn and is now my Color C for this project.