Don't rip back without a lifeline!

Little Man insisted I take a picture of him fitting his sock. He watched me work on it. Somehow I missed a step in the toe decreases (forgetting the knit rows in between) and realized it when I was almost ready to Kitchener it.

Decision point: Do I continue with a messed up sock (and make a matching messed up sock)? or do I rip back and do this correctly?

Little Man has been patiently watching the progress on his sock. I could not give him a half-assed sock. So I ripped back without a lifeline. Big mistake! I ended up dropping the stitches and had to start back from a few rows prior to this shot. Aargh! He was sooo disappointed to see his sock unravel before his eyes. Poor guy, I thought he was going to cry. I almost cried myself.

Molly is done!

Finally I got the courage to finish knitting Molly last night. Yesterday was spent picking up stitches for the bands and the cuffs. Today was all seaming. I was a bit terrified of seaming since this is my first knit project that required it.

The pattern is awesome!!! Seaming was a breeze as everything lined up perfectly. This little bolero will be perfect for her Jazz classes.

Molly
Pattern: Debbie Bliss' Junior Knits
Yarn: Bernat Satin in Sea Shell
Needles: Addi Circulars US #7 and #8
(October 10, 2005 - February 25, 2006)

NOTE: The fuschia tank she's wearing is the first knit garment I made.

Illness and knitting

I've been sick since the weekend. Asthma has taken its toll. Fortunately, I had some WIPs knitting to keep me busy. OK so which project do I work on?

Sweetheart is in simmering in its own little timeout Ziploc bag. I ripped out the puckering heart and reknit the body until the pits. I will have to learn duplicate stitch to put back the heart. I had started to join the sleeves to the body but the striping in the sleeves is making it really difficult. I may just have to rip out the sleeves and just knit it all the way to the sleeve caps.

To Dye For's material (KP Suri Dream) is probably not the best to work on while I'm having my asthma attacks.

Molly is out of acrylic. After the blisters I got from working on this one, I'm not quite ready to pick it up.

So the only one left without starting a new project is Ribby Cardi. Ribby Cardi is supposed to be a very straight forward pattern. Of course, I decided to knit the body in one piece (I'm up to the pits on this one) and the sleeves in the round. I hit a senior moment with the sleeves back in November and it has been lingering in its own little Ziploc bag.

So I asked myself, why am I tinkering with such a fine pattern? I ripped out the sleeves and just started knitting both sleeves flat on Sunday. As of this evening, I'm about 17" and ready to start the sleeve caps.

My First Pair of Socks

Wheeeee!
Not bad for my 1st pair ever knitted. I will take action shots later when Pumpkin Girl wakes up. She'll be thrilled that I finally finished these. I tried to make them match up as much as possible. I learned some new techniques - mainly knitting short rows.

Pumpkin Girl's Socks
Pattern: Ann Budd
Yarn: LB Magic Stripes in Bright Spring Pattern
Needles: 5 DPNS in US #4
(February 4 - 17, 2006)

She loves 'em! I can't ask for more.

I'm still here

This has been a crazy week at our house. Not too much knitting going on. Pumpkin Girl is in 2nd grade. She comes home on Tuesday with some Math (probabilities) homework due the next day. No problem, I used to tutor Statistics. But this is only on top of some other homework (10 pages Language Arts and 8 page weekly Math packet) due on Friday. Wednesday nights are shot because by the time we get home from her RE class, it's off to bed for her. So we only had 2 nights to scramble and get all her homework done.

Stash-Along Update: I was so tempted to take advantage of the Stash-along Free Day to enhance my stash. However, that day (Feb 14th) has come and gone and I am happy to report that the stash did not grow. All I needed to do was to open my Excel spreadsheet (yarn inventory) to remind me how much yarn I have in my closet. I cannot justify getting more yarn when I have 5 projects that need to be finished.

I'm hoping I can finish Pumpkin Girl's socks this weekend and maybe pick-up those other neglected projects. Most of them are over 50% done.

So instead of buying yarn, I did buy some patterns (individual and books) to enhance my ever growing project list. I'll post the pictures as they arrive.

You've got mail!

Socks

I finished my 1st sock last night. Its pair may have to wait until after I finish SweetHeart.

If I were to buy only 1 sock book, which book should I buy?

The Mystery that is Socks

Ok so I couldn't resist. I've been curious about sock knitting but was afraid that the instructions would be too difficult to decipher.

Yesterday I took the plunge. I purchased some DPNS and cast on on my first sock. I'm starting with something small - Pumpkin Girl's socks. I'm learning a lot of new things with this project. Fun!

Heel

and toe
Upon seeing the sock fitting, Little Man asked if I'm knitting one for him, too. Oh Joy!

UPDATE: Here's the link to the pattern.

Project Updates

Sweatheart Sweater - The second sleeve went by so fast. It made me ponder about attempting to knit socks. There is some major puckering going on that makes me want to rip out the heart and maybe try duplicate stitch instead.

To Dye For - Hesistant to rip the above sweater has lead me to look at my other WIPs. I went ahead and knit the first sleeve which went by so fast. Those big needles hurt my arms though.