Konnichiwa Socks (Finished!)

I meant to get this blog post out over the weekend, but with a Physics II exam to study for this kind of got forgotten for a few days.

But here they are!

I finished them Saturday.

I don’t have many in progress photo’s of the second sock, but you can see how they go in the previous post.

I love how they came out, though they’re a bit heavy for summer wear (after all, they’re knitted from worsted weight yarn).

As for what I’m doing next…. I would like to do the next sock in the book, however, I need to get the correct yarn weight (I don’t have any of the correct weight that I already own) and I need knitting needles of the correct size as well. I’ll probably start over the weekend when I can get the supplies.

I can’t wait!

Konnichiwa Socks (In Progress)

(Picture not mine and used without permission)

So I picked up a book called Knitted Socks East and West at Border’s when they were going out of business here in town. I grabbed it on a whim cause it was $5 on sale and I have an interest in knitting socks.

After the socks I just made (my very first ones ever) I decided to take the plunge and start the socks in this book. The first sock is, appropriately, called “Konnichiwa” and eases the reader/knitter/whatever into the use of odd stitches found in Japanese knitting.

Socks overall don’t seem to be nearly as complicated as I thought they would be.

The in progress photo’s are still in progress because I’m still working on the second sock, but here’s what I got so far:



(Starting the heel.)

(First sock complete.)

And the second sock is started:

Finished Socks!

And there’s the finished product! My first ever pair of socks.

As you can see (and I mentioned in my previous post) the heel on the right hand sock is inside out. I got the directions mixed up when I nit it, but I did much better with the second sock. The stitches were tighter and neater and the whole thing just went a lot better.

For my next project, I picked up a book of sock patterns that is based on Japanese stitch patterns and I think I’ll start working on those. Though I’ll need to get some supplies first. (The only reason I actually got the book is that the Borders in town was going out of business and it was 70% off.)

And just to finish things off, here’s a picture of my cat Smokey chilling on my bookshelf:

Socks

So I started this sock pattern, and as you can see I’ve finished the first one and am well on my way to finishing the second. (And yes that’s Smokey’s paw on the bottom left.)

I found the pattern via Ravelry, which is how I found the last pattern (the green hat) that I did too.

On another note, socks aren’t nearly as difficult to make as I thought they would be, but I made the heel of the first one inside out by accident.

So here’s some in progress photo’s:

(Yes that’s my foot, I tried it on half-done to make sure it was fitting properly even though I screwed up the heel.)

As for the skirt I mentioned in my last post, I still want to make it but I don’t know when that will be. I’ll probably try a more complicated sock pattern after this.

What to do next?

I’ve been wondering, since last weekend exactly what I want to knit next. It’s been a hectic week at school so I haven’t really put too much thought into it.

But last night I was looking around on Ravelry and I found a lot of interesting patterns. There was especially one for a sort of wrap skirt that I’m thinking of making. It would be a useful item of clothing and it would be good practice, and I can make it longer than what it says.

So what do you folks think? The pattern and the description can be found here.

(picture used without permission)

Slouchy Hat

Well, I’ve made another hat:

Yes, that’s my cat Smokey with the hat on him, he’s curled up on my bed right now, I’m not sure whether he’s asleep or not but he sure looks comfortable.

The making of the hat itself went well, I used double pointed needles instead of the circular needle’s the pattern called for, and while they worked fine, I think in the future I’ll be using actual circular needles because I have these lines of stitches that are looser than others from where the needles met.

So here’s some of the “in progress” photo’s I took while working on it.

Soon after cast on:

And then when I switched to the larger needle size required:

(yes that’s two laptops you’re seeing in the picture, as me about my computer problems sometime, you’ll get a novel in reply)

Partway done knitting the larger part:

And then finally, the completed item:

So? What does everyone think? It reminds me (kind of) of the hats Guinan wears in Star Trek: The Next Generation. I always liked Guinana for some reason.

Anyways, I need a couple of bobby pins to help hold the hat in place but I don’t mind. It’s large enough actually that I could tuck all my hair in it if I wanted too, which is quite nice, not that it was intended for that, it wasn’t.

I go the pattern from here and it’s very simple and easy to do. If you knit you should check it out. I’m debating making a striped one.

My nerd-dom is going to show here but I think these would look awesome in various Hogwarts house colors (yes you read that right). This one is almost Slytherin green anyways, so why not?

Snow In April

If April showers bring May Flowers, what do April Snowstorms bring?

Why am I not surprised we got snow?

There was a whole lot of snow this morning. I was kind of wishing that it was all a big April Fools joke by the meteorologists, but unfortunately it was real. I took the above pic on my way to school today while at a stoplight. The trees were coated. It was pretty bad out there this morning.

It’s raining now, unfortunately, which means that going home after my Calculus class is going to be a pain as well.

As for knitting, I started yet another hat, but this time with a completely different pattern than before. I decided to try something knitted in the round. I’m using double pointed needles instead of the recommended circular’s though because then I didn’t have to go out and buy circulars of the correct size

That’s from a few days ago (if you couldn’t tell by the date on the pic). I’ve done a lot more since then and I’m just about ready to switch to the larger needles.

I have been distracted for a couple of days though because I got my computer back from Geek squad and I’m getting back the way I like it. I’ll probably finish the hat over the weekend. Hopefully it’ll come out alright, I’ve never done something in the round before.