It Is Good to Have Goals

I started 2010 with some knitting goals and I have done a good job of achieving those goals. Magic Loop and Color Work are now things with which I am comfortable. I have finished my first pair of Magic Loop socks:

This pattern is the Waterfall Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. It is a 6 stitch 6 round pattern repeat that was fun and interesting to work on all the way through. You can see some of the resulting detail here:


The combination of YOs and K2TG creates a pretty lattice work. The beautiful yarn is Madelinetosh Sock and was a gift from Three Good Rats for my birthday last year. Since my birthday is now about 6 weeks away I am happy to have completed this project before the anniversary of receiving the yarn.

I am making good progress on the waist band for the Little Girl Dress, once the intricate cable is done I hope the dress will start to grow rapidly. I am also going to cast on for Ivy Sock #2 and try to complete my first pair of Color Work socks soon!

A Gift Complete, A Gift Abandoned

I finished the little baby socks to go with my earlier posted hat:


They still need to be washed and blocked, but are complete in plenty of time for the April gift-giving at my last hair dressing appointment before the arrival of the baby.

I hit a major snag (every pun intended) in the Corded Rib socks I was making for my mother's birthday. What I thought was an extra YO resulting in a bigger hole than normal was actually a dropped stitch (that I somehow made up in the heel construction). When I poked at it to investigate it ran all the way down the leg and left me so distraught I frogged the whole thing. No birthday socks for Mom. It is OK really as I just made her a pair for Christmas.

Taking advice from experienced knitters I decided to start a new exciting project to get me out of my rut. Last night I cast on for my first color work project! The Ivy Socks from A Cuff Above jumped out at me from a Knit Picks catalog and I immediately ordered the book and the suggested Knit Picks sock yarn (which is fantastic to work with).

Between finishing the baby gift and this exciting new project I hope to jump start my knitting again!

Magic Loop Update

I love magic loop! It is as wonderful and neat and fabulous as I expected it to be. I find it works faster than DPNs because you have fewer joins to manage and transition through and it makes the work neater and tighter. Look at my progress since Saturday:



I am almost done with the leg of the sock. I know I will hit a snag when I get to the gusset as it looks quite different than on DPNs. My goal is to get through the heel flap and gusset before I leave for Michigan Sunday so I can just work the foot on the plane.

Also, this Waterfall Rib is gorgeous and this yarn is even more beautiful in person. These socks might be the best thing I have ever knit!

2010 Knitting Goal #1

So last week I cast on for a pair of socks using the beautiful blue Madelinetosh sock yarn I got for my birthday in July. I cast on to DPNs and even though I did a gauge swatch I quickly realized the cuff was going to be way too big. So, I frogged it last night and this morning I took out my book on learning magic loop!

I have wanted to learn to do socks on magic loop and figured "no time like the present!" My stumbling block last year was joining the stitches in the round. I am fairly certain the way I joined my stitches (using a DPN to move the stitches) is not orthadox, but it worked! After a couple of rounds of K1P1 rib I feel like I might have the hang of it...



I cannot tell you how beautiful this yarn is, the colorway is gorgeous, I can't wait to make some progress so I can really see it in all its glory.