Socks

Hello Knitters!

This week I am talking about socks! I'm not going to lie and say socks are my favorite thing to knit. I know a few people who really enjoy knitting socks, but while every once in a while I get the sock fever, I have a very bad case of second sock syndrome, which for a long time prevented me from knitting them. Both the socks knitted below were victims of this syndrome!

I somehow don't have this same problem with mittens, but perhaps that's because they knit up quicker and it could also be that my family ask me for mittens every year, especially my sister, who gets a new pair every birthday.

Anyway, I’ve jumped off the subject, we are here to talk about socks, not mittens!

As you probably know there are a few ways to make socks. Every knitter you talk to will have their favorite way of knitting them, I actually have two! I always knit two at a time now and I love both toe up and cuff down. I personally think that cuff down ends up with a prettier toe, however toe up is much easier to fit to the foot of whomever you are knitting for and once you finish the foot and go into the cuff, if you start finding yourself in a panic as you watch the yarn disappear and wonder if you have enough, it's not such a big deal to have a sock with a shorter cuff.

I had planned on having a picture of two fully finished baby socks that I am currently working on, however a teething baby girl,as you can see, prevented a lot of knitting this week. Hopefully next week I’ll have it finished so I can show you the finished product! Though even as I type Violet is trying to push keys and demanding attention. If I'm honest it's taking me far longer then it should to write this post!


Baby socks are the perfect place to start if you've never knitted socks before. They are smaller so they are easier to knit up and babies don't care if they aren't perfect!

Socks are one of my favorite traveling project, I can't think of anything more portable to then socks. Plus you can change them up in so many different ways! Though be warned. If you take your knitting in public places, be prepared to be asked what you're making and if you would be willing to make socks for them!

Honestly though it's a great way to make friends you normally wouldn't! I don't know what it is about knitting that draws people to you, but it really does create a great conversation starter!

Did you know you can knit socks in the flat if doing it in a round is not for you? You can! Though it's not my favorite way to do it, mostly because you have to sew them up and they have a seam afterwards and for comfort sake I prefer no seam, but if your uncomfortable with working in the round, knitting them on two needles are an easy alternative!

These little pink lovelies were knitted on two needles and I got a lot of complements on them, though Violet grew out of them quickly as babies tend to do which makes me a tiny bit sad!

The current project I'm working on are baby socks in a round and I'm knitting them toe up.

I'm knitting them on a 40 inch circular knitting needle using the magic loop method, I knit all my socks with that method and I can't recommend it enough! It solves the problem of laddering stitches and it's super easy once you've had some practice!

I included a link below for a great Youtube video that helped me figure out the magic loop method. I always say, aside from my stepmother's help, youtube has helped me learn to knit more than any thing else!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqySdHjIPIc

So far my socks aren't even to the gusset, but they are coming along nicely, hopefully by next week I can show you a finished pair!

If you have any questions feel free to ask! Have a wonderful week! Hopefully it's full of knitting! Until next time!

Scarves

Instead of hats, I probably should have started with scarves. Most knitters began with just that.

Thinking of scarves brings to mind my first ever scarf. I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew, so I think my first knitting project was a blanket. However I never finished.

I was pregnant with my first and desperately wanted to make a blanket for my almost here newborn. I was trying to learn on my own at this point and for some reason my work never stayed strait, somehow in all my knitting, I dropped stitch after stitch and my work became more of a lop sided triangle than the rectangle it was supposed to be. 

I soon became so frustrated that I basically threw it aside in frustration and didn't try to knit again for two years!

Flash forward those two years to when my step mother, sat down with me and patiently taught me to knit. 

She taught me how to pick up slipped stitches, and picked up most of them herself, if I'm honest. Again and again she helped me correct the mistakes I made.

I would like to say that after that I naturally became a knitter, that I just took off from there, that I became a talented knitter over night and began making the most beautiful things you had ever seen!

However that is not the truth. It took me a while and lots and lots of practice. I put down knitting and picked it up again over the next year so often and never finished a thing. Then one day I did. 

This is my first finished project. A scarf. 

Don't laugh. All right you may laugh, but just a little.

I have kept this ugly thing for five years now. When I first finished this thing, I was so proud. I proudly showed it off and was even praised for it. It just goes to show how nice people really can be! There are even stars in that pattern if you look closely. It was the fist thing I ever finished, and the ugliest thing as well! Though there is still a small part of me that loves the thing. My oldest loves it as well, and while I cringe internally now when he insists on wearing it in public, I let him, because as ugly as it is, it's my first knitting success!

Once I finished that contraption, the knitting bug took hold of me. I began knitting every single chance I could, and now I'm pretty sure I couldn't live without it!

Why did I tell you this story you ask? Well it's because we all need to know, that even the most accomplished knitter out there, started somewhere, and they probably have a scarf like this hidden away in a closet. 

If you are a beginning knitter, I highly suggest starting with a garter stitch. It's simple, easy, and the very first stitch you should know. 

This one probably should have been my first project I bet it would have turned out a lot better in the end. 

This pattern is what I like to call, a perfect no think pattern. 

This one in particular was cast on with 14 stitches with a bulky yarn on size 13 US needles and I'll just keep knitting until desired length. Then bind off.

When I first started I had a love for stockinette stitch.

As you can see here, it's really not the best stitch for knitting scarves. The stitch tends to roll up on the sides creating more of a funnel, than a scarf. 

However, if you don't mind knitting twice as much, folding it over can make it flat. Blocking will be needed, but honestly, I love the look of the scarves when they are done. 

Obviously that is still on the needle so this is far from blocked or sewn together, but you get the idea! 

The next scarf I would recommend to try, if you are beginning is the ribbed scarf. 

A ribbed scarf gives the appearance of a stockinette stitch, but stays flat, and it's reversible! 

This scarf was made with size 8US needles, with worsted yarn. A yarn I picked up in a little shop in Stevensville, Montana on a whim. If you even get the chance to go to Bitteroot Yarn Shop do it!It's the strangest little store, full of old antiques and books in front, with a small yarn shop in back. When I last went, they had a group of ladies huddled together around a table, knitting and chatting away. I had just enough room to wander around and pick out my selection, while the ladies happily conversed with me in the usual friendly way people from Montana have. It's well worth the visit if you ever find yourself in that area!

This pattern is just Knit, purl all the way across, then following the pattern on the wrong side again. You can play around with the size and the number of stitches. It's one of the reasons scarves are so much fun. 

The last stitch I love for scarves is called the fishermen stitch, is my all time favorite for scarves. Though a little more tricky.

It's very similar to the ribbed scarf, except that you knit into the knit stitch on the row below. It makes a tighter and warmer scarf. 

This particular one is made form 100% wool, it's a light worsted yarn and not one my son will ever wear because it's slightly itchy. However I really wanted to experience knitting with wool.

http://newstitchaday.com/how-to-knit-the-fishermans-rib-stitch/

This stitch is more of a show not tell stitch, so that link above will help you work it out nicely!

One of my biggest tips with scarves to make them look neat and professional when you're done, is to slip the first stitch. I purposely didn't slip the stitches on the fishermen scarf, and you can tell the difference. Compare to the garter stitch where ever stitch is slipped, and you get a much neater line and a more rectangular shape. 

Slipping a stitch is super easy, you literally just pull the first stitch onto your needle and ignore it, knitting the next stitch. 

I hope you enjoyed the basic scarf tutorials. If you have any questions feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer! I'd also love to see pictures of your first knitting projects!