One Sock Down!

Yesterday’s knitting semi-marathon was far less productive than I had hoped it would be. As usual, life got in the way. Silly obligations getting in the way of doing what I want. Nevertheless, I was able to complete one of my socks today. *Pauses for a round of applause*

This pattern was one that has been sitting in my queue on Ravelry. While it looks simple and easy, let me be the first to tell you, this was deceptively time consuming. I think I spent more time on one sock than I have finishing the third of the blanket that I’ve been working on. I hope that it was just a matter of getting used to the yarn and the second sock will go by much more quickly.

I like the way the coloring of the sock turned out. The blue managed to space itself out perfectly to accent the ankle, toes, and heal. However, I have reached a dilemma. I’d really like the next sock to match this one, but in order to do so I have to cut out the huge chunk of white that separates the blue segments. I’m torn between doing this and making a second one that doesn’t quite match and hoping that when it comes time for a third it matches the first. I know it would be easier to just cut the yarn to where I want the pattern to be, but it feels like I’d be wasting it. Oh decisions.

In the meantime, I’m taking a break from the socks and making a few blocks on my winter throw. It’s interesting trying to get used to switching needle sizes. I’ve done it before, but never this drastically in size. Oh well, just another skill to learn, the ease of switching needles! I may even pick up my crochet project soon, just to keep myself balanced. I’m feeling pumped!

Beret

After breaking my circular needles last week I was stalled a bit on my beret project. While I was unable to fix them, I gave in and changed to new needles so that I could continue the project. Today it is finished!

I made it using a pattern I found on SockPixie, which is a really amazing blog might I add.

Being ever the rebel, I used Sensations Little Treat Soft and colorful yarn for this project. I made it for my grandmother, who adores the feel of cashmere, and this yarn came pretty close. The hat is made from two skeins of mitigated yarn, which created the unique color combination seen in the picture. I was unsure about the color choices early on in the creation process because both skeins have sections of white in them and there were several rows that were white instead of alternating colors. However, that part (as luck would have it) is under the fold of the hat, so no one will ever know.

The pattern itself was easy enough to follow. I had to pull out the project at one point, but that was due to my inability to work the repeating stitches properly. Apparently I was seeing too many little stars when I read the row and didn’t repeat enough of the stitches.

I am a little disappointed in the size, I thought it would have been bigger based on the picture featured with the pattern. It looks like I thought it would not worn, but it looks a little small when placed on my head. Further support of my theory that my head is bigger than those of the pattern makers. I’m thinking of making another one of these for myself, but I’ll be using bigger needles to make the hat larger.

Fall Hat

Two weeks ago, I featured a hat I created using this pattern from Knitty. While the hat pictured with the pattern looked amazing, mine came out misshapen and far too small to fit “any adult” as the pattern claimed it would.

Because this was a request from my boyfriend, I decided not to give up based on one bad result, and instead began working on my own pattern. After working hard, I have finally come up with a result that I think looks pretty good.

On the left, is the hat created from the Knitty pattern, and on the right is the one created from my own pattern. Side by side, it’s apparent how different they actually are. This suggests that either I completely miscounted when creating the first hat, or I messed up the gauge swatch.

All in all, it has been a really good experience, I got the chance to write my own pattern, and in doing so I was able to practice the magic circle knitting technique.

I created this hat starting at the crown and working my way down, treating it more like a crochet project than a knit one, which from what I’ve seen are mostly made from the bottom up. It’s worked in a 2×2 rib stitch that continues throughout.

I think the hardest part about making this project was keeping the rib stitch while adding stitches while keeping the ribbing pattern going.

I have yet to show the boyfriend the newest version of this project, but I have a feeing he will be pleased with the outcome.