Fresh Off the Needles: Sick Socks

That's it, I throw in the towel. I'm officially obsessed with sock knitting. I finally get what all the fuss is about. Don't ask me what it was about my first pair of hand knit socks, but I wasn't overjoyed about them. Proud, just not overjoyed. They didn't leave me wanting to make more. Now, I already have another pair on the needles and ideas for an entire series of themed socks swirling around my head.

What can I say? I'm so in love with these socks! Sucks I got distracted while knitting the first foot and knit it too long. Oh well. They fit my sister almost perfectly, so they'll be going to a good home. They are however, a bit wide in the toe, something that can easily be fixed by working a couple more short rows on either side.

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern even if they are just a plain old vanilla sock. Maybe next time I'll knit the leg entirely in 2x2 rib just to spice things up. The pattern is very straight forward with row by row instructions at both the toe and the heel. It was perfect for me since, I had never knit socks with short rows. For a matter of fact, I'd never really done much short row knitting prior to this, just the little bit that were used for the heel turn on my first pair of socks. I've also been sold on knitting socks toe-up as well. For me, it's far easier to fit when you're starting at the toe because you can try it on as you go and you know exactly where to start the heel. Also, you can use up every bit of yarn by winding the yarn into two equal balls and then knitting the leg until you don't have any yarn left.

 My favorite part about knitting these socks are the all too simple German short rows used on the toes and heels. I've been on the hunt for a pair of short row heel socks that didn't involve the old wrap and turn. And finally found one from Staci Perry at VeryPink.com. She even included a free how-to video on her website. It seems fitting that I became such a fan of this short row technique since I am mostly German, don'tcha know.

There are still a few tension issues I have to work out while doing the short rows on the wrong side which I still haven't figured out on my second pair. But all I'm hearing is I get to make more socks to practice this technique.

Lets talk about the yarn, shall we? This is some bare Knit Picks Stroll Sport that I dyed myself using Kool Aid. The orange, is first and foremost, nearly impossible to photograph. Look at those babies glow. I dyed it using some left over orange and cherry that I used for practicing some hand painting. For the bluish green I used  a mix of blue raspberry lemonade, lemon lime and McCormick's blue food coloring. Both yarns turned out far more tonal than I had expected, this is because apparently superwash wool sucks up the dye a lot faster than non-superwash wool does. Like really quickly, I could literally watch the water in the pot go clear like magic. I felt like I'd finally lived my dream and was a student at Hogwarts.

I'm pretty sure I've found my favorite way to knit socks that will keep me wanting to knit more and more. When I get more adventurous I plan on giving magic loop a try and then maybe even two at a time. What are some of your favorite ways to knit socks?

Special Skills Needed:

I included three different reference links for each technique. I didn't want to assume everyone learns the way I learn. Click on the numbers to see the different links.
Provisional cast on: 1|2|3
German Short Rows: 1|2|3
Extra stretchy bind off: 1|2|3

Want to see some of the other sock ideas I have swirling around my head? Be sure to follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Ravelry and Pinterest to be the first to see progress photos and the like before they're up on the blog. Also, don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin' so you never miss a post.

Thrifty Finds: Textile Center Garage Sale

Every year for the past 15 years, the Textile Center asks people and companies to donate their unwanted craft supplies. People bring in everything from unwanted sewing machines, fabric, yarn, sewing, knitting and crochet patterns, crochet hooks, knitting needles and needlework supplies. You name it, someone brings it. Two days later these things are sold in a giant garage sale held in a large warehouse. There's a dollar admission fee and all proceeds go to keeping the center up and running.

This past weekend my mom and I went for the second time. Neither one of us had any real idea what we were looking for. We were sort of just hoping we'd come away with as much great stuff as we did last time. While we did find a few great things, we didn't come away with as many treasures as we did last year. Something like this is pretty hit or miss. There's really no way of knowing what people are going to decide to donate. Regardless, we did pick up a few great things.

When I said people donate anything to the Textile Center, I wasn't lying. Something that surprised me most was the amount of people that donated unfinished objects, or UFOs for short. There were several cafeteria style tables full of UFOs. That's where I found this great 1960s sewing pattern (Simplicity 5835), wool (I think) fabric and a zipper. All for just two dollars. As far as UFOs go this is about as unfinished as you can get. The only thing that's been done for the whole project is that the pattern has been cut.

I'm so stupidly excited about this find everything about this screams 60s. I can't wait to get started on even just the muslin. According to a few handwritten notes on the pattern, the original owner was planning on making the blouse and jacket. But personally, I think the fabric (which is as bright in real life) would be much better suited for the skirt.

Mom also nabbed this adorable pink and white synthetic, possibly polyester, fabric. She plans on making a little dress for my baby niece using the Kwik Sew 3035 pattern. Of course, if she doesn't really want to, I'm sure I can find a cute 60s skirt pattern to that would go perfect with this fabric.

Another great find is an old book on pattern drafting and grading, Modern Method of Women's & Children's Garment Design. It was originally published in 1955 by The Master Designer and this is the 1981 edition. It has everything from slacks, to skirts, to shirts to dresses. I've thumbed through it and all of it is going WAY over my head. But I can already tell this is going to be an invaluable resource as I continue to improve my sewing skills. Since I much prefer using vintage patterns over modern patterns, mostly for their simplicity (ha!), I really have no choice but to learn how to resize patterns.

As always if you want to see my progress on these future projects follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Also, if you don't want to miss another blog post, make sure to pop over to Bloglovin' and follow me there as well.

What's on the needles: A whole bunch of projects

Remember when a few weeks ago I said it felt like all I was doing was planning projects and not getting a whole lot done. Well, I finally said to myself to, "Mandi, you need to shut up and put up." If that is indeed how the saying goes. If it's not, then I didn't say that at all.

Since I finished knitting my first pair of socks about a year and a half ago, I've wanted to knit another pair. But I wasn't thrilled with the heel flap and gusset. And I didn't like how the toe decreases were. So, I looked for some toe up socks and found Very Pink's German short rows pattern. I love this pattern because I've been looking for a way to do short rows without the standard wrap&turn and finally found an easy way to do it. Plus, the pattern includes tutorial videos at each part of the sock (ie. the toe, heel and cuff) to help you along the way. I really recommend it.

I finally got to casting on for my purple Rosalie. There's not much to say about it at the moment. Or much to look at for that matter. It's just been some plain old stockinette stitch round after round. Which has been really good to knit while I play the Sims. But it's becoming a bit redundant and I'm getting a tad bit bored with it already. Hopefully, I'll feel differently when I get to the ribbing at the neck line. But I hate to knit ribbing, so I don't know why I would assume that. Maybe this time it'll be different.

This is the fabric I plan to use. Floral of course.

I've also been working on a muslin for a button up shirt I plan to sew sometime in the future. But that one has stalled out. When tracing the pattern I got confused about what certain dots meant,  so I just ignored them all. Turns out those dots were important, who knew. I was noticing this all as I was getting sick the the thousandth time this year. And I didn't really have it in me to figure out where everything lined up. Either way, I'm really excited about this project even if it is only in the muslin stage because it's something that I've done entirely by myself. I'm not saying I haven't asked for help, but there hasn't been anything on it that my mom has done. I'm just going to go ahead and pat myself on the back for that one.

There are few more projects that I've been working on that aren't worth photographing. One of them is another sweater that I've been wanting to be done with for sometime but kind of have run out of steam on it. That's actually happened to me quite a bit. Sometimes I go through a phase where I just want the finished product, but I don't want to go through sewing or knitting it. I just want it to magically appear. Does this happen to you guys? How do you muscle through it?

As always if you want to see my progress follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.