I've finished the back, and begun the front of Mariel. It got a bit too sticky to work yesterday afternoon. It wasn't that hot, but with over 80% humidity, it felt too warm to be knitting cashmere and mohair. It's a relatively quick knit, though, so I plan to get this finished before the end of the month (I get a lil insomniac on my summer vacation time, and it does cool down a tiny bit at night)
I'm waiting to get a pattern I ordered a week ago. It's this one: Antique Lace sweater Ilga Leja I don't generally knit much lace, but I absolutely love this one, so I'm going to try it. It will be perfect to wear when I get back to work in late August.
I've also decided to finally (!) learn to knit socks. I see all these folks knitting merrily away on their socks, and they get to post so dang many FOs! So, even though I have sock knitting patterns, and sock yarn, and even a sock knitters how-to book, and I haven't done a thing with any of them, I bought Cindy G's new sock knitting book, and I'm determined to actually learn to knit socks.
My mother always said she didn't know how to knit while simultaneously turning out pair after pair of socks. Argyle socks. Lacy socks. Plain, workhorse socks. If she could do that, I can. I just need to get over my fear of doublepoints, and I'll be fine. Really. I can do this.
I think my real problem with knitting socks is that I can't visualize it. I can see in my mind what a sweater pattern is going to look like. I can design, from scratch, a very complex Aran sweater. I can take a black and white fair isle design, and picture it in many color schemes. I can take a stitch pattern and visualize it as an all-over pattern, as an inset pattern, as part of a mosaic of stitch patterns. But give me a sock pattern, and I draw a blank. I can't see any part of it. All I see, to be honest, is all those needles forming a pointy circular forest. And it stops me cold. I even tried the Cat Bordhi method of two circulars, but got nowhere with that, too. I just couldn't figure it out.
So. Sometime before 2008 gets here, I will have made a pair of socks. I'm promising myself that. I owe it to my development as a knitter to master this area, and I am going to. (I figure if I keep saying that, it will happen!) I intend to utilize all the folks I know that are sock knitters (fair warning!). I may even break down and head over to my LYS (which has moved, and I haven't been to the new place yet) and beg them to teach me. Some how, some way, I will knit a pair of socks this year.
2 comments:
Hi Christine! I didn't know you had a blog, glad I saw your comment on Bets' blog. I think of you and wondered if you took the Williamsburg trip this year. I see you did. Learning to knit socks is one of my ambitions too. I have begun a Horcrux sock. Imagine yourself knitting a tube or the body of a sweater topdown. I tried the two circs method and I'm not doing something right, so I'm uusing DPNs. I told Cate I wished I could come to her Yarn Church classes. Wish we could take the class together. :-}
Don't worry about making the socks, Benne is right, they are just tubes - that happen to turn a corner. I taught myself using Ann Budd's Knitters Handy Guide to Patterns. Her new sock book that just came out has truly excellent pictures and explanations.
And please come to Washington and Virginia without a bunch of fifth graders - visit Richmond, hang out at The Yarn Lounge and see Jefferson's capitol building.
cate
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