Knitting?

Ok, half the people who read this are probably gonna think I'm fruity, the other half won't care. Last month I decided to teach myself how to knit. I picked up a CD-ROM at the craft store, some knitting needles, and yarn. Learning the basics, esp. with the CD-ROM only took a night. However, it took a couple weeks of goofing up and starting over to get the hang of it.

Actually, it's a lot like programming a computer. You start out with basic stitches or building blocks. Depending on how you put them together, you end up with different patterns. How you put your patterns together, shape, size, etc. determines the finished product. Besides, what's cooler than making your own clothing? Better yet, ending up with something that is exactly the way you wanted it?

Originally I wanted to make some knucks. After about 12 attempts, each attempt progressively better and better, I decided to make some wash cloths and socks. The yarn I used to make the wash cloths was Red Heart Baby Teri. It's quite soft, and makes an excellent wash cloth once knitted up. The yarn is a bit pricey though, at $5 a skein. To offset the cost, I knitted several cloths and sold them to co-workers for $5 each. So basically I turned $5 into $25 which I used to buy more yarn. :D Now how cool is that?

As for the socks, I decided to make my first pair out of inexpensive yarn. I used Red Heart sport yarn. Its 100% acrylic so it's machine washable. It also holds heat in very well. The down side to acrylic is that it doesn't let your feet breath. So if your feet get too hot and sweat, it'll just hold that in. Luckily for me, I prefer my feet as hot as I can get them. The only time I remove my socks is when I'm taking a shower or going swimming.

To knit the sock, I used a number 4 U.S. 16 circular needle. The needle ends are actually rather short, so it was easy to work it in the round. Being a tube sock, I basically just cast on 44 stitches, did knit purl for the cuff ribbing, then did knit stitches for the rest of it. Knit stitches worked in the round comes out as stockinette stitch. For the toe, I decreased by one every 22 stitches until my needles were too large to decrease anymore. Then I switched to regular number 4 needles. I transfered my work to the new needles alternating them as i went. (from the circular needles, side one, side two, side one, side two, etc.) This leaves you with only one row of stitches on the new needle, closing the end of the sock. Then I just bound off as if to knit. Trim your tails, turn it inside out, and you have a tube sock.

The next pair of socks I am knitting will be made of 80% acrylic an 20% wool. This should keep them easy to wash as well as allow it to breath more, and add more stretch in the cuff. In time, I hope to replace all of my store bought socks with ones I've made myself. That way, if I'm unhappy with my socks, it'll be my fault. :)