second sock

It's Saturday morning, the kids are still asleep because it has been a terribly long week (And I'm letting them so I have time to write).

Last weekend we saw my favorite niece (she's my only niece) graduate from high school. We went a few years ago and watched her brother graduate and I wore a shrug I knitted especially for the occasion . On this trip I did indeed wear a knitted shrug, but one I made a few years ago. While lots of people oohed and ahhed over the sock I was knitting no one said anything about my shrug. I think they thought it was store bought. And yes, I'm still not decided on what I think of that--compliment or not. I'm trying to go with compliment.

It was a long car ride there and back which was great for me because I've been having HUGE issues with "second sock syndrome." You see last summer i knitted two socks, but they weren't a pair. After each I was so tired of knitting that particular sock, that I didn't cast on the second sock. So when I realized I was really close to finishing my current sock, I decided not to pack any other yarn or needles FORCING me to cast on for the second sock.

It worked. When we got to our final destination, I had finished the first sock and cast on for the second. Of course knitting such a tiny toe up sock looks very comical, but it was fun to sit with my niece, her boyfriend, my nephew and my kids while they played exploding kittens and knit and listen to them. They are all great kids (and I say kids even though we are talking about ages 20, 18, 16 and 14) Makes me want to make that a whole weekly knitting get together.

I've been trying too to carry my knitting to places where I might have time to knit. And while I totally failed on the band concert where I had to drop my children off an entire HOUR before the performance (and I snuck a comfy seat in the school library instead of the bleachers), I did manage a break at work.

Had an unexpected break today and amazingly enough I also had my knitting

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on May 23, 2017 at 5:47pm PDT

I don't usually bring my knitting when I work, because of what I do, the breaks I get are few and far between. But I sometimes find the teachers lounges to be a little cliquey and thought if it was bad, I could knit. Instead the children I was in charge of had a whole afternoon of art, music and gym and all I can think is it must be the regular teacher's usual planning time. Usually one break like gym class just gives me enough time to catch up on what I'm supposed to do after (find papers, grade papers, review math or whatever), three nearly in a row gave me time to do all that and knit.

I also finally tried the first sock on, worried all this time that it would be too big and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was actually a little snug even. I don't have a picture because I've had some not so great experiences posting pictures of my socks on my feet. And also it has been so rainy and dark here lately that I've not had great light. I'll probably photograph it and post it later this week without hashtags and if I start getting weird comments or favorites I'll take it down.

sock progress

So I've been terrible both with the knitting and the blog updating, but I have a few minutes while the kids are occupied with homework I can't help with (Spanish--You can only get so far with the phrases I know--mostly to a bar and to the bathroom. ¡Muy bien!).

I also say terrible with the knitting because I was sick for most of April. For some reason, all I wanted to do was sleep and read. So while all the forced time not working (I lost my voice and couldn't do the freelance job I have where I corral kids when their regular cowboy is at a meeting), I mostly read instead of knit. In fact I went through a ton of books, but didn't do a lot of knitting.

Anyway, last I updated, I was closing in on the heel. And I did the heel! and I did it WRONG! No pictures of that because GAH.

What I did was kind of stupid. First of all I made it too narrow because I forget I need to leave 12 stitches instead of 10 between my short row thingies. And if that wasn't bad enough, I actually didn't center it. You see, I hate starting a new DPN on a purl stitch. It always is a little loose and feels sloppy to me, so when I was doing the top of the foot, I moved three stitches over from the insole. and Stupidly, I forgot to move them back and include them in the heel. So, I ripped and started again.

Of course this isn't a written pattern--This is just me finding a stitch I like in a stitch dictionary and going with it--so I wasn't really sure what to do about re-starting the pattern for up the leg. I think I gave it too much plain stitch, but I'm guessing it won't be that noticeable.

Sock progress

A post shared by Jodie (@ja_gardner) on May 6, 2017 at 8:56am PDT

I probably have a problem with the stitch dictionaries. I own a BUNCH. The first two Barbra Walker treasuries, plus a vogue knitting dictionary, plus two Niki Epstein edgings books and "Up down all around Stitch dictionary" Which is where I found this one. It's called Eyelet crescents and is worked over a ten stitch repeat. I like how it looks cablish without having to cable. Plus it is easy to memorize (and if I forget I have a picture on my phone).

I don't have a new picture, but I am about halfway up the leg and probably need to start thinking about what sort of ribbing to use for the last inch or so. I guess time to dig out the dictionaries again!