Taking the sock obsession to a whole new level!

I love socks. The sock drawer in my dresser won't close when all of mine are clean. I also love knitting. It's really a match made in heaven.

The term "turning a heel" always struck a bit of fear in my heart. I think that was just because I thought it sounded really hard. Are we sensing a pattern here? Carmen seems to be easily intimidated and should just suck it up more often and get to the part where she learns that it's really not that hard.

Enter my first part of socks!

After months of encouragement and professions of sock-knitting love from my classmates, I bit the bullet and started my first pair of socks. Lauren helped me pick out a great skein of superwash (that is, machine washable!) yarn, printed me out her own Basic Worsted Weight Sock pattern and off I went!

There is about 2.5" of ribbing on top of each sock and then most of the rest is made by knitting around and around and around and around. Where it gets exciting is when it comes time for the dreaded turning of the heel.

It's really not that big of a deal (go figure). Basically, you take half of the stitches and use them to knit a flap with some slipped stitches and knits and purls mixed together. Once you've done that for another 2.5", you pick up stitches along each edge. Now that you're back on all four needles, the gusset and gusset decreases start with K2togs and SSKs and you find that you're turning that heel without even knowing it.

Once you've made it back to your original number of stitches, you knit around and around and around and around some more until it's time to start the banded toe. There are some more K2togs and SSKs and pretty soon your ready for the next and last feat (get it??). This is the kitchener stitch that's used to close up the toe in a nice, seamless sort of way.

These socks are quirky. See how one toe is darker than the other? Yeah... I definitely ran out of yarn before I was done. I'm a tight knitter, which requires more yarn to cover the same distance. And of course there wasn't any more in the shop. So I grabbed a new coordinating color instead. Good news is it's a great yarn for a new project I had in mind! Silver lining, my friends.

A little harder to see in these pictures is the fact that one of the ribbed cuffs is wider than the other. It's really only 1/4-1/3" but still... you can definitely tell. I have been assured that it's fine to just leave that part under the pants when I'm showing them off.

All in all, I'm stoked and already working on the next pair!

Yarn:
Pagewood Farm Kiana Hand Dyed Light Worsted Yarn (100% Merino Superwash)
3.4oz/225 yd skein
1x Army Girl

Needles:
US5 (3.75mm) double pointed needles

Grace Lace Beret: My Proudest Knitting Moment so Far

What? A hat that turned out well? Yes! Probably because sizing isn't so much an issue with this one...

Not too long ago I finally set up an account and started poking around on Ravelry. I want to have so much more time to spend there! This had been on my to-do list for a while and the final push was wanting to learn more about the Grace Lace Beret, which a classmate of mine had started up.

This hat is so cute! And so in-style right now, which is an added bonus for sure. It was also going to teach me a bunch of new things, namely how to knit lace!

This beret starts with a cast on method that I had never even heard of and that Lauren wasn't even super familiar with. To start, we crocheted 65 stitches with waste yarn. Then we picked up 60 stitches from the back of the chain using the main yarn and knitting needles. Basically, we knit into the humps on the back of the chain. When we pulled out the waste yarn after knitting the band, it left a very cool looking and stretchy edge.

For the lace I mastered slipping stitches and I learned the double decrease (slip two stitches together as if to K2tog, knit one, then pass the two slipped stitches over).

This was also the first time I've knit from a chart. See? So many new things. Here it is:

I'm proud of this hat and it's been a lot of fun to wear. My only complaint is that the band has stretched out and now it's a bit hard to keep on my head. I just bought some black elastic thread though to sew into the inside to tighten it up. I'll post an update about how that works after I've given it a try... fingers crossed!

Yarn:
Louisa Harding Grace (50% Merino, 50% Silk)
506/110 yds skein DK
2x Burnt Orange (12) -- though I really think this is more of a dark pink than an orange

Materials:
US4/3.5mm double pointed needles (for band)
US9/5.5mm 16" circular needle (for hat body)
Crochet hook
Stitch markers
Darning needle