Friday, February 06, 2009

2 Posts in One Week....

... how unusual for me. I am so happy I am knitting again. During my 2 month absence I was really worried about my total lack of desire to knit. I didn't even miss it. That bothered me more than not knitting. For the last 3 or 4 years I have not gone a day without knitting, unless I was sick or just crazy busy,and then ...nothing. Even my husband commented on the situation, and he doesn't "get" the whole knitting thing at all.

I have more knitting to share. I finished these a while ago but don't think I ever posted them. A pair of socks I knit for the driving daughter. These are knit in Regia Crazy Color 6ply that I won in a blog contest from Romancing the Yarn I also have a pair started for Little Miss (the youngest) in the same yarn but a different colorway. Little Miss's feet aren't so little anymore, she is 11 and her socks are 9 inches heel to toe. I seem to have misplaced the second ball of yarn so these are on hold right now.... much to her chagrin.










I got some yarn this week from Yarn4Socks. It was on clearance. I can't resist a good price on yarn I have not tried and this was on the list of "want to try this yarn" It is Mirasol Chirapa color 702. It is bright and cheerful. It is a sport wt yarn, so it will make some nice, thick, warm, socks.


I also ordered Square Circular Needles. These are supposed to be more "ergonomically suited to your hands, decreasing stress and strain for those who love to knit" OK, I was sold... but I am not so sure I really enjoy knitting with them. While they may decrease stress and strain on your hands (they don't weigh a thing, virtually light as air) the cable is driving me batty. It has an extremely thin cable that really doesn't kink and has no memory, but is a bugger to glide the stitches onto the needle portion. I spend more time getting the stitches from the cable to the needle than I do knitting them. Though I have to admit, it seems to be getting a little easier as I progress, I still find it somewhat annoying. So less hand stress, but more mental stress. Can you see that tiny, thin, cable in the picture?? it is thinner than the yarn. I have read reviews (after I bought them, of course) that state the larger sized needles have thicker cables. I am also getting about 12.5 stitches to the inch with these, so I probably should have bought at least a size 2 or 3 instead of the size 1. I normally knit 9 stitches to the inch with size 1's. The yarn is some Knit Picks I won from the same contest as mentioned above. It is extremely soft.
Well I think that is it for today. I need to get some things organized for the fund raiser garage sale at the elementary school tomorrow morning. I am not looking forward to that, but it will be nice to have some of these no longer needed items out of the house.
Have a wonderful weekend all!!!

16 comments:

gypsyknits said...

Welcome back! So glad you have picked up the needles again. The socks are wonderful and thank you for the square needle review. Much appreciated:)

Carol said...

I love the colors of all your yarns. I have never heard of square needles...I guess I just don't grasp the concept of them....

~Tonia~ said...

Welcome back. Yay for socks!

I never have understood how a square or triangular needle can reduce stress. I have felt some and I think that they would add to my stress for sure.

Karen said...

nice socks. so glad to see you knitting again. Mine is still sporadic (I seem to have a lot of things on the needles but am finishing nothing)
hope to see you soon!

JoAnn said...

Glad to see you're back! Hurray!
I really like the new sock pattern with all the cables. I don't think I'd like the square needles, but how do you know until you try them, right?

Enjoy your new knitting mojo!

Deb said...

Love those first socks! Glad to hear about you problems with the square needles. I always like to hear "real world" reviews before diving into a trend!

Pat said...

I think a knitting break is great and needed once in awhile!

Diane said...

I hate it when their little feet grow bigger! So much more fun to knit socks for little feet because they are done soooo much faster.

Jennie said...

oohhh nice socks! good to know about those needles. I've been interested in getting a set to try. :)

Sheila said...

I wonder if you are getting a tighter gauge because you are having to push the stitches along the cable? That's interesting. I am a loose knitter and I have a hard time getting gauge in sock knitting. If these are giving you a tighter gauge, I should look into them!

Timmie said...

I have a friend who has the square needles. She wasn't real keen on them. Glad you're knitting again.

Daniele said...

Sometimes we just need a break! I'm curious, though, was there another hobby you took up during those two months? I shamelessly go from hobby to hobby. I'm hoping knit sticks for awhile. I love it!!!

Also, thanks for the review on the square needles. They just look so odd to me, but I'm all about less hand stress. Maybe some dpns for me?

Love that blue yarn from KP. Do you remember the name of it? I don't believe I've seen that colorway before. Gorgeous!

Yankee Girl ~ Missy said...

oooh now I want to go knit socks. Yours look awesome! Glad to see your back! Have a great weekend!

Allison said...

Wow you have been knitting! I can't believe how much you accomplish when you aren't knitting much! I love the colors in those socks. So fun and playful.

Caroline said...

Welcome back. I lose my interest in knitting every once in the while too. I usually don't see it coming either I just know that I'm always happy when I get back into it.

As usual, I love your socks. I don't think I'd be keen on the square needles either. Of course, I haven't even graduated to using circulars when I knit socks. I'm attached to dpn's.

madonnaearth said...

You have a nice blog! Love the striped socks! (madonnaearth, ravelry)

I keep telling myself I'm going to start doing a post a week, but I tend to go for weeks without doing so, then make a flurry of posts all at once. I think I have to be inspired by something.