Thursday, September 10, 2009

and now i know

i've been knitting socks for more than a year now. i've knit probably half a dozen pair. some have been on double pointed needles, some magic looped on one long circular needle but up to this point always one at a time and always from the cuff down. after spending a week with the fabulous two-at-a-time sock knitting ms g i was seduced into knitting socks two at a time, toe up. she made it look so easy. plus she gifted me with this fabulous yarn. how could i refuse?

and easy it is! i learned judy's magic cast on. i like it!
but i'm not sure i like working on one long needle.
there are some knitters who hate double pointed needles. and while i agree, sometimes it does feel like wrestling a porcupine, knitting on one long circular, for me, isn't any better. it's just different. i'm glad to have this new technique mastered but did i love it? not really. and now i know.

as a portable project, one at a time works better for me and i swear it's faster! i always laugh at knitters who say one way takes longer than the other, because really, isn't it the same number of stitches? but i swear, two at a time felt like it took forever!! surely i can knit two socks one at a time in less than 16 days!

and i'm not crazy about the afterthought heel. it's easy enough to work but i do like a good heel flap. when you knit socks from the cuff down, once you cast off, you're done. with this, i cast off both socks late last night, then spent all day working just one heel. it's done. mighty pointy, but i know how to fix that next time. this heel does seem much less bulky, so less likely to bunch up out the back of my shoe. that's a plus. and now i know. but i'm done with only one. it will be at least one more day before i have a finished pair of socks.
/whine.

i guess besides all the whining, the point of this post was to encourage you knitters to reach outside of your comfort zone and try something new. you may like it or not, but at least you can say, " i came. i saw. i knit it and now i know."

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I'll find and send you my instructions for the traditional heel flap and gusset - from the toe up. After-thought isn't my favorite heel either - but I think it's the easiest for learning the toe up technique. Plus I hate short rows with a passion! g

Barbara B. Solbrig said...

I was going to say you can have a heel flap with a toe-up. I have done several that way (Vet-girl's and my current ones both come to mind right off). But of course, G beat me to it.

Thimbleanna said...

Now darling, it was just that virgin thing. Now that you're no longer a two-at-once virgin, you must try it again. This time cuff down. I hated it the first time (feel free to jump in with that's what she said), and like you, it felt like it took forever. A few more pairs down though, and now I love it. Give it another shot!

lpnde said...

I wish we lived closer so you could teach your mom how to do it. I paid $100 for classes to learn toe up and have never done it again. Two at a time would be fun to learn./

SissySees said...

I love toe-up, but like you, two at a time was a skill I can say I've managed, a few times even, but I'm blaming that for killing my sock mojo. I like mixing it up!

Tryllyam said...

It's good to step out of our comfort zones, if for no other reason than to remind ourselves that we can do it and survive. And you got to learn something new and decide what you liked and what you didn't. Makes me proud you're my friend. :)

PS. The socks look very cool.