Pattern PDF

If you're having trouble getting to the Diamond Lace Socks PDF, please bare with me. It took me so long to figure out how to get a PDF onto Blogger. I ended up uploaded it onto Geocities, and linked to it, but now Geocities has temporarily shut down my site because it was visited by too many eager sock knitters. If I can't figure out how to fix this soon, I'll just end up posting it not in pdf form. Sorry !

My First Pattern!

Hooray! I've designed my first pattern! Yes, it's a very simple sock, but ya got to start somewhere!



It's a top-down, picot cuff, with an eye of partridge heel.



I've posted the PDF at the side. This being my first, I would appreciate any constructive criticism. And please let me know if you catch any mistakes!



Hope you like it!

New Project

I love the whole process of choosing a new project. I love it so much that I actually get butterflies in my stomach while doing it. Flipping through books and magazines, finding patterns online, digging through my stash to find the perfect yarn...I love it! I've been wanting to make a sweater out of my Malabrigo before winter is gone, and I've finally decided on a pattern:



Refined Raglan from Interweave Knits Winter 2006. I love this yarn so much. I usually pick soft, girly colours, but I've been feeling olive lately. This yarn is called Dark Earth, and has olive, browns and tans, and is the softest thing ever!



As for my diamond lace socks, they're washed and dry, pictures have been taken and the pattern is written up. I'm just waiting for after the kids go to bed tonight to work on the charts and figure out how to convert to PDF. With fingers crossed, it should be posted very soon!

ISE4

I stumbled upon the site for International Scarf Exchange 4, and had to immediately sign up for it. It looks like it's going to be a lot of fun! They said ISE3 had 225 people, which is amazing!
Can't wait to see who I get!

On anther note, can I please get your opinion on free patterns: do you prefer to see patterns just normally written out, or in PDF form?

Sneak Peek

Finished the first diamond lace sock! Here's a sneak peek:



I wrote up the pattern, and am test knitting it with the second sock. I should have the pattern available for you in a few days. I think I even figured out how to chart it as well! Unfortunately because of the pattern, there is only one size. I cast on for the second sock:



This was the fourth time I did the picot cuff, and learned a lot from all of it. I'm sure many of
you know all of this, but here is what I learned anyways:

Picot Cuff Notes:

The first try was with a long-tail cast-on, k 7 rows, turn, k7 rows and knit sides together.I learned from this tutorial. There was a seam on the inside which I did not like, and the cuff flared out a little too much for my taste.

The second try was with a provisional cast-on, k2p2 rib for 7 rows, turn, k7 rows and knit needles together. This made the inside seamless, which was nice, but it was way too much work for me. Also, it didn't flare out as much, but the rib made the picot bumps all uneven. For those of you who actually enjoy working with 9 dpns at the same time, there is a great tutorial here for the cast on, and here for the cuff.

The third try turned out best. I used a single cast-on (aka backward loop cast-on), k2p2 rib for 6 rows, knit 1 row, turn, k7 rows, and knit sides together. Normally I would never use this cast-on, but it made only one loop to knit through (not 2 like in the long-tail), so the inside was just as seamless as the provisional. And since the cast-on was on the inside, it didn't matter that it wasn't so pretty. By knitting the row before the turn, the picot bumps weren't uneven any longer.

I tend to knit too tightly. For the turning row, and the knitting together row, I went up a needle size to 2.5mm, and it made things look more even.

Hopefully this will be of some help to somebody. Now I'm off to finish my socks!

Broke My Promise

Yesterday I went to Mary's Yarns to return some extra balls of yarn. But I would never return yarn, so I exchanged it. Except I couldn't spend the exact amount, and spent more. So basically I broke the promise I made to myself last month that I wouldn't buy any more yarn 'til November. You know what? I don't feel bad about it at all!



Fleece Artist Merino Sock
My reasoning for buying: This stuff is hard to get. If I didn't get it then, it wouldn't be there the next time.



Barbara Walker Knitting Pattern Treasury Vol. 2
My reasoning for buying: How can I call myself a serious knitter and not own this in my personal library?



Filatura Di Crosa Zara
My reasoning for buying: Zara yarn at 50% off; it would be a crime if I didn't!

Third Time's A Charm!

Yeah! I figured out my sock pattern!



I'm happy with the picot cuff now, and the diamonds are behaving in the round. I still couldn't figure out how to chart it, so I'm just going to write out the pattern. Can't wait to share it with all of you!