Knitting it easy!

After the pain from my first 24 hours of over-knitting, I'm taking it easy. The pain followed a 'long' [according to WM and DD; I don't agree but my arm apparently does!] session of knitting with 3.75mm Knitpicks dpns and 8ply/DK acrylic yarn that I dyed myself. Nice mitten [my first ever] but an, oh-so-sore, arm!

Yesterday, I knit on size 6mm plastic needles with eyelash/novelty yarn [not my favourite choice of yarn but one of the few yarns I had to hand that could be knitted on large needles] - soft on the hands and easy on the arms; the needles are flexible, light in weight and easy to grip. Of course, it also helps that I only knitted every three hours for 10 minutes at a time [we used the kitchen timer to manage my progress]!

Today I upped it to 15 minutes for the novelty yarn and alternated it with casting on the second mitten on 2.75mm Knitpicks dpns. I've done a total of 900 stitches [45 rows over three sessions] of the novelty yarn scarf and 600 stitches [20 rounds over two sessions]. My arm is a little sore but not in pain like it was on Saturday. The smaller sized needles are definitely harder to work with - the metal is inflexible, the needles are actually heavier than the larger [in gauge and length] plastic needles and the short length [especially of the 2.75mm dpns] makes it hard to grip.

So, for my rehabilitation, I need to knit on large plastic needles; I will therefore probably knit a few beanies or maybe a Tomten jacket with two strands of 8ply/DK.

Thanks to all who have left comments or emailed me with suggestions for using my hand dyed 50g skeins of 8ply/DK acrylic. All suggestions will be thoughtfully considered, so keep them coming. I thought I'd just do a Noro/Vintage Hues look - knit until I run out of that yarn then change to another skein with similar colours - I've already grouped the skeins for that very purpose. And if I use two skeins together, I'll get more interesting effects, won't I?

Look what I got for Christmas - pity I can't knit!

PLUS a selection of Knitpicks needle tips, cables and dpns

First sock finished!

On Donna's recommendation to buy a set of five needles, I bought two sets of four needles at Lincraft today and finished the first sock including the grafting / Kitchener stitch (my first attempt) just before dinner tonight! The second sock has been cast on - so far I have avoided SSS (second sock syndrome!)

WM wore the first sock inside his zip up leather boot and walked around the house a few times. He found the toe graft kept slipping uncomfortably under his toes. Does this mean the socks are too big or too small?

By the way, Lincraft Penrith has dpns all the way down to 1.25mm! They look like elongated sewing needles.

Socks knitted in the round

I am knitting my first pair of wool socks in the round - Heirloom Jigsaw yarn (colour 26) on two 2.25mm circulars (40cm). My lys didn't have any dpns in stock so I bought these as an alternative.

I'm really struggling with two circulars; I get to a point about halfway through my 66 stitches and I can't manipulate either needle. Sometimes I pull up the line between the two metal points to shorten one of the circulars but all this stopping and pulling makes for very slow knitting. Plus, all the stress changing from one circular to another is stretching the space between stitch #1 and stitch #66. Maybe I'm doing it wrong. I'm knitting all 66 stitches from one circular to the other. Is that correct? I think I'll go to Lincraft or Spotlight to buy a set of dpns for the second sock - with my rising frustration levels and the slow speed of the knitting, we're definitely heading for second sock syndrome!

The Jigsaw yarn is not as soft as I thought it would be; WM seems quite happy with the yarn - he's talking about these as the prototype and the next pair will be easier! Perhaps he secretly hopes they'll soften on washing! Generally, I knit loosely, so I can't imagine what this yarn would be like in the hands of an 'average' or tight knitter! Do you knit socks? What yarn do you prefer? Is it long lasting/hard wearing? Does it come in a range of "men's colours"?

The pattern for the socks has a moss stitch rib which looks great in the pattern photo but in reality doesn't look good. The self-striping effect is completely lost in the ribbing. The acrylic socks I knitted a few weeks ago, were knitted from The Twisted Sisters' Sock Workbook. They had an hourglass heel which I found to be a challenge but was a nice finish. These Jigsaw socks have a gusset heel. No matter what I do, when I pick up stitches along the selvage edge I always create a ridge on the wrong side, which I would have thought would be uncomfortable for the wearer! Luckily, the ridge is in the ankle bone area and not on the back of the heel!

So, with the first sock still in progress, and WM egging me on, these are the changes I would make if a second pair of socks were ever to eventuate:
1. dpns not circulars
2. the ribbing, perhaps K3, P1 (a test swatch will be needed)
3. an hourglass heel to avoid ridges formed when picking up stitches

And what have I learnt? Knit a test swatch even if the pattern shows eight colour variations, all with the same moss ribbing!

Your comments, hints and tips are very welcome.