Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Ribbit!

Remember these?
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Well, after my plain toe-up sock spree for Christmas, I am now quite sick of them. So, when I picked up these to try and work on them, I just couldn't do it anymore. They're on size 0 needles, and I have decided that I will never knit anything on size 0 dpns ever again. For one thing, the needles themselves warp when I use them, they make my hands hurt, and I just plain don't like them.

I decided to frog the two socks that I had going, and start from scratch. I'm going to pick a different sock pattern, and use a bigger needles size. But, since the yarn had been in a knitted state for so long, it was all kinky and wavy when I frogged it. Following some instructions from Knitting Daily, I wound it into a ball, and then used my swift to turn it back into a skein. Let me tell you, reverse-winding is strange, but at the same time, kinda fun.
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After a good soak, my two skeins are drying and straightening nicely. I'll wait a couple days to make sure they're totally dry, and then I can start having some more sock fun!

7 comments:

Adrienne said...

Goodbye, socks! May you soon become even prettier socks! =)

It's funny that I almost exclusively use size 0 needles for knitting my socks. I think I started out using them when I was the world's loosest knitter, and now that my gauge has tightened up some (does that mean something, like I'm more tightly wound now? Maybe? Probably not) I've just stuck with them out of habit. It does take some getting used to again if I haven't been knitting socks in a while.

Do you think it could also be possible that your needles are too long for them to be comfortable? Those look like they could be 8" needles, and I've found that the shorter needles (like, 6") are much easier to use for socks.

Adrienne said...

And why am I so rambly in the comments these days? Blah blah blah, knitting blah blah yarn blah blah blah. =)

Unknown said...

Doesn't frogging feel good?!?!?

Karen said...

Adrienne -It is very, very possible that my needles are too long. They are indeed the 8" ones. That's probably another reason why I prefer using my size 2 or 3's - I have 6" versions of them. I'm currently debating what socks to make with this yarn. I was thinking of making my own pair of Monkeys, Falling Leaves, or Baudelaire. What do you think?

Nell: Yes! It definitely feels good! After the initial hesitation, it's really quite liberating =)

Rebecca said...

:( Boo hoo Frogging!
I hope they turn out better next time. I usually use 2mm needles myself in the 6" length but I am a bit loose.. I could afford to go down a size myself...

My next sock project are Monkeys. I have the pattern and yarn in my bag. I'm just trying to force myself to deal with the UFOs first. Casting on some Monkeys might be fun for both of us. :)

Blocking things that are round, I've heard of using large round tins or bottles (coffee tins, tupperware, 4L soap containers?) especially for sweaters knit in the round. I don't know about mobiuses (mobii?) Anyway, I'd guess a flat blocking for a cowel would be fine.

Shall we bring our new bags to rehearsal Thursday?

See ya!

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you salvaged the yarn. It's just beautiful.
I too often jam the UFOs in a drawer or bin.

Karen said...

Becky - Oooh! A knit-along! That would be super fun! I think you've just helped me make my mind up. Monkeys it is! No rush to cast on though. I've got my cowl to finish anyway. And yes! I'd love to see your new bag on Thursday!

Marie - I've often fallen into that trap of shoving UFOs away too. I either fall out of love with the yarn, or something and don't bother going back to it. But this stuff was just too pretty to keep locked up in a project I was never going to finish.