An Inauspicious Beginning

My good friend Fish's first baby the Tobster was born on December 29 and went home from the NICU on January 10th. He's whole and reasonably healthy, for being a few weeks early and existing for most of his life thus far as a high-risk pregnancy. His honorary aunt/cousin/whatever has finally finished his blanket: it's blocked and drying on my living room floor.

I know it's an unusual color for a baby; I did not pick it! 

I think it's beautiful, and I was half-tempted to go on eBay and find Tobster a different red knit baby blanket so I could keep this one. But that would be weird... 

In the meantime, I started my very first pair of socks. Ever. 

Well, not ever. A long time ago I started a sock on my trusty No. 10 bamboo double-points in some hideous cotton variegated yarn. No gauge, no plan, just on they went. Needless to say, they did not end well and were promptly frogged (or pulled apart, for non-knitter types. But if you're not a knitter...why are you reading this oddly-specific blog?) 

This year, determined to succeed, I made a plan...which promptly fell apart. 

As stated in the opening post, I intended to start the year with the "Basic Socks" pattern from this charming edition: 

My go-to for all knitterly questions...and then I check YouTube.

However, when I went back to look at the specifics in preparation of starting this project, there was a problem. Besides the lack of gauge information, it asks for #7 double pointed needles. I have a set...or I used to. Somewhere along the many moves in the last few years, I seem to have lost 2 out of 5, leaving me with a fairly useless set of 3, so they have become my cabling needles. Anyway, I digress.

I was rather unwilling to buy a new set of #7's for some reason, possibly because I'm cheap, more likely because I was in a hurry to start the first pair of socks because of the delay. 

So I flaked on the trusty Knitting for Dummies and went to Ravelry.

Pair Number 1: Simple Socks on Five Needles

by Cheryl Toy

Found: Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/simple-socks-on-five-needles)

Needles: #3 double pointed

Yarn: blue-green-gray variegated fingering/sock weight that I randomly bought at the Michigan Fiber Festival in Allegan years ago because I liked the coloring and had the absurd idea that I might want to knit socks sometime soon. Ha.

Construction Notes: These are super-simple, cuff-down construction with what I can only guess is a typical heel flap set-up and Kitchener toe. These things still mean very little to me, as opposed to any other kind of heel or toe set-up, so gaining experience no matter what. 

The ribbing makes the color variation look a little odd, but I'm okay with that. 

I'm about 15 rows into the cuff as of today. Circular knitting is not new nor scary to my knitting experience, so nothing earth-shattering in that department, and despite the smaller gauge than I am used to, I expect them to knit up quickly. As you'd expect from a truly 'simple' sock. 

Casting Off...errr, On.

Hooray, baby blanket is finally finished. Mostly. Still needs to be washed and blocked, but basically...

So anyway. 21 days later and with half an hour till bedtime, I have cast on my first sock. Whoo!

Learning by Inundation

I've been knitting since high school when my grandmother put needles and yarn in my hands. A narrow 'doll scarf' became a real scarf, became a hat, became mittens, became a sweater, However, I've never attempted socks, that pinnacle of knitting achievement. Gussets, heel flaps, Kitchener stitch, top down, toe up, afterthought heels, what do all these mean? I don't know, but I intend to find out.

I'm a believer learning to do something by jumping in and doing it, multiple times if necessary. Having decided that I want to learn to make socks, I figured I might as well plan to make a lot of them to get the swing of it. Also knowing my tendency for procrastination, I needed to set some parameters. Hence:

THE CHALLENGE: TO KNIT 12 PAIRS OF SOCKS IN 12 MONTHS

Sound ambitious? I wouldn't know, I've never tried to make socks before and so have no idea how long they take to make. Also, being a fan of the British TV show Top Gear, I am well aware of and resigned to the idea of being "ambitious, but rubbish". I have a list of patterns I want to try, as well as a few (hopefully) quick-and-dirty sock-like projects to complete if I get bored or have extra time. I'm getting a bit delusional with that last, aren't I?

Anyway, the epic year of sock knitting will start with "Basic Socks" from the book Knitting for Dummies, which I actually suspect will be the more difficult of the sock patterns I've chosen. It's a top-down, very basic model. Continuing on into 2015 I will try different methods of construction,  including toe-up, hat-heel, etc., and different methods of adornment including Fair Isle, and possibly mirrored designs. I've also attempted to select patterns from across the span of resources available to me: pattern books, Ravelry, blogs, Knitty.com, and Pinterest.

This blog is my accountability meter, the promise that this challenge is being taken seriously (mostly) and will be accomplished (to some degree).

Right, now on to finish...the baby blanket I started for a baby who was born early, last Friday. Oy.