A couple years ago I wrote a nice Screenprinting Instructable. I'm very proud of it. It's had a couple hundered people comment on it and has sort of become a little community unto itself, with people asking questions and other people offering extra tips and advice.
If you're an instructables member, log in and and vote for me. It's easy to do. I'm right there in the Most Viewed section of the contest page.
If you're not a member of instructables, you should check it out. Erik used it for boat building a couple times, and there are just oodles of projects and ideas there.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Learning Toe-Up Socks
I first was inspired to knit toe-up socks by this Firestarter pattern, which I discovered through the Knitters Unscensored podcast.
I downloaded the free pattern, bought some fancy sock yarn, and took out my needles, but I had no idea how to start the pattern. I read it a few times, looked up short rows in my Knitters Handbook and decided to work a little more on the cardigan I've been knitting for Vigo for the past two years.
When packing up for our move to Berlin, I decided to pack away all my big projects and all my real stash and only keep out the "fond de stash," the bottom-of-the-barrel half-balls of leftover whatnot that it would be healthy to use up. Mostly I've been knitting beer cozies, but this weekend I decided to make a plan to tackle the toe-up sock.
Of course, I've been quietly forming this plan in my head since that day with the Firestarter, so I'd already done a little bit of research.
Step One: Start Simple
Using the magic cast-on (which is dead simple and works like a dream), knit one pair of Wendy's Fingering Weight, Toe-Up Socks with Gusset Heel. This is a recipe for the most basic toe-up sock
Step Two: Get Fancy
I have a pattern for lace toe-up baby socks to knit next. They're more complicated, but they're small, so I won't have to spend the rest of my summer knitting them
Step Three: Tackle the Firestarters
I started on step one this weekend and was surprised to discover that once I learned the magic cast on, the challenge really isn't that great. I was both relieved and disappointed about this, and I don't know why I was so surprised. It's always like that with knitting. Before you try a new technique, the new task always seems complicated. The way knitting patterns are written really doesn't help, either. But then once you just dig in and do it, it's always really easy. I had the same experience being intimidated by cables.
I downloaded the free pattern, bought some fancy sock yarn, and took out my needles, but I had no idea how to start the pattern. I read it a few times, looked up short rows in my Knitters Handbook and decided to work a little more on the cardigan I've been knitting for Vigo for the past two years.
When packing up for our move to Berlin, I decided to pack away all my big projects and all my real stash and only keep out the "fond de stash," the bottom-of-the-barrel half-balls of leftover whatnot that it would be healthy to use up. Mostly I've been knitting beer cozies, but this weekend I decided to make a plan to tackle the toe-up sock.
Of course, I've been quietly forming this plan in my head since that day with the Firestarter, so I'd already done a little bit of research.
Step One: Start Simple
Using the magic cast-on (which is dead simple and works like a dream), knit one pair of Wendy's Fingering Weight, Toe-Up Socks with Gusset Heel. This is a recipe for the most basic toe-up sock
Step Two: Get Fancy
I have a pattern for lace toe-up baby socks to knit next. They're more complicated, but they're small, so I won't have to spend the rest of my summer knitting them
Step Three: Tackle the Firestarters
I started on step one this weekend and was surprised to discover that once I learned the magic cast on, the challenge really isn't that great. I was both relieved and disappointed about this, and I don't know why I was so surprised. It's always like that with knitting. Before you try a new technique, the new task always seems complicated. The way knitting patterns are written really doesn't help, either. But then once you just dig in and do it, it's always really easy. I had the same experience being intimidated by cables.
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