I Fixed a Sock and I Liked it

When I first was learning to knit, I turned to U-Tube for all my tutorial needs. Now, thanks to Pinterest, it's even easier to learn new ways to knit, patch, repair, and darn. I browsed across a sock-darning tutorial for fixing holes that looked much neater than my usual thread-yarn-around-the-hole technique. It takes more time, but not much, and it looks great when finished!

Both socks of this pair had holes in the exact same place, right where Achilles' mother held him to dip him in the water. I suspect that it happened because the socks are, like all my handknit socks, too loose. Friction wore a hole right in the back. Normally I get the holes under the heel or ball.

Following the Pinterest tutorial, by jackie-es.com, I inserted a needle in the row under the hole.

I picked up a stitch on each end as I started each row, and knit or purled it together with the first stitch. That way, I was completely covering the hole. I hope.

As I got closer to the hole, for a couple rows, I picked up a stitch and purled it together with one on the needle to make sure it didn't unravel. This wasn't really in the tutorial, I just like to be extra-double-sure.

Finished up ... picking up a stitch and purling with each one on the needle.

Finished by weaving the live stitches into a sock stitch.

Ta da! Unfixed other sock on right, patched on left. I think it looks awesome. Luckily, I found some leftover yarn.

And even more luckily, which I was scrounging for leftover yarn, I found a WHOLE ENTIRE SKEIN of Jawoll Sock Yarn.






A WHOLE SKEIN that I didn't know I had. So once I fix the other sock, I'm going to settle down with "Sock Yarn One-Skein Wonders." I do love those one-skein books.


In other news, Georgie and Patches enjoy a sunny day ...

Georgie haunts me from the top of the stairs...

And Georgie ferociously protects two treats she will never, ever consume. 

What are you all up to? 

Socks!

Pretty Kitty wants to know why I am taking pictures of knitting, and not her ...

Hmph.

So I finished the Downy Buffalo Socks from the One Skein Wonders Lace book.

I am not going to block them, because -- as always -- they're already too big, and blocking them would make them fall down around my ankles. SIGH. So frustrating.










I have a perpetual problem with wearing the heels out of my handknit socks. I was browsing through a big knitting book, one of the big heritage-of-knitting type books, and saw something about how women used to reinforce heels, when knitting for the war effort. You take a length of sock yarn on a tapestry needle and thread it in and out of the heel and ball of foot stitches, like so...

I probably should have done it a bit thicker. And I totally reinforced the wrong section for the ball of the foot -- looks like I reinforced the toe area. Oops.










And I have renewed working on the Beekeeper quilt. I love this project so much.

It knits up so quickly, and now that I am better at joining knitted pieces, I don't mind the sewing involved.









We had a week of cold weather, now it's warm again ... too warm to wear my fabulous purple knitted poncho, or the cleverly-named #03 Lace Poncho.

(My left hand looks freakishly huge on the camera. Ugh). 

So that's my update! I'm hoping now that cooler weather is back, people will start blogging again. I've noticed a distinct lack of knitting blogging going on ... has everyone jumped the fence and gone to Pinterest? 

Snuggling on the front porch right before a big thunderstorm rolled through.  

Just in Time for Autumn!

Finished just in time for cold weather!

My new favorite poncho! Lace Poncho ... 03 Lace Poncho, pattern by Tanis Gray, from an old issue of Vogue Knitting. The yarn in the pattern was discontinued, so I substituted it with an acrylic, James C. Brett Marble Chunky. I purchased the yarn at MLYS, All About Yarn. I used an old skein of something stashed, something without a label, to do the blue edging.

Close up of the leafs.













I also took up an old project, the beekeeper's quilt.

The hexis knit up so quickly!












I hope to see more of all of you knitting now that the weather has cooled off!