Moss Stitch

The Sidekick bought me a wonderful little book about knitting. It's a knit stitch guide.

Fancy right? Look at all those colours and patterns. And the book fits in your bag! If that's not a selling feature, I don't know what is. Actually, the price was. It basically ran the Sidekick around six dollars. Hey, big spender! 

Anyhow, for those of you who don't know, knitting is really only comprised of two basic stitches - a knit and a purl. But here's the fabulous thing: depending on how you combine these two stitches, you can actually create other stitches. Wowza! So, the two basic stitches then turn into ninety-six other stitches. Some of them even involve three different colours! How can you even contain your excitement? It's hard, I know.

Because I am what most people call an über nerd, I have decided to work my way through the Knit Stitch Guide. Not only to become more awesome, or awesomer, but to teach myself all the different stitches. Obviously so I can engage with others and dominate conversations with the awing things I know, like the Moss Stitch, which just happens to be the very first stitch in the book.

On a scale of one to ten, ten being the hardest thing ever and one being super duper easy, this stitch is actually a one. A very very soft one. That being said, it`s kind of pretty! And it feels lovely. Now, onto the next!

And because some of you might have read this post and are seriously wondering why you wasted the five minutes, here is a picture of Dixon and I to make it up to you:

Just Beecause Cowl

Last night, I put the finishing touches on my latest knitting project. This beautiful black and yellow cowl.

The yarn was given to me by an exotic princess of darkness named Adrianne and was this fluffy lushness that I most definitely had to knit something for myself with. But, I decided, I didn't want to do just any old cowl, so I made up my own pattern and am calling it the Just Beecause Cowl. Beecause because it is a gorgeous black and yellow that were meant to be together forever, in cowl form.

For those looking for the pattern it is really very simple and is right here:

Just Beecause Cowl

I crafted this on size 11 (or 8mm) circular needles and used bulky yarn. Honestly, I can't tell you the name of the yarn because I tossed the tags out. Sorry! You can adjust the needls and yarn accordingly, but just ensure you CO with a number that is divisible by 4 and 3, and also even when divided by 4. Does that make sense? It's because of

CO 144 in colour A and join in the round and place marker.
Row 1 - Knit
Row 2 - *K1, k2tog, yo* repeat to end
Row 3 - Knit
Row 4 - *K1, yo, k2tog* repeat to end
Row 5 - Knit
Row 6 - *K1, k2tog, yo* repeat to end
Row 7 - Knit
Row 8 - *K1, yo, k2tog* repeat to end
Row 9 - Knit
Row 10 - *K1, k2tog, yo* repeat to end
Row 11 - Knit
Row 12 - *K1, yo, k2tog* repeat to end
Row 13 - Knit
Change to colour B
Row 14 - Knit
Row 13-16 - *K4, P4* repeat to end
Row 17-20 - *P4, K4* repeat to end
Row 21-24 - *K4, P4* repeat to end
Row 25-28 - *P4, K4* repeat to end
Row 29-32 - *K4, P4* repeat to end
Row 33-36 - *P4, K4* repeat to end
Row 37 - Knit
Switch to colour A
Row 38 - Knit
Row 39 - *K1, k2tog, yo* repeat to end
Row 40 - Knit
Row 41 - *K1, yo, k2tog* repeat to end
Row 42 - Knit
Row 43 - *K1, k2tog, yo* repeat to end
Row 44 - Knit
Row 45 - *K1, yo, k2tog* repeat to end
Row 46 - Knit
Row 47 - *K1, k2tog, yo* repeat to end
Row 48 - Knit
Row 49 - *K1, yo, k2tog* repeat to end
Row 50 - Knit

Bind Off loosely. Weave in Ends. Block as necessary.

The brilliant part of this pattern is that it is more like a potion and you can change it as necessary. If you only want to do one colour, only do one colour. If you want to do more checks in the middle, do more checks in the middle. If you want to do one row black, the other yellow, feel free. This pattern is adaptable to suit your needs, wants and desires. Do as what pleases you.

Just a little note. I hate blocking, I rarely ever do it, I would rather allow the cowl to curl up and be fabulous.

And here is where I say, I am grateful I have a firm enough grasp of pattern making to understand how to put this cowl together. I love the way it turned out, and it is functional and fashionable. Keeps me warm, and reminds me of our greatest friends, the bees.

Sock It To Me

Two nights ago I decided to try my hand at knitting socks. It's a new challenge.

One of my goals for this year is to knit a sweater. But socks are a good stepping stone.

The reason I am hesitating on the sweater is because:

A. I don't have the money for nice yard to knit it with.

B. Debating if I should even knit it on nice yard because it could turn out horrible.

C. Not wanting to knit it with cheap acrylic yarn for fear it will turn out awesome and I will have wasted all that time knitting a perfectly wearable sweater out of material that feels terrible against my skin.

These are the woes of a beginner knitter.

That being said. SOCKS!

The pattern I am using and altering is Dark Isle from Ravelry. It's a fairly straightforward pattern, but I just reached the heel. It took me at least a half an hour to figure out what the pattern was talking about. It's an afterthought heel. If only I'd known that. Here's the problem for someone like me, I don't read the whole pattern ahead of time. That means, sometimes, the important notes are at the bottom of the pattern and I just get stuck halfway through because there's no asterisks or 'hey, look at the bottom' note.

That being said. Moving right along.

My worry is that I will get one sock done and then balk at making the second. If I had two circulars I could have made them both at the same time. At least that's what the internet tells me.

Sometimes I sit back and think it's pretty wonderful that you can make clothing out of a ball of string. Does anyone else find this amazing?

Here are some of the projects I completed recently.

Thank the Gods for yarn and needles.

And these are my WIP socks (Or sock, technically, since I am only knitting one so far):