1st Year at Hogwarts! (AKA Induction into the sock world), and progress on Ginny's Vest

Ooh! I am SO excited!!! I was accepted for my first year in the Hogwarts Sock Kit Swap Round 4!!!!

Gryffindor, here I come!

Not that I'm a regular sock knitter, persay (ref. my earlier blog post), but on occasion, they are a good thing to work with. It all started with the making of a cast sock for my brace, because barefeet in December is well, not a real good idea in the midwest! And it took me no longer than a day, so it was a super easy knit, too.

So then I searched out how to do them better, because, while the cast sock was comfy and warm, it wouldn't fit over anything but the brace it was so huge! I went to my friend YouTube and discovered a way of making them WITHOUT DPNS.

Earth shattering, I know, for you sock knitters. People have been doing it forever, blah, blah, blah. It was earth shattering to me!

So I tried it - and while I haven't actually done one I'm proud enough to photograph, I'm working on one now in baby yarn (thanks to the advice of the awesome people in the Ravelry forums), that will probably put in the KCGB Mothers Day sale, but is turning out well enough to be photographable and put-table into Ravelry.

So anyway, back to Hogwarts. I am SO excited to be accepted into the swap - it is one of the most prestigious Blogger swaps to take part of, IMO. 100 members, kits worth $30-40 each, classes, quidditch, and other games. I can't wait!



Onto the progress on Ginny's vest from OOTP, its, well, conflicted. I had the idea to do it all modular until I saw this LiveJournal. I think she's got the general shape right, however, the problem is that to me the cables don't look like they go down as far as she suggests. I really think the main portion is hexagon modules!


(just in case you don't know what I'm talking about)

Of course, not knowing what the bottom looks like since you barely see this in the movie, well, who knows.

Edit: I just got some high-rest screen shots but I can't seem to get them to post as nicely using photoservices. I'll post them when I can!

Socks. What's up with that?

I made a post over at craftster because lately it seems like socks are EVERYWHERE.

And yet, I just couldn't give a damn about them. I like the stitchwork, the lace, but it just doesn't seem worth the effort to me.

Legwarmers? Sure, people actually see those. Slippers? Great, and comfy! And knitable on needles and looms.

But socks? I just can't see the time and effort involved in doing something on size 1,2,3 needles with a lot of complication to them.

I do realize that they do work up fast for a lot of people. But it seems like I could just do a cute cloth, handkerchief, headband, amiguriumi, or something better with my time!

I have to say, this is what makes them sound a bit intriguing, but then my mind decides against them:

A post by iameannis at craftster in response:

"If you are at all an impatient knitter, socks are the greatest project.
If you are new to knitting, socks are a great way to master a bunch of techniques: increasing, decreasing, picking up stitches, customizing fit, using dpns, ribbing, cables, lace patterns, kitchner stitch. It's also fun to play around with how you knit them (two circs, magic loop, toe-up, top-down, etc.)
Socks are kind of like the knitter's Choose-Your-Own-Adventure pattern."

What got me was the:

"Socks are kind of like the knitter's Choose-Your-Own-Adventure pattern."

That's what I love about knitting - some simple items that you wear can be changed in an infinite number of ways. But why apply that theory only to socks? Why can't other items be just as quick and fun?

Socks. I just don't get it.