I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Big news in blogland: I have the Internet again! Oh poor blog how I have missed you! But I'm back now. Got lots of stuff to update now. I've finished some things and added others, including some gifts and commissions. Some of which have also been finished. And Jess's socks are looking so good on here that I'm really having to fight the urge to not cast on a pair of Clessidras. Especially after seeing a modified pair on LJ Knitting the other day done toe-up with a short-row heel, my preferred technique.

But all those updates are just going to have to wait. Right now I'm anxious to finish this and get back to knitting. I paused in the middle of knitting a practice Anemoi mitten (to see how I like the pattern) to write a quick post. Because I have a new favorite knitting technique: corrugated ribbing. Now, I'm normally not a fan of how corrugated ribbing looks. And because of that, I've never tried knitting it. But the Anemoi mittens call for corrugated ribbing, so I gave it a try. And I'm in love. The technique is just so neat. It's fun! I'm really getting into a rhythm with it. I think I prefer it to regular ribbing. I think I still like the solid-color ribbing better for most things...but it's not nearly as much fun, heh. Maybe I'll just start using corrugated ribbing exclusively. I don't HAVE to use two different colors. I can just use two strands of the same color.

Okay, yeah, it's settled. I'm a knit nerd.

The reason I'm trying out the Anemoi mitten pattern is for the mitten swap on LiveJournal (http://www.livejournal.com/community/mittenswap I believe...right Jess?) Jess is the moderator, and she's doing an awesome job! I mean, I'm telling you, my partner is absolutely perfect for me. She's like the perfect combination of me and Luke. I'm impressed with how well-matched we are. I know Jess (with Hope's help) worked really hard on the matches, and it shows. Everyone seems to be really happy and excited about the swap. It's going great.

Oh, one more bit of news. We're on Ravelry now. And we dragged Lynette in with us, too. You can find me on there as pixieaep.

Okay, back to Anemoi!

-Pixie

Finished

Ok finally got Justin to try on the first sock (wanted to make sure I didn't need to make any adjustments before I bond off the second one). He loves it. But it was a bit loose around his ankle. I know this was because I just bond off when he said it was the proper legnth instead of adding some k1p1 to the top. I knew it was wrong when I did it, but he talked me into it saying it was just perfect how it was. Well I finished the second sock with about 7 rows of k1p1 ribbing and took the bond off out of the first one and knit some ribbing and bond off. The socks are officially finished now. I'm amazed at how much better they look with some k1p1 ribbing on the tops of them. Really adds a lot to the socks. They really do look great. But Justin isn't here to model them for pictures (he is navy and his ship pulled out). The sewn bind off that I used (first time using it) was easy as cake to take out. Much easier than I could have ever imagined. I enjoyed doing the sewn bind off. It was easy and the results are okay. Yeah just okay. I'm not 100% thrilled. Its a nice bind off, I can see it coming very handly for lace. I dont find it so much "stretchy" as it doens't pull in as much. Its just loose (although not even "loose" describes it very well in my opinion). Perhaps I've made some error in my execution of the bind off. I dont know. I like the bind off. I enjoyed doing it much more than the regular knit and pass over version. But I'm not so sure its the right one for me for socks (not that I really enjoy socks toe up. I do see myself knitting toe up socks again but I can't say toe up is my favorite. although socks are my favorite). I think I'm going to add a little bit of elastic thread to the tops of these socks to help hold them in a little. I was hoping this bind off would be "stretchy", but no luck. All in all these socks were fun to knit. A learning experience if nothing else.
New techniques used on these socks:
Magic loop
sewn bind off
The sock yarn used isn't my favorite to work with. Magic loop isn't my favorite to work with. I liked working the sewn bind off but I'm not thrilled with the results. I did a new heel that I really like. Another successful short row toe (no holes). With all that said I can honestly say that I do really like how these socks turned out. I can't wait to see them on Justin's feet. And he has already promised to wear them at least once a month *grins* (i'm actualy over flowing with excitment).

~Rose