socks!

...for seven hours yesterday, I knit socks. With Cat Bordhi. The author of this fabulous book (and a few others). And it opened my eyes to so many new ideas, not only about socks, but about knitting in general.

Honestly, I think I "missed the memo" about what to expect/prepare. I wasn't entirely sure what that seven hours would bring, but it promised learning about socks from the ground up and that was plenty good. What I found out at 11:15 (yes, traffic was bad and I was late) was that the teacher was a famous person, who'd published multiple books about knitting and socks and was there to share her knowledge with us. And that we should've knit the two "baby socks" from the book to prepare. Ooops - so I'm late and completely unprepared. I didn't even know about the book, let alone the homework. (like that recurring dream I have about college finals??!!) But I do have a few good knitting skills and I kept up and had fun and learned.

A new technique for heels - all short rows - yeah, I finally think I "get it". And the result is so cool - and so much easier than the flap and the picked up stitches. This is Cat demonstrating, and her finished product.
A toe-up cast-on. The fourth time was the charm and I got it to work. The finished sock in this photo is the cuff-down one I knit first. You can see by the (lack of) progress on the other sock that three false starts set me back a bit!

Knitch does a great job with classes - the logistics were smooth, even down to fresh coffee about 3pm - very welcome! (and kudos to Kim for posting about us, but not so much about catching me in full profile in that last shot!)

Two circular needles (instead of double pointed needles - dpn - to make the "circle"). So I saw lots of great examples with the circs (do you even see anyone in the picture using dpn's?), but I'm not sold yet. I think I'm going to finish the 2nd baby/sample sock on dpn's and then see. I really like dpn's ... but boy the folks who used those two circs just ripped along. And Cat the expert recommends and that definitely counts for A LOT!

I'm looking forward to trying out more of Cat's patterns (after I finish that 2nd baby/sample). And getting a few steps closer to my life-list item to design a sock pattern.