Chatter about my Sockdown socks

I'm trying to finish up a pair of socks I started for Sockdown 5 on the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. It's going pretty well. The challenge for this month is to knit a pair of socks in a chartreuse color. The challenge also has a second option where you can knit a sock from a particular designer. One of those designers is Cailyn Meyer, and I'm knitting her Glass Slippers pattern for a size 8 foot. The socks are going to be the first pair I'm knitting for my grandmother.

My goal was to have one whole sock done by the 15th of the month so I could start the next sock and finish it by the end of the month. I'm on the heel flap of the second sock now, and if I work pretty hard on the second sock, it should be done by Oct. 3, three days later than I was hoping.

I'm really enjoying the pattern. Usually I dread knitting a second sock, but the construction is diverse enough that I forgot about the pain of the endless twists and seed stitch in the leg by the time I got to the mind-numbing stockinette in the foot and toe. I messed up a stitch count by the time I got to the foot chart on the first sock, so hopefully the blunder will correct itself in the second sock.

My ultimate goal is to finish a challenge. Usually I start a pair of socks for Sockdown and then get sick of them halfway through the second sock, put them down for months, and then pick them up again when the challenge has already expired. If I finish within the next week or so, it'll be my very first finished Sockdown!

Between working at nights now and not really getting that many hours at my other job, I've had plenty of time during the day to knit. I usually try to wake up with my husband around 9 or 10 a.m., eat something small for breakfast or have a cup of tea, go for a run, and knit until it's time to go to work. I like watching movies and old-ish TV shows on Netflix (my husband and I don't have cable... not worth paying for it.) All six seasons of Lost are on Netflix streaming, so that's my latest semi-obsession. It reminds me of a daytime soap opera. I typically have time to knit after work as well.

I'm a slow knitter, so a pair of socks in a month is quite an accomplishment. I don't know how some knitters do a "52-pair plunge" and knit a pair of socks a week. That's pure insanity.

Next, I'll outline my knitting goals for the end of the year, and some things I want to accomplish next year.

Mesh Dishcloth

You'll need:
- 1 pair of size US 8 needles
- Two ounces of 100 percent cotton yarn.
-Yarn needle for weaving in ends


Pattern:
CO 36 stitches
Knit 7 rows
Row 8 (RS): K6, *yo, k4; rep from * to last 6 sts, yo, k6
Row 9: K4, p2tog, *(k1, p1) into the yo of the previous row, [p2tog] twice; rep from * to last 7 sts, (k1, p1) into the yo, p2tog, k4
Row 10: K8, *yo, k4; rep from * to end, YO, k8.
Row 11: k4, p2, p2tog, *(k1, p1) into the yo of previous row, [p2tog] twice; rep from * to last 9 sts, (k1, p1) into the yo, p2tog, p2, k4
Rep rows 8 to 11 until the dishcloth measures 7 inches from cast-on edge.
Knit 7 rows. Bind off. Weave in ends.

Cabled Dishcloth

Here's a dishcloth pattern I made up a few months ago that was on my blog. I've worked out the bugs and now you can enjoy its chunky cabled goodness for free, free, free.


You'll need:
- 1 pair of size US 8 needles
- Two ounces of 100 percent cotton yarn.
-Yarn needle for weaving in ends


Pattern:
Cast on 44 stitches.
Rows 1 to 7: Knit
Row 8: K4, P13, K10, P13, K4
Row 9: K17, P10, K17
Row 10: K4, P13, C10L, P13, K4.
Repeat row 9
Repeat rows 8 and 9 four times.
Repeat row 10.
Repeat row 9
Repeat rows 8 and 9 four times.
Repeat row 10.
Repeat row 9
Repeat rows 8 and 9 four times.
Repeat row 10.
Repeat row 9
Repeat rows 8 and 9 four times.
Repeat row 10.
Repeat row 9
Repeat rows 8 and 9 once.
Knit 7 rows.
Bind off. Weave in ends.


C10L: Slip 5 sts onto cable needle and hold in the front of the work. Knit next 5 sts, knit 5 sts from cable needle.

Farewell to an old blog, hello to a new one

My old blog is in the process of shutting down. 

I used to blog on Off the Beaten Craft for my job, but now my posts are being sucked into a new website called "Smart," which is kind of a lifestyle-themed sort of place on the Internet. 

Last night my boss asked me if I would be blogging outside of work, and I said I probably wouldn't. Well I changed my mind and I think I will, mostly because I'd like to save some of my knitting patterns and videos from my old blog so people on Ravelry can still access them. It would be kind of lame to want to knit one of my patterns (however elementary they are) and then go to click on the link and it leads you nowhere.

I'm not the most profound writer, so you'll have to bear with me, I guess. If I stick with it, this blog will be tremendously different from my old one. Outside of work I'm interested in many more things besides crafting. I enjoy cooking and running and spending time with my awesome husband and my cat. I'm ultimately really passionate about my knitting and have rather strong opinions about other crafts --- mainly why they're just not as awesome as knitting.

A fair warning: I have strong opinions about politics and about life in general. I'm not afraid to speak my mind and be borderline abrasive about other aspects of life, so if you don't like something I've said, stop reading. This is my playground. I'm not going to force myself to be pleasant about everything.

I like listening to NPR, and I love my job at my hometown's newspaper. I especially love having a career and I have no aspirations to have children. I have a second job at a retail establishment, so when the holidays come around, I'll probably have a lot to say about that.

I think that's all you really need to know about me. Since I've left college, I've become a rather boring grownup. Enjoy my knitting patterns from time to time and feel free to share yours. :-)