gettin' my sock on

Is it just me, or has everyone been knitting socks lately? And writing about knitting socks. And blogging about knitting socks. Well, I'd never knit a sock. Last year when everyone was knitting lace, I tried it and loved it, so I thought maybe I'd like the sock knitting thing, too.

For my birthday last month I told Aidan all I wanted was knitting books. Specifically sock knitting books. I gave him the latest issue of Interweave Knits which had a section on sock knitting books. He came through and gave me Sensational Knitted Socks and More Sensational Knitted Socks, both by Charlene Schurch. I took the first book's suggestion and started with the Class Sock - a cute little baby sock in thick wool on big needles. I cast on with size 8 to make sure I didn't cast on too tight, but knit them with a size 6. And I'm using the 2 circular needles method. But I don't have 2 size 6 circulars. I don't have 2 any size circulars except for 2.75 mm for some reason. And I won't be using those until I'm more experienced with sock knitting. So check out what I did.


Using my Denise Interchangeables I just kept switching the size 6 needle heads on and off the 2 different cables. Totally ghetto, eh? But it worked. I'd knit with one needle, pull the stitches to the middle of the cable, switch one head to the other cable, switch the other head to the other needle, then pull the newly headed needle down to get the stitches on the needle head. The only problem I encountered was once I forgot to switch the heads before I pulled the cable, so I pulled the cable right out of the stitches and had to pick them all up again. I hate dropping stitches, so I made sure never to do that again. So besides probably prematurely wearing down the connection on these needles, and adding a few seconds of work each round, I thought this was a good solution. And here's my first ever knitted sock! Now on to the next one. :)