Well, I haven't gotten a lot of new knitting done this week. I did give the baby bib from my previous post to the new mama-to-be at her shower this week and it seemed to go over well. Other than that, I've been working some on Spanky's sweater. I'm using the yarn left over from Red's camera case and I've got it all sketched up in my journal but I don't think it's going to quite work out the way I planned. Does it ever? I was going to have the sweater mostly blue with red and yellow accents but I don't think I have enough of yarn. Therefore, it looks like the sweater will need to be a bit more striped than I planned. Other than that, I've been working on my first sock. I got a wild hair one day and went to our local yarn store and bought some sock yarn after listening to Lime and Violet profess how much they love socks. I picked up a skein of self striping yarn which isn't supposed to split much (though it does). I also got my first set of size 2 needle which are the size of bamboo skewers though they cost a lot more. :) I'm using the Yarn Harlot book and the Sock 
101 web page I found and just knitting a sock. No pattern for me. I can't decide if I'm brave or crazy? So far, I've finished the cuff and leg of the sock and honestly, they seem too big (and I even did a gauge swatch). I plan to go ahead and finish at least one sock and then decide if I want to find a specific pattern to try next. I've knitted the heel flap of this sock twice already. The first time I forgot to slip the first stitch on each row and it sounds like it would be really hard to pick up stitches later without the extra large stitches on the edges, so I frogged the entire heel and started over. It's looking better now and I'm ready to start my first "short rows" to turn the heel. I keep reading how to do this over and over again trying to get it straight in my head before actually starting. I also need some quiet time to concentrate and take the next steps.
101 web page I found and just knitting a sock. No pattern for me. I can't decide if I'm brave or crazy? So far, I've finished the cuff and leg of the sock and honestly, they seem too big (and I even did a gauge swatch). I plan to go ahead and finish at least one sock and then decide if I want to find a specific pattern to try next. I've knitted the heel flap of this sock twice already. The first time I forgot to slip the first stitch on each row and it sounds like it would be really hard to pick up stitches later without the extra large stitches on the edges, so I frogged the entire heel and started over. It's looking better now and I'm ready to start my first "short rows" to turn the heel. I keep reading how to do this over and over again trying to get it straight in my head before actually starting. I also need some quiet time to concentrate and take the next steps. 
The most difficult thing I've encountered so far if holding the yarn with consistent tension as I knit and it really shows with these socks. If I don't hold it with consistency, then the stitches get bigger, then smaller, then bigger. It's not really obvious but enough to bother me. So, while I was knitting the other night, I noticed I was finally holding the yarn and it was pulling with really nice, even tension. Well, I grabbed the camera and took a couple of pictures to put in my journal showing how I was holding the yarn so I can use them as reference going forward. This way, I'll be able to visually check if I'm holding the yarn right. Yeah!! Well, it's off to turn the heel...
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