Last night I sat down and was trying to decided which of my knitting I was going to take with me on my holiday vacation. I decided I need to take some easy knitting,  socks. So I finally frogged my messed up elfin socks and cast on again. This time I am knitting the both at once, and this time I thought I would take a stab at knitting the lace pattern the right way.

I love knitting 2 socks at once. It is not nearly as daunting as I thought it was going to be. If you know how to magic loop you know how to do this, it really is that simple. The lace pattern is easy to follow now that I have it memorized.

I also decided to start another pair of jaywalker socks. I think so far these might fit, I co for the larger size and I switched needles to some 2.75 circs.  I knit so tight, that I had to go up a needle size. I am still not sure if these are the perfect size yet.  I am going to complete a few more pattern repeats before I measure and try these on.

I am using the sock yarn I dyed a few months back, and I am happy with the results. I also decided to join in on the knitalong hosted by January One. I am in love with everyone's socks that rock sock yarn, I simply must get my hands on some.  The colors are awesome, where can I get some?

I picked out a few projects to work on while I am out of town. On my plate is Birch which I am about halfway through. My gauntlets, which are moving along slowly but surly.  The two previously mentioned socks, see above and a pair of fuzzy feet. the fuzzy feet I need to complete while I am at my parents, because I want to use their washing machine plus it would be nice to cross something off my Christmas knitting list.

Tonight we are leaving to go to LA, to share thanksgiving dinner with Daniel's grandma. And then after dinner we are off to Vegas to spend a few days with my family. We are so in need of some vacation relaxing time. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I am just excited to spend so time with our families. I won't be back home till next Tuesday so have a Happy Thanksgiving all if you don't hear from me. I am thankful you guys stop by and read my ramblings!

Don't eat to much turkey! or Tofurky!

Thank you all for your kind words of hope regarding my screwed up socks. I will be ripping out the sock for a few reasons. One, I am some what a perfectionist and I know it will drive me crazy knowing I knit two socks wrong. Two, I think the socks will be much stronger if I knit the pattern correctly. And lastly I think the right way looks better.

So that's that, I am no longer mad about it. I am ready to frog and start knitting them together on one needle!

So have a great weekend all! I have to get knitting on my Christmas present. The presents that I can't show here.... because the recipients are also readers.... (you hear that Rachel, I am sure you want to know what I am making you..... but I am not going to spoil the surprise.) I wish I could write my posts with some sort of special ink or decoder rings!

Edited to add:

I just did something I hate. Post with out a picture.  So here is a picture to make this post compete.

He is just sleeping....

Here I was thinking I was special, I had knit my first full size sock in lace and it fit. But oh how the mighty have fallen. I sat down this weekend and cast on for the second sock. I finished the short row toe and was ready to move on to the lace, which I have memorized from the first sock. I was reading the pattern to make sure I was on the right track and bam, I realized I had knit the entire first sock wrong.

First Sock: (wrong)

Second Sock: (right)

For some reason when I knit the first sock I didn't realize that you knit a round in between the lace rounds. Stupid. Now thinking back to anything lacey I have knit I realize this to be true, you always knit or purl a row in between "lace" rows. Duh. I only wish I would have realized before I knit the ENTIRE sock. Now I am thinking about all the time I wasted knitting all that lace, I only needed to knit half of those lace rows. What is funny birch is almost the same pattern, and I have been knitting that up fine, I am a third of the way through.  Partly I guess becasue it is knit flat and not in the round.

What is left for me to do now? Frog I guess. I can't live with a sock I know I knit wrong. Plus the pattern looks so much better doing it the right way. Well I guess I can just call this a learning experience. It is still crappy though. Maybe since I have only done a few rows of lace on the second sock I can knit both sock together on the same needle like Angela. or maybe I should just put these aside...  until I cool off.

I restarted birch this weekend. I mess up my first try, so I decided to cut my losses and start over. I am so glad I did, I finally "get" the pattern. Sure I have a million more rows to go, but it is getting easier, now that I understand it! I like that every row I will have less and less stitches instead of more and more. It was scary to cast on 299 stitches, but now I think I have gotten the hang of it. I have complete 2 pattern repeats, with my guess is 30 more to go.  But because the number of stitches decreasing every row, it will get easier and easier.

It was very  hard to photograph this pale green yarn, but you get the idea. All of a sudden I want to knit lace, first it was socks and now it's all lace all the time. I am such a bore sometimes.

Every since I have become crazy for socks I have came across so many great online tutorials for various sock components. Without these tutorials I would have been lost, but the problem is I can never seem to find the tutorial I need when I need it. So I thought  could compile a list and link to it from my sidebar. That way I can have some sort of system to my sock knitting madness.

Socks 101- knitty

Cast on:

Folded Picot Edge- from purlwise

Tubular cast on 101 - little purls of the orient

German Twisted Cast On

Toe up:

3 different toe up cast ons - knitty

Yarn-over short-row toe-up toe -purly whites

Turkish Cast On Tutorial -fluffyknitterdeb

aloha toe up cast on- queen kahuna (pdf)

Magic Loop/ 2 Circulars:

How to knit with 2 circulars

How to knit small circumference on one long circular/magic loop

Knitting 2 socks on the magic loop- knitaddicted (pdf)

2 toe up socks on one circular

2 socks on 2 circulars

Simple toe up socks on 2 circular needles

Heels:

Sherman Heel

A pretty way to pick up heel stitches -grumperina

where to pick up gusset stitches

Jojo-Heel

Short Row Heels:

Short row tutorial - Alison the blue blog (PG-R's method)

Wrapped Stitch Short Row -nonaknits

Yarn Over Short Row -nonaknits

Japanese Short Rows -nonaknits

Short row heels (PG-R's method) -purlwise

Unwrapped short rows

Bind off:

Kitchener stitch -purlwise

Stretchy bind offs -tangled up in yarn

Sewn Cast off

This is what I have found so far. If you have written a tutorial or have a well loved on that is not on this list send it to me. Either by email or leave me a comment. I will do some more looking over the weekend and on Monday I will try to get the list in my sidebar. Feel free to suggest anything I may be missing, I am especially looking for a good tutorial of a average heel gusset, since I have not used on of those. Anything that you think might be helpful to your fellow addicted sock knitter.