Sock of DOOOOOOM!

Nnnnngh! So close! See how far I got? I even started shaping the toe, but it still wasn't right. Guess what I did? No, go on, guess? I mixed up the needles, I thought that needle one was needle three, so the decreasing was all in the wrong places, and the sock was all twisted...

can you see?































But, the good news is, once I frogged right back to the gorram heel, it seems to be going fine. Voila:



A pretty, pretty, nicely shaping heel. Now all I need to do is knit 15 centimetres or so of so-exciting stocking stitch, and then I can start shaping the toe... can you feel my excitement emanating from your computer screen?

Every time I've had to rip out all the stitches, I think of a conversation I had with my sister about 5 months ago now. We were watching TV together, and I was trying to turn the heel for the first time - as far as I knew it was going surprisingly well, but the needles were clinking all over the place, and I was narrowly avoiding taking an eye out - mostly because I wear glasses.

Sister: that looks soooo stupid.
Me: Oh yeah?
Sister: (laughing) yeah.
Me: Yeah, well, you'll look stupid when I have a sock!
Sister: (uncontrollable snorting)



*sigh* never mind, look at my lovely neat decrease I have now. I guess practice does make perfect...

Warning! Sock alert!

This is a sock I am knitting. Again. It's a Jo Sharpe, from Knit, Issue One, and it's driving me nuts!!! The first time I knit it, a couple of months back, I turned the heel perfectly, got to the toes, and ended up with what looked like a tumour growing out the end. So I unpicked all the way back to before the heel before I could find a spot to restart where I knew where I was. Now I can't do the heel right. I don't know if the instructions are just plain wrong (they are a little vague) or I have simply slipped into the parallel universe known as SOCK HELL.

I will make another running jump at them, and let you know if my sanity's gone walkabout or not. In the meantime, here's what the damned thigns are supposed to look like.

I dream of quilting...

I don't know if this counts as a project, yet. It's still in the planning stages. My mother gets quilting magazines and fairly regularly she buys doubles by accident or there's a 'bonus' package which she alreay has (don't you hate that?) so I end up with the extras. I've never tried quilting before, although technically I can sew. And I also made a quilt cover for my sis about 5 years ago now, using semi-quilting techniques. Semi-using quilting techniques. Whatever.

Anyway, I saw this, and I just had to have it. I'm sure you all know the feeling. It's flannel, and I know this isn't the season (at least in this hemisphere) but maybe if I start it now, it'll be ready for winter (Yeah, right. Winter what year?)

A friend of my mother's has said she'll help me/us work out how to go about it, so this could launch me into the world of quilting, although it's not as comforting as knitting. I can't wait to get my hands on the finished product, it's going to be so snuggly and wonderful.




Here's the fabric I've bought for it so far. The only flannel I could find in the all-purpose craft-sew-whatever stored in town was the red check at the back. The fabrics on the right aren't even flannel - just boring old cotton. The left is flannel, a jackpot was found at a local quilting store, but I ran out of dough, so I will be revisiting the Patchwork Apple when next I get payed. *excitement!*