There’s another new post up at what has become my favorite “technical” knitting blog - Jogless Stripes - A New Way. I’ve always avoided stripes simply because I hate the way they look at the color change… that darn jog! But now, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to knit pretty, jogless stripes! Yay!

This is great news, because I have a couple of mis-matched skeins of Louet Gems Opal that I was hoping to use to make striped socks. One skein isn’t enough for a pair of socks (as I learned the hard way), so stripes are going to be the answer. Jogless stripes!

Getting back to TECHknitting… it’s by far the best blog I’ve found for useful knitting tips & tricks with clear, concise explanations. Head on over and check it out!

Now… to finish Salina!

Can I finish these by Saturday morning?

I hope so! They are a belated Christmas gift for a friend who was overseas during the holidays. Like a good friend, she gave me her gift before she left, the Winter Knits Kit. (awesome, by the way - I should do a quick review of it on here sometime.) I, on the other hand, was not so prepared before the holidays, and have to finish these socks by the time I see her on Saturday.

In other news, I got some exciting mail yesterday:

Stitches confirmation and class homework! One month to go - I’m excited! Hopefully the class I’m taking (Norwegian Knitting) will be worthwhile. The homework for the class is extremely simple, but also kind of unclear:

“Part 1: With darker colored yarn and 4mm (US 6) 16″ circular needle, work back and forth as follows (do not join in the round). CO 76 stitches. [Knit rows 1-8 as instructed]”

Fairly straightforward, right? Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t EVER knit on 16″ circular needles! I don’t own a 16″ circular, and really see no need to use one. I’d use DPNs for anything that small in the round. The instructions say to work back and forth. So, theoretically I could use any length circular needle (or even straights) for the homework. But, they don’t say if we’ll be joining in the round later on during the class. My guess is that we might be doing some knitting in the round, since oftentimes colorwork is done in the round. And, 76 stitches could easily fit on a 16″ needle in the round at a gauge of about 4.5-5 st/inch or less. So, do I need to have a 16″ circular needle for this class or not? I’d much rather not purchase a 16″ circular just for this class, since I probably won’t ever use it again. What do you think?

Wow - it’s been a while since I’ve posted. It’s been a while since I’ve had anything worthy of posting! Needless to say, there has not been a lot of knitting happening lately.

I was hoping to wait and post when I finished Salina, but unfortunately, the end of that sweater is not yet in sight. Here’s where I’m at… about 1/3 of the way through the last sleeve. Sleeves take a loooong time to knit! Especially on size 4 needles. I’m not going to be knitting another sweater on size 4 needles any time soon!

Since Salina is one of those seemingly never ending projects, I thought I should start a quick-and-easy pair of socks so that I actually finish something sometime this winter.

This is a plain old 64 stitch stockinette sock on size 1 ebony needles. The yarn is Cherry Tree Hill, in Wild Cherry. It’s not quite as electric pink in person. I started this on Saturday night, and got just past the heel on Sunday. Hopefully I’ll be done with the pair in a week or so, and can get back to the dreaded sleeve.