Yipee!!!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008 Yahoominy!!! I did it! I had purchased Margaret Hubert's new book Knits for Men figuring I could maybe manage a sweater or two with my meager knitting skills. I had Hubby take a look thru it after I got home, and he kept going back to Alpine Zip Neck Pullover, which was a featured pattern on the Lion Brand website a few weeks ago. After checking out the picture pretty well (or at least I thought so!) I decided I could do that one. I can do stockinette, I can alternate colors, piece of cake. All went well. This past Friday I got to the "patterned" section of the sleeves. And came to a dead stop. There was a foreign language staring up at me from the page. Things like sl1, yb, yf, sl3, wrap around needle. That took care of that. Then a really big idea hit! Priscilla!
A couple of months ago Priscilla and a couple of other ladies from my crochet club got together at my house to learn how to knit socks from the toe up. The lesson went really well. We were finally able to all get together again this past Sunday for our lesson on Heeling. So before we got started, I asked Priscilla to take a look at the directions and to Please, please translate them into English for me! She chuckled and said after we got done with the heel lesson I would be a pro at reading those directions. (Boy, she has had more confidence in me than I did at that point!) But she was right!!!! After things settled down for the night, I took another look at the directions for that sleeve, and I could read them! Woohoo! But.....could I translate words into actual stitches? Oh Happy Dance!! Yes, I could! Yes, I did! So here's a picture of my first ever beyond basic (to me anyway) knitting.
I'm still tickled
that I could get it to look like the picture in Margaret's book! Now I just need to finish up the front and figure out how to seam the pieces together. WOOHOO!!!!
And here's a picture of my newly heeled sock from our second sock lesson. It was a lot easier to do than I thought it would be. It came out pretty well all considered. I also found out that the needles I was using were too big. Everyone else's socks looked nice and neat and tight. Then there was mine. Nice and neat, but not tight. Very loose. But it
still fit my foot pretty well. I'm not so sure about the "edge" in the orangey color in the heel though. It looks a bit "squared" to me. 
I learned all about how to wrap a stitch so that when you come back to it and work it into the fabric, the wrap "fills" in any possible holes as the heel progressed. That's why there's a BIG hole in my sock on one side. It's so big I can put my index finger in it! Guess I missed my wrap on a stitch or two. It's a good thing I had already planned frogging it and starting all over with smaller needles! Now I know to make sure I wrap when I'm supposed to and knit where I'm supposed to! Can you see the hole in my ankle? ;D
And finally, my packet came in the mail! It's really official now. I didn't dream I filled out the registration. I'm going to DisneyWorld Manchester, NH in two weeks! WooHoo!
Have a good night. :)
Reader Comments (6)
Nancy I'm tickled pink that you followed the pattern and it looks terrific. Thanks for letting me know.
Margaret
Thanks Margaret! I'm still grinning that I got it! :D
Nancy
I'm so glad I could help! The sweater looks like it is coming out great. As soon as I get some time over the weekend, I'm going to mail you, Jen and Grace some instructions to avoid the hole that happened when we finished the heel and started up the ankle. I looked at another pattern, and I think the hole is avoidable.
Ahem, I heard there was some drinking afterwards ....
LOL
Great job on the knitting. Let me know when you'll need my foot measurements. {VBG}
~Dee
Us? Afterwards? Heck no, during! That's probably why I have a hole in my ankle! LOL
Priscilla, you do/did a great job teaching us newbies!
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