On The Needles - Nov 30, 2012

Over this past week I've worked on a couple of knitting projects.  The first project was a pair of footie socks for myself.   I love my handmade socks and don't want to wear them out.  My regular slippers make my feet sweat, so I generally just wear socks around the house.  

Last winter I made some felted slippers and I love them.   Unfortunately they are showing wear on the sole and I've done some reinforcing with more yarn (darning, sort of).  I have more 100% wool to make additional slippers, but the pattern I made (and love) is knit on straight needles and sewn up creating a seam from toe to heel on the sole.  For some reason I keep putting it off.

Funky Footies

A few days ago I took some of my old, funky acrylic yarn, which is probably 25 years old, and made a couple of footies.  I started at the cuff/ribbing and made a heel flap and gusset.  Gosh, it's been a few years since I made any socks from the cuff down.  Now I have a pair of what I call my "Funky Footies" to wear over my good socks.  I can even take them along in my purse when I visit my friends who have those really nice, expensive wood floors and request that guests take their shoes off.  It won't matter if I have holy socks on, because I will cover them with my footies.  

The second project for me has been fingerless gloves.  I have a friend that I want to make a pair for as a Christmas gift.  I found a really simple pattern on line and worked up one glove.  The pattern was written for straight needles which I didn't figure out until I had knitted a purl row above the cuff.  I then made sure to knit any future purl rows since I was knitting in the round.  For the test glove I used some WoolEase and (2) size 6 US 29-inch circular needles and double pointed needles for the thumb.  It would be less cumbersome to use shorter circular needles (if I had some).  

Knitting the thumb was a first for me.  It wasn't as hard as I had imagined although I ended up with a gap at the bottom of the thumb which I closed when weaving in the yarn tails. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Be sure to visit Patchwork Times and see what others have on their needles this week.