Quick recap on the last 6 months: Been busy looking for a job and learning transcription, and having my financial situation ripped to shreds.
I have been knitting though, and learning some new techniques. Hubby had requested a pair of socks. I hadn’t knit socks for a few years, because when everybody in the knitting universe is doing a particular project, I tend to follow another path and do something else.
However, when my friends that I personally knit with each week start something, I get caught up in it. So, we have Elizabeth, our local Sock Queen, who always has a pair or two going, and Vicki, who started exploring two at once on two circulars. Then Vicki and I went in and bought a sock kit for Christine, who can’t attend the festivals very often because she’s a saint, she doesn’t blog, but she knit her socks.
So I got this pair done for the hubs, then decided I should do another pair for my Mom who had worn out the first pair I made her. Then decided I might like a pair too. And hubby has already requested another pair in really wild colors, everything except pink, no stripe or other pattern, just all mish mash. We’ll be dyeing those ourselves. I just wanted to be able to do them fairly quickly and not take a month. So I started to explore knitting two socks at once, and currently have 3 pairs going.
My Mom’s are worsted Woolease, cause that was her first pair and she liked them. I’m doing those on one size 6 circular, one of my Clover plastics that they don’t make anymore. It’s an 8″ long needle. So these are one at a time, regular cuff down socks.
The second pair is sock weight yarn, two at a time on two circulars. Started out using size 2 circs, a 16″ and a 29″. The 29″ was too long, the 16″ too short after getting all the stitches on. These are toe up, by the way, something else new for me.
The third pair is worsted weight, two at a time on one long circular, magic loop style, also toe up.
I haven’t decided which method I like best. The 2 on 2 circs, I ended up getting 2 new sets of needles that are both 26″ and I’m liking them better. It’s still pretty fiddly though. The magic loop is okay but still fairly fiddly, I don’t think there’s as much entanglement as with the 2 circs.
So the jury is still out on method. I think I’m leaning toward one at a time on my little tiny circulars so far, just for the frustration factor alone.
On top of all this new to me ways to make socks, I’m retraining myself to knit continental, holding the yarn in my left hand, instead of throwing the yarn with my right hand. It’s faster and less wear and tear on my shoulder. And I hold my yarn in my left hand for crochet, so figured I could do that for knitting also.
On the Ami front, two of my grandkids have requested fish, one in orange and one in purple. They had seen the one that their big sister (age 
had made when I was teaching her to crochet, and decided they needed a fish also.
You can see on the side bar my Ravelry projects, so I’m still working on my second Rambling Rows sweater for a grandson, the Einstein jacket and a blanket.
