Thought filled socks!

I've come to the conclusion that I've been way over-thinking this whole sock making process! Although I've been knitting pretty much my whole life, socks have never been on my to-do list...they always seemed to be too fiddly, confusing, requiring too much concentration, and not worth the effort considering they would probably be eaten up by the washing machine some day anyway!!....but!!....after seeing everybody elses awesome sock creations (oh how I love Ravelry ;-D) I really wanted to make some...this is where the over-thinking came in!... toe-up, cuff-down, 2 needles, 4 needles, magic loop, gusset, german heel, square heel, afterthought heel...????
So, I decided to stop thinking, and just start knitting :-) I used some thick 10 ply yarn from my stash with 4mm needles (2 circulars). After about half a day of trying out different cast-ons, I went with this one (by far the easiest and neatest). I did 8 wraps of the needles (16 stitches, 8 for each side) and increased each side, every other round, until there were 22 stitches. I then knit 29 rounds before adding the waste yarn for an afterthought heel (for which a lot of fore-thought went into!!), and continued for another 10 rounds before changing to a K1 P1 rib for 8 rounds. The heel was finished by decreasing each side every other round until 8 stitches on either side remained, and cast off by the 3 needle method, (just the opposite of the toes).
They were just so much easier (and less fiddly) than I thought :-)
The only change I will make for my next pair, is to make the heel bigger...I made this one on half of the stitches, but I really should have read my Knitting without Tears (Elizabeth Zimmermann) more closely, as she explains that a much better percentage is two thirds.
I now feel confident to try the sock pattern that my daughter requested from Love to Knit (Bronwyn Lowenthal)...the pattern is written for 2 needles, but as always, I have to do it different ;-D

I *heart* this yarn

I bought another bag of green Wangaretta Mill yarn for $5 from Lincraft, not really knowing what I was going to do with it (as per usual!). When I got it home, it matched great with some white Lang Arte that I bought a few years back (also from Lincraft). I was thinking of making a blanket with hearts, similar to Millie's Blanket, but wasn't too keen on how EZ's heart looked in the variegated yarn. The block I went with in the end, was this intarsia heart from Jan Eaton's 200 Knitted Blocks...I love the look and feel of this textured yarn :-)

Taueret, I'm not sure of the content of some of these packs of yarn from Lincraft, but reading the forums over on Ravelry, some people have had some awesome finds, including Zhivago, Patonyle, Zoomy, Cleckheaton Country, Cleckheaton Angora, Gusto, Country 8 ply, and heaps more. It's certainly worth while taking time to 'dig' through the pile...the selection seems to vary a lot between different stores though...(the selection at the Marion SA store is really good :-))

....Some new crafty books for my birthday last week, to add to my library...(thanks guys!)
(the Love to Knit book was a pressy from my daughter, on the condition that I make her the socks on the front cover!!!) :-D

Pillowcase Pinnies

I bought a load of $1.20 pillowcases last year, because I really liked the fabric...some I've set aside for making skirts or tops, some for making quilts, and some for general sewing....this one was screaming out to be an apron :-) (well ... 2 aprons!) The 'pieced' front is actually one piece of fabric (one whole side of the pillowcase)...and from my stash, I added a blue and white checked lining, and a white tie.
Quick, easy, cheap...and mighty practical ;-D

I was really excited this week to hear that my ipod hoody pattern had been featured on the Craftzine site (thanks so much to 2Paw for letting me know :-))
Since being featured, it has also appeared here and here!!
**very big grin**