Easter Egg Dyeing A Sock

I would love to give this a try.  This video follows a sock blank through the dyeing process to an actual sock.  Several interesting machines used that I would love to have.

Sacramento Machine Knitters Guild March 10th Meeting

SOCKS!  That was the theme of the meeting.  What shocked me was the interest.  The mere mention of machine knit socks usually scares people, but obviously not us here in the Sacramento Area.  There were 13 people at the meeting and 7 machines set up.



I had brought one of my standard machines and of course it was the one that has no tools.  Made a note to do something about that.  When so many machines started coming in I thought just as well put it away and let another machine get set up.

Marilynn called people and told them to make some ribbing on needles and bring it in.  I knew that most people wouldn't want to or know how to do this.  Only Marilynn and Kathleen... OK me and Julia too came with ribbing.  Mine and Julia's was made with our knitting machines and ribbers.  Julia had brought machine knitting supplies and sock yarn to sell.  I decided that since I had made 3 whole socks that I would help.  :)

Thinking that a few would not have ribbing I brought my laptop in so we could view Diana's Single Bed Sew-As-You-Go Sock.  With it's mock rib option it came in handy.  Erica with Becky's help made Diana's sock.

Kathleen with her ribbing made the sock pattern Marilynn brought in.  I just roved around teaching, learning and just watching.  I really enjoyed myself.  I thought it was a great meeting.

Not everyone worked on socks.  3 knitters were there to learn the basics like how to get their machine working.  Been there done that!  One knitter had her machine working and was learning the e-wrap cast-on and how to cast-off.

What I learned was I needed to figure out my tool situation with my machine.  Should I buy tools?  I have standard tools with another machine.  Should I use that set with both machines?  I really had a big problem sort of robbing one machine to use with another.  So, I quizzed the machine knitter's over at Ravelry.  The consensus was "pool the tools."  Many have a tool box with standard and bulky tools separate, but in the same box.  Though I still have some guilt about doing this it really makes a lot of sense to me.  Why buy more tools when I have a lot of great tools.  What I've decided to do is label with a Sharpie which tool came from which machine in case I ever want to put the tools all back with their machines.

SOCKS!!

I made my first pair of socks!  I'm so excited.  I used Diana Sullivan's Sock DVD and book and my Studio 700 standard machine with ribber.  The video was very helpful.  I really like to see things done.  They have always helped me understand the written word better.

The first sock took my 3 1/2 hours.  Yes, and I had many many problems.  All operator error.  My first mistake was after the ribbing was done.  I got the sock turned rehung for circular knitting AND I forgot to put the yarn back in the carriage and 3/4 of the ribbing fell off by the time I noticed.  At that point I though it would just be faster to rip it out and redo the ribbing.  I've got 1X1 ribbing down and I'm pretty fast in needle set up and casting on.

The 2nd mistake was after I turned the sock for circular knitting I didn't weight it down and 4 stitches came off the needles.  After much digging around and latching up I got them on and weighted down.

Now came the circular knitting.  I've only done it once and following all the directions I forgot to put a side lever to the triangle or arrow and some have called it.  I did 3 rows of ribbing.  I had to undo the 3 rows.  After examining the chart and settings I was able to get back to circular knitting.

About 10 rows into the circular knitting I encountered a knot.  Now that I think about it this wasn't my fault.  I did have to rip the knitting back to get the knot undone and reknit the row.

Finally, I was at the toe.  Again a few stitches fell off and had to dig around and rehang.  The stitches falling off all had to do with inadequate weight.

I'm not telling you about my mistakes as discouragement, but more to let you know that we all have problems.  One can get past them and be successful.

I decided after I made the first sock to immediately make a 2nd sock.  With all I learned the first time around the 2nd sock was much easier.  I knew how to set my machine for circular knitting.  I knew a good amount of weight was very important.  My 2nd sock took me exactly an hour.  No dropped stitches.  No ripping back.

All I have left to do is side seam the ribbing and Kitchener stitch the toes.  It's late though and I'm going to go to bed.

Day 11 "25 Days of Diana"

Today I wanted to finish my sock, but that was not to be.  There were so many mistakes in my sock that once I got just passed the half way mark I thought I really need to redo this sock.  I really want to wear this sock; therefore it really needs to look like a sock.  Not some sad excuse for a sock.

What was encouraging as I took it off the machine resigned to the fact that I had to redo it is that it did definitely look like a real sock.  Well, the beginnings of one.  I think someone who didn't knit wouldn't notice the mistakes.  To me they were blaring.

I decided to try on my half of sock and see if it was any where near the size I needed.  To my great surprise it fit great!  I was very excited, because it fit AND it looked like a sock!  Well, half a sock.  I am encouraged to try this again tomorrow.  Tonight I'll rewind the yarn into a neat ball again and be ready for tomorrow.

Day 10 "25 Days of Diana"

Today I returned home from Rough and Ready, CA.  That's where my folks live.  We celebrated mama's birthday this weekend.  I still had time to do a little machine knitting.

I started with Diana's Single Bed Sew-As-You-Go Sock.  I thought I needed to know how to do 2X2 ribbing, but a mock rib is used here.  I found out that one can not be distracted while making this projected.  Well that's probably true with most projects. LOL  The video is great.  Twinkle fingers here was having some problems.  I'd end up with an extra needle obviously I forgot to push one into work or out of work.  Then for some unknown reason my whole toe dropped off the needles in one swipe of the carriage.  After rehanging it, reknitting stitches manually I'd had enough knitting for the day.

Day 5 "25 Days of Diana"

Well, day five took a completely different turn on my challenge.  I was all set up and ready to do the online videos of Diana sock videos using the ribber.  The day before I watched every video she had regarding the ribber.  I listened to the lessons and the projects.  A bit of over kill since it took hours.  I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

When day 5 hit I clicked on the video and didn't realize that it's a basic sock making video.  One needs to know how many needles to cast on.  I didn't realize that it was a basic lesson since I watched so many videos I guess they all blended together.  Also I didn't realize that I was so burned out on videos that after replaying video one 3 times I had no desire to play the other 2.  I wanted to know how many needles I needed to cast on.

This is when I remembered that earlier in the year I had bought her Sock DVD.  I was trying to get my ribber up and working at the time.  It took me about 9 months of asking around to find someone who could get it adjusted properly.  I lost sight of the fact that I had the Sock DVD. 

Day 5 of my "25 Days of Diana" turned into organize your craft room and find the sock DVD.  I found Diana's Garter Bar DVD and her Entrelac DVD, but I can't find the Sock DVD the very one I need.  Diana is so helpful I may email her and ask her how many needles until the Sock DVD shows up.

I highly recommend the purchase of her DVDs.  She does a really good job explaining and showing how to do the techniques.  I'm waiting on her "How to Organize a Craftroom" DVD.

WWI Was Won by a Knitting Machine!

The Wonderful Knitting Machine (Part 1)



And don't forget part 2 for the full story and the finished sock. Fascinating!