oh, it’s may

things have been quiet here because i only just got back from australia and haven’t quite had a chance to get my life reorganized. my trip gave me the opportunity to finish my sock! i do however still have to bind it off. i did a loose bind off as directed in the knitty universal sock pattern, but unfortunately i still couldn’t get it over my heel. i do recall reading somewhere that there is another way to bind off that maintains the elasticity, so i’m going to have to try and find some instructions somewhere and do that when i get the chance.

i had a great time in australia! i’m working on sorting out all the pictures i took. and will probably post some eventually.

horrors!

ok notice how my sock has backtracked? this is because foolish me didn’t try it on after turning the heel (see i didn’t realize that with this gauge and yarn it’s much shorter to do a short row heel than a heel flap) and when i finally did, it was too short! that and i foolishly started ribbing right after turning the heel which made my rib start right from the heel instead of closer to the ankle. so i frogged it all the way back down to right before the heel and started over. i got to practice doing the short row heel again, which i guess isn’t such a bad thing. live and learn.

so knitting is really great to do while watching tv or something like that, but here in japan i don’t have a tv, and even if i did it would all be in japanese so i wouldn’t understand much. most of the time i just knit on the subway, but occasionally i like to knit in the evening and then it’s nice to have something else going on while i knit. so tv is out. occasionally i’ll watch a movie, but i don’t always want to knit for that long. anyway, i think i’ve finally found a solution: podcasts. a few days ago i posted about a podcast about kiva.org that i listened to. last night i listened to an episode of escape from cubicle nation interviewing the author of the personal finance blog iwillteachyoutoberich.com. makes me feel like i am being double productive, knitting socks and learning about entrepreneurship!

the sock continues

and so i found some time to turn the heel using a short row technique, i followed the instructions from the misocrafty short row heel tutorial. once i wrapped my head around the wraps and double wraps it went pretty quick, although i’m not entirely sure i really got it since the join part doesn’t quite look the same on both sides. oh well, it works though. now i am just going to keep knitting the top until i run out of yarn, following a k2 p1 rib pattern. so far i do prefer this toe up method of making socks.

sock number two (and three)

the second socks has been sitting almost finished for a couple of days now. i just haven’t had a chance to sit down and graft the toe. in fact, i have been putting it off since my last attempt on the first sock didn’t come out properly after a couple of tries. i just had to go with it after try number two because the yarn had already been cut and it was getting really finicky to fix. hopefully i’ll have some time soon to finish it (although the next few days are busy ones, i’m leaving for australia in a week! aaahhhh! so much to do!).

in the meantime i’ve started a new sock, this time toe up. again, i’m at an impasse because i have to work on turning the heel and i want to try to do a short row heel. this again means setting some time aside to sit down and follow instructions. the problem is the stockinette foot and leg parts just go by way too quickly doing it on the subway every day, but then i don’t have time to do the trickier parts so i’m left without any knitting for my subway commute. yesterday i was just finishing up the foot part of these socks and a little old lady started talking to me about it. except i have no idea what she was asking me coz my japanese just isn’t that good.

omorimashta

finished the first sock! my first sock ever! am almost done decreasing the gusset on the second one so it should be done in the next couple of days.

the weather here is beautiful. i think spring has properly arrived. i’ve got the balcony door open and the sound of birds chirping is wandering in with a nice little breeze of fresh air and the occasional trickle of kid’s voices playing.

yarn store in osaka

i found out about another yarn store in osaka: avril. from what i can figure out, it’s in the daimaru in shinsaibashi. i’ll have to check it out next time i am in the area.

my first sock is done, i just need to kitchener stitch the toe (which ok i have been putting off because the first time i tried it it didn’t come out right so i had to undo it). and on the second sock i am at the point where i have to start shaping the heel. so they are coming along quite nicely and i am starting to think of what to make next. i want to make some toe up socks. or maybe a top down sweater? something easy that i can knit on the plane on the way to australia in a couple of weeks.

which reminds me, i should also start looking for yarn stores in sydney. so far i have only found tapestry craft.

stamp

yesterday we went on an adventure to the hyogo museum of ceramic art. getting there turned out to be quite the adventure and after finding ourselves on a train going in the opposite direction of where we needed to go, we got off at the next stop, which was this stop Sanda. i spotted this stamp and stamped my little moleskine notebook that i always carry around. these stamps can be found in train stations and popular attractions such as musems and other sightseeing spots, and each stamp has a special design for each particular location. i think collecting these stamps is a popular hobby.

as far as the museum went, we never actually made it to the actual museum! we did find some kind of pottery compound though that is next to the museum and spent the afternoon making pottery. they are supposed to mail our pieces to us, so i guess i’ll see the results in about 2 months.

and as far as my socks are coming along, the first sock is ready for the toe decrease, and in anticipation of spending a fair bit of time knitting on the train on the way to the pottery museum i actually cast on for the next sock. unfortunately i spent about 80% of my time on the train and waiting at various points while we got lost etc. de-tangling the yarn because i couldn’t find the start of the skein. this happens to me about 50% of the time when i start something from a new skein, i really need to learn if there is some kind of system to it.

connected

yesterday i found some time to work on my socks and finished the heel flap. after that point i wasn’t sure what the next step was. i wasn’t near a computer to check knitty, but being really keen to keep working on my socks i tried to access the knitty site via my cell phone’s web browser. the main page loaded but unfortunately, the socks 101 page wouldn’t. and then i had to stop knitting anyway. wouldn’t it be great if we could look up patterns from our cell phones? then you’d never have to worry if you forgot the pattern when you went to buy yarn, or weren’t sure what to do next. anyway, i finished turning the heel last night once i got home and now i am in the home stretch, just gonna finish the foot and toes. hopefully it will go quickly.

zee sock

so i was able to pick up a set of bamboo circular needles today. unfortunately, in the mean time being on double pointed needles and getting carried around in my bag kind of made a mess of things so i had to frog a good inch. but i guess it’s ok because i’m finding that knitting magic loop style is way easier and better than with those too long double pointeds so it’ll go quicker now (i hope). the circulars also make it a lot easier to knit on the subway.

knitting style

i taught myself how to knit one year over christmas break when i was in univeristy. i taught myself from a knitting book for kids i borrowed from the library. the book was for kids and just made everything really simple. so i had no idea that there were multiple ways to knit (english & continental) for the longest time. then a year or so later, my roomate had her mom teach her how to knit and her mom taught her continental. all i saw was how my friend was doing it different from me and i tried to emulate her, but kept reverting back to my own way. anyway, thanks to the book i picked up last week on knitting (Teach Yourself Visually Knitting), i realized that i knit english style and purl continental style. weird! so while i’ve been knitting my socks, i’ve made a conscious effort to knit continental and i’m happy to say that it’s working, more or less. it’s starting to feel more natural and i feel like it’s faster too.

tomorrow i’m going to try to buy some circular needles coz i’ve decided my longish double pointed needles from the hundred yen shop are just too long for using on the crowded subway. they make my knitting look like a very pointy and very dangerous death star of some sort!