I started this sweater late last winter. It was my first time trying a top-down sweater, and my first time picking up stitches for the sleeves… which is where I stopped with it. After 3 attempts to get the correct # of stitches for the sleeves, I ripped it out again and set it aside for a bit and I haven’t come back to it since. It WILL get finished though! I have picked up sleeves since then a couple of times.
$60USD for the wheel and 3 bobbins. Bobbins will be open sourced, so you can print your own! I’ve never seen any wheels this inexpensive before. It looks like a wonderful, darling wheel and I want seven.
Summary: “Adora, we live in a complicated world where our decisions, our mistakes, have real consequences. But this” – Casta reached out and touched the tangled mess in Adora’s hands – “this is just yarn. No one’s life hangs in the balance when you drop a stitch or mess up your gauge. You can choose to keep going or rip it out and start again. It’s up to you, and you alone. And there are no wrong answers.”
***
Chapter 1: Rescue from Relaxation
The next time they visit Mystacor, it’s also in another quest to help Adora learn the Art of Relaxing. One week after the battle of Bright Moon, the damage has mostly been repaired and now her only orders are to take some time and heal. Unfortunately this was easier for Queen Angella to command than for Adora to obey. Even without Shadow Weaver’s “help”, Adora found herself to be just as bad at doing nothing as she was on her last visit.
While she could appreciate the joys of getting a full nine hours of sleep, lazing about just seemed… wrong? Wasteful?
If it was just a matter of not showing weakness, she would find a place to hide for a few days until the wounds on her back finally healed. She had actually attempted to pursue that plan, but Bow and Glimmer had convinced Swift Wing, the traitor, to help track her down. That was when the Queen had ordered them to Mystacor for physical…and mental? health.
It was…not going well.
She was in the middle of trying to find the words to explain to Glimmer and Bow that the aroma therapy smells of their latest Relaxation Attempt we’re making her dizzy when Gimmer’s Aunt rescued her.
The woman appeared in a swirl of her cape with bright smiles and cheer. “Oh Glimmer, dearest, I need to borrow your friend for a moment. You don’t mind do you?” She asked, taking one of Adora’s hands and pulling her to her feet.
“Auntie, what are you *doing*? We’re trying to help Adora relax!” Glimmer whined, trying, and failing to grab Adora’s arm.
Seeing an opportunity, Adora waved her free hand and smiled sheepishly. “No, no! It’s ok. This wasn’t working super well for me. You guys should enjoy it and we can … uh, try something else later”
Glimmer frowned, brow furrowed, but Bow shook his meaningfully at her. “Don’t work Adora too hard Aunt Casta,” he said lightly. “Why don’t we meet up for dinner?”
Adora smiled gratefully at Bow. He was a good friend. “That’s a good plan,” she said. And Castaspella agreed.
Summary: “Adora, we live in a complicated world where our decisions, our mistakes, have real consequences. But this” – Casta reached out and touched the tangled mess in Adora’s hands – “this is just yarn. No one’s life hangs in the balance when you drop a stitch or mess up your gauge. You can choose to keep going or rip it out and start again. It’s up to you, and you alone. And there are no wrong answers.”
***
Chapter 1: Rescue from Relaxation
The next time they visit Mystacor, it’s also in another quest to help Adora learn the Art of Relaxing. One week after the battle of Bright Moon, the damage has mostly been repaired and now her only orders are to take some time and heal. Unfortunately this was easier for Queen Angella to command than for Adora to obey. Even without Shadow Weaver’s “help”, Adora found herself to be just as bad at doing nothing as she was on her last visit.
While she could appreciate the joys of getting a full nine hours of sleep, lazing about just seemed… wrong? Wasteful?
If it was just a matter of not showing weakness, she would find a place to hide for a few days until the wounds on her back finally healed. She had actually attempted to pursue that plan, but Bow and Glimmer had convinced Swift Wing, the traitor, to help track her down. That was when the Queen had ordered them to Mystacor for physical…and mental? health.
It was…not going well.
She was in the middle of trying to find the words to explain to Glimmer and Bow that the aroma therapy smells of their latest Relaxation Attempt we’re making her dizzy when Gimmer’s Aunt rescued her.
The woman appeared in a swirl of her cape with bright smiles and cheer. “Oh Glimmer, dearest, I need to borrow your friend for a moment. You don’t mind do you?” She asked, taking one of Adora’s hands and pulling her to her feet.
“Auntie, what are you *doing*? We’re trying to help Adora relax!” Glimmer whined, trying, and failing to grab Adora’s arm.
Seeing an opportunity, Adora waved her free hand and smiled sheepishly. “No, no! It’s ok. This wasn’t working super well for me. You guys should enjoy it and we can … uh, try something else later”
Glimmer frowned, brow furrowed, but Bow shook his head meaningfully at her. “Don’t work Adora too hard Aunt Casta,” he said lightly. “Why don’t we meet up for dinner?”
Adora smiled gratefully at Bow. He was a good friend. “That’s a good plan,” she said. And Castaspella agreed.
I like this Basic Sock pattern because this one works with both fingering/sock weight yarn, and has instructions for worsted weight as well.
What Yarn to Buy
So, if you have never knitted socks before, using a worsted weight is nice because they will knit up a lot faster.
If you don’t mind hand washing and laying flat to dry, Wool of the Andes is a nice, inexpensive wool, that knits up into a cozy pair of socks.
If you need to be able to wash and dry your socks in a machine, you’ll want superwash yarn. There’s a Wool of the Andes Superwash and a Swish Superwash. You will pay a little more for the superwash in the wool.
Another option is an acrylic yarn. There’s Brava which is really cheap, but not a terrible yarn. For your very first pair, this might be what I’d pick if you are really uncertain. But I will generally always prefer a wool.
For fingering/sock yarn you’ll want size 1 or 1 ½. And for worsted you’ll want size 3.
Second Sock Syndrome
What often happens, when a person makes one sock, is that doing the second sock of the pair can feel like a slog, lol. To combat this, it’s usually suggested to knit both at the same time.
I will generally do the cuff up to the heel flap on one, then on the next. Then the heel flap on one, and the next. Then turn, then the foot, then the toe – working first one sock, then its twin.
Stitches You Need to Know
People are always so intimidated by socks, but the trick is to take it one stitch at a time. Don’t try and wrap your brain around the entire process, just follow each step of the instructions.
To knit a sock using the pattern I linked you’ll need to know
knit in the round on DPNs (not as tough as it seems!)
how to long tail or cable cast on
knit and purl
knit two together (and purl two together)
slip slip knit
pick up a stitch
And that’s it. All very, very basic knitting stitches.
I hope that helps!
I personally love knitting worsted weight socks for the winter. The knit up fast and are great for lounging around the house. Super warm.
Adding some free sock patterns, because free resources
And though I have never used this specific one, it’s from the TinCanKnits learn to knit collection and I’ve used other patterns from it so I feel confident adding it:
One thing that might help with fear of socks is to embrace lifelines. I also put lifelines (scrap yarn) through my socks after the toe and before I start the heel. If I mess up on the pattern or sizing, it’s easier to go back to a specific point, and it’s also easier to count rows to make sure my socks turn out the same size.
I would also like to throw out a recommendation for the Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist. While it is a paid for pattern, it’s literally only 1$ US. For that you get a super great way of making sure your socks fit and it has a heel method that doesn’t require wrap and turn or picking up stitches. You need to learn a new short row method, but the video tutorials are really well made and easy to follow.
I should note that this pattern doesn’t tell you how to knit the rest of the sock, but you can use this heel in any of the patterns suggested above.
Today I found out that yarners think crocheting socks is subversive and controversial and I just…on one hand, why the fuck not, I guess yarners are allowed to have their controversies, but on the other, how much time do you have in your FUCKIN DAY??
My main concern is how they would feel but Maggie u know yarn fandom gotta think about something while knitting five miles of stockingnette for a sweater
Look, you can’t just leave it at that, why is it subversive and controversial? *gets popcorn*
I mean, I’m taking this on good faith, and I’m not saying this is my own personal belief. I believe in all crafts.
But…the structure of the stitches and the resulting fabric is pretty different between crochet and knitting. You get different effects between them, which lends themselves to different crafts. And none of the effects of (most) crochet stitches lend themselves naturally to socks. You’re (usually) going to end up with something either stiff and bulky, or full of holes that will Not Feel Good to walk on. Whereas knitted socks will just…BE elastic and comfortable.
Sure you CAN do it. And there are people and patterns that do it well!!
But MOST crochet socks are a bit like calling this a bicycle
I mean… Okay? But people are going to Talk.
But this is BABY controversy, this is nothing. You haven’t even touched on the good shit like RHSS or that time the Olympic Committee dissed us.
Iiiinteresting. So one of those “just because you CAN doesn’t mean you SHOULD” things.
Also I know very little about the yarn fandom except for that bit where a woman had to fake her death and had a nervous breakdown over selling homespun/dyed yarn so like, I already have big expectations.
Was that the one that “died” of leukemia or the one that “died” of lupus, or the one that overdosed?
From what I know of the narrative as it was described to me, I want to say the one that overdosed, but I am intrigued and vaguely concerned that there are multiple distinct individuals the above situation could apply to.
hey umm, what the fuck
the fake deaths thing: indie yarn dyer gets popular, gets overwhelmed by orders, can’t refund money because of shitty bookkeeping, decides faking online death is the only way out.
i’m sure some of them are unintentional rather than premeditated scammers but they’re all still thieving assholes who shouldn’t be running businesses and need to give all the money back.
the olympics commitee: ravelry, well-known knitting (fiber arts in general) site, held a contest they called the ‘ravelympics’ to drum up olympic support then get a cease-and-desist letter for copyright infringement, and the letter said that calling it that ‘denigrates the true nature of the Olympic Games’ and was ‘disrespectful to our country’s finest athletes’
except, you know, ravelry had like 2 million users who all, by nature of ravelry being a website, have basic tech literacy. the social media backlash was so bad that the olympics board had to make 2 official apologies because the first wasn’t good enough.
RHSS: Red Heart Super Saver is cheap Walmart-level yarn. some people hate it because it used to be just really fucking awful and they haven’t bothered updating their opinions. some people hate it because they hate non-natural yarns. some people hate it because they’re yarn snobs(which, btw, comes in two flavors: the disdainful assholes and the people who just don’t see the point if you have the money and don’t indulge yourself). a lot of people defend it because it’s cheap and widely locally available and honestly not that bad after a wash and some fabric softener.
crocheted socks: exactly what kaitoukitty said. people who crochet socks tend to either be new crocheters who are not aware crochet is not the best medium for socks or experienced crocheters who are pushing the boundaries of the medium.
babies on fire: i can’t believe we’re talking about yarncraft controversies and no one mentioned babies on fire. that’s my favorite controversy.
so when deciding what material to make baby blankets out of, in addition to considerations like softness, ease of washing, and allergy concerns quite a lot of people like to consider what would happen to the baby if the blanket was set on fire. yes, really.
wool has the problem of hand-wash only blankets for a new mother (superwash wool exists but that’s a whole ‘nother paragraph), allergy concerns, and also
real fucking expensive if you want quality not-itchy-on-baby-skin wool. but pro-wool-blanket people insist that because wool actually resists being set on fire pretty well and also can self-extinguish, it’s the only sensible choice.
acrylic on the other hand is cheap and you can throw it in the washing machine, and while bad quality acrylics might be stiff and plastic-y they’re not itchy, but if it gets set on fire it will melt onto the baby’s skin. pro-acrylic people insist that if your blanket is on fire, you probably have bigger problems than what the blanket is made of.
wow I didn’t expect such a detailed response. thank you!
Fiber Arts Just Be Fucking Like That.
I love them all, but have to admit that “the baby is on fire” is by far my favourite.
The blanket is a great example, but the the next level to that is baby sweaters/cothing in general. Because “If the baby catches fire the acrylic will melt into its skin”.
I don’t know about you, as far as I know, babies do not spontaneously combust into flames. Unless its dad is Satan. Then that might be possible. (but then you might wanna stick to cotton anyway. Hell is pretty warm as far as I know)
blackash26 