Wow! I’m totally doing sock assassins! I’ve just gotten into knitting socks, my first pair was a big pair of boot socks for the SO for christmas. Exciting!
If she’s comfortable and it’s working for her, she may not need to switch.
If she’s twisting every stitch (which is what normally happens when people knit consistently into the backs), it shouldn’t be hard to teach her how to knit in the front of the stitch. However, she might actually be doing a kind of “combination” knitting, which is described fairly well by Annie Modesitt.
My mother’s a lefty, but she knits right handed (and English) like I do.
Intarsia is evil and I hate it.
I just got my first set of Harmony dpns for socks. I haven’t used them yet, but I think I love them already. Knitpicks metal dpns are too heavy for me. I like Inox for metal. I would snap wooden ones with all the stitch twisting in Bayerische.
I got the exact same excuse from my mother when I wanted to learn how to knit. I eventually taught myself from books. Turns out we knit identically, left/right handedness notwithstanding.
I love those, their gorgeous.
But know what? After I bought them I got into magic loop (I do most of my sock knitting on the bus, magic loop means the needle doesn’t go flying when we hit a bump…).
I think I need to watch somebody do that on YouTube and see what I think. You have to use extra long circulars, right? Like 36 inches? It does seem like it would be easy.
I’ve tried the two circulars. No dice.
I always recommend Fuzzy Feet to people who are intimidated by socks. They knit up fast, using just the same technique, and if you make mistakes, they literally disappear in the wash.
Do any of you use cotton for socks? Wool bothers my skin. Right now I’m using cotton, but the sock book says that it doesn’t work well for socks. Opinions?
I’m trying to knit a pair of cotton socks. Because I saw some cotton yarn which was cute and inexpensive, and I didn’t know it didn’t work well for socks. I’m not real impressed with it so far, the yarn reminds me too much of twine.
Plus, I’ve cast on the appropriate number of stitches somewhere in the range of a half dozen times, and I still have my yarn sitting in a little puddle rather than actually being on my needles.
Part of this is due to the fact that I’m a novice knitter-- having knitted a hat, half of a scarf, and the back and front of a sweater.
Part of my problem is that it’s my first encounter with knitting in the round, or double pointed needles. So I get to the “end” of the very first round, and realize I don’t still have the right number of stitches on my needles.
The actual sock pattern is just a spiral ribbed tube sock, so if I ever get past the first round, it should be ok. But I’ve yet to get past that first round.
ETA: the yarn which has been cast on and frogged repeatedly does seem to be much softer than it used to be, but I still don’t think it’s very elastic.
Plain ole cotton like you would use for a dish cloth doesn’t have enough elasticity for socks. I just googled cotton sock yarn though and it exists. I clicked on the first hit and it was a cotton with elastic.
I haven’t tried the two circulars. I think it might be interesting to try and do two socks at once that way (just to say I did try it, and see if I can or if it won’t work for me). Once you get going it’s pretty easy. When I started though, I’d start the sock on DPNs then switch. I find it is easier to do toe up (with a Turkish cast on) rather than top down also. (Currently I’m working on a pair of Garter Toes socks using Wasonga sock yarn from Curious Creek in the colourway Birches in Norway… it’s satisfying my urge for spring green right now).
Congratulations, it’s a vest!
Neither of us experienced knitters can figure out what she’s doing, actually. It’s working fairly well for her, but only because she only creates square projects with a combo of knit and pearl stitches. I was watching her work to see if there is a way to in intarsia with her system (she’s keen to learn) and I haven’t got a clue. She spins the yarn around the needle backwards and sort of from the bottom - I think if she tried to join a second colour in the middle of her work she would wind up with holes all over the place.
I am the intarsia QUEEN! Seriously, I randomly put a little heart or a little flower in some weird place on sweaters I make (like the back left shoulder) just because it’s fun. (Why yes, I do some times smash my hand with a hammer also because it’s fun. :D) Honestly I’ve just never gotten the angst associated with it. I suppose having 15 little balls of yarn hanging off the back of your work could be a bit frightening, but for some reason it’s never freaked me out.
I got those recently, and I can attest to their absolute amazing wonderfulness! Plus they have all these in-between sizes so that you can get your gauge exactly perfect by going up or down .25 mm. The only problem with them? If you’re using yarn that’s in one (or more) of the colors of the needles, it can be incredibly difficult to see your work on the needles without some superior lighting. But they are otherwise the most awesome needles I have ever used.
I’m also a self-taught lefty knitter, but I do it mirror image to right-handers, so that works well. Early on I was twisting stitches, but fortunately my grandmother’s neighbor was an inveterate knitter and set me straight. I’ve taught righties to knit; it’s quite easy, since, again, it’s just mirror image. My biggest problem is knitting charts; I ended up downloading a knitting font and redoing them (in Excel, that way I can size them up as needed for my aging eyes) and reversing them. Makes my life much easier.
And last but not least, I second a cotton yarn with elastic in it. Elann Esprit is a good yarn; I’ve used it, although not for socks (I tried a chemo cap with it with one of Elann’s excellent free patterns), and it’s a nice yarn. I’ve actually got some white to try knitting myself some summer socks.
A funny looking one. But it’s intended as a Christmas present for my niece, so I have a few months to knit two sleeves, a collar, and some button bands–and sew the whole thing together (not neccessarily in that order).
Glad you like it! I’m trying to come up with rules for Sock Mafia, but that’s quite difficult. 
I’m actually quite absurdly excited. One of my fellow S&Bers is going to sign up too - I just hope our first switch isn’t to each other!
I have another monkey sweater and a baby gift I need to finish in the next month or so - good thing the sock challenge doesn’t start for a while.
alice, if a lot of the people in your group live in apartments, I wouldn’t do anything involving felting. One reason I haven’t gotten into it yet is I live in a condo, and it costs me 75 cents a load to run the washing machine. I’d prefer not to experiment with start and stop techniques, but that’s just me.
KnitPicks has got some wonderful books including Knit Kimono. I haven’t had a look at it yet, but since it’s working with kimonos which are assembled in rectangles, that should have things which are easy for beginners but still very wearable.
Hats are a good idea, but I think I’d recommend shawls. As others have pointed out, you can make a shawl as simple or as complex as you like, and throw in anything from lace to intarsia to cables. If you make a V-shaped shawl, you also get experience with increasing and decreasing.
Caricci, I started making my first pair of socks on two circular needles a couple of weeks ago. I knit on some rattle-traps of busses which go up fairly large hills and jolt when they hit potholes. The two circulars are easier to work with in those situations, and so far the gentleman’s car hasn’t managed to eat any (I’ve lost more double points and cable needles in it than I care to think about!). On the other hand, I’m not entirely sure I like the technique.
The knitting thing sort of mystifies me. I’m 37, have never picked up a knitting needle in my life. I have a faint fuzzy memory of one grandmother talking about knowing how to knit, but I never saw anyone doing it when I was growing up.
None of my girlfriends knit either, maybe we’re in a weird non-knitting cultural bubble here.
I did once crochet a sort of chain necklace thing at summer camp, my total experience with yarn related items. 
Knitting is great. It gives me something to do with my hands. That isn’t lethal to whoever is currently bugging me. Well, one day I’m gonna snap and stab someone with my circular needle, but until that point, it’s unbeatable for the tension taming!
This is what trips me up with knitting. My Icelandic grandmother taught my mother to knit ‘backwards’ and that’s how my mom taught me. I just can’t knit for enjoyment, I always feel like it’s wrong.
Crochet, on the other hand, I’m a damned wizard.
I had a very nice knitting related day yesterday. My twin sister has finally come over to the wooly side and taken up knitting (my baby half sister also - her mom has her on a dishcloth) and came for a visit from her home in Long Island. We went to the largest and most respected yarn store in Rhode Island, Sakonnet Purls in Tiverton. It was my first time there.
Oh, my, it was wonderful on so many levels, from my triumph over the issues she and I both have about driving to her sharing my enthusiasm for the craft (she is far more likely to reject something I love simply because I love it) and respecting my advice when I gave it to her, to me feeling like a “real” knitter in the shop and being able to speak with authority to the staff. You know these yarn stores, how they sometimes aren’t so forthcoming with some of the higher prices? I wasn’t embarrassed to put back some $65 lace weight AND $22 ebony sock needles. I used to be so intimidated I’d just put it on the card no matter how surprising the price was.
And, oh, the yarn!!! So beautiful. And so much of it. I think I need to get a job there. I just got two skeins of Plymouth Happy Feet and some bamboo #1 dpns. They were having a 20% off sale but anything with green or orange got 5% more for St. Patrick’s Day. Mine has some green in it.
Better than sex, I tell ya!