A whole lot of knitting over here!

Though I haven't been busy writing on my blog, I have been busy in life and knitting. I've been working like a madwoman on the baby toys.


It turns out I finished the elephant just in time for the baby to be born. As luck would have it, he was born on leap day (after 32 hours of labor, yowza!) Everyone is doing fine and if the pictures are to be believed, he's adorable.  I can't wait to meet the little guy. The elephant is pretty excited to meet him too!


I started the giraffe almost immediately after finishing the elephant. Let me tell you something, giraffes are much more fiddly than elephants to knit. Still adorable, just fiddly. You would think I would have known they would be, what with their long necks and spots... I admit, it's the spots that seem the most daunting to me. Ah well. It's a challenge I accepted!


The giraffe doesn't look like much now (in fact, I have one more leg than what the picture shows) but he's getting there.  Though it seems I've run into a little problem. I've come down with a case of startitis.  


Maybe that's not entirely accurate. I finished a pair of socks so that I could use the needles to start a new pair. That wasn't really my plan, but somehow it happened. I had a half-day of work on Friday and I sat down on the couch to relax for a bit. I didn't have anything in mind to watch when I came across the first season of Downton Abbey on Netflix. Six episodes (and hours) later, I had a completed pair of socks and a very numb butt! I just couldn't stop myself, I had to know what happens in the next epidsode!


The socks are made out of Malabrigo sock yarn in Solis and the pattern is Hermione's Everyday socks (rav link). I had to finish them because I couldn't get another pair off my mind. A friend of mine started a pair of toe-up socks in KnitPicks Felici sock yarn and they just looked awesome. I had a couple of skeins of it in my stash and they've been calling my name ever since I got them.


Last night I finally got around to starting them! I've knit toe-up socks many times before, usually by using the provisional cast-on method and knitting a short-row toe. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but last night I branched out a bit and tried something new with this pair. I have been a die-hard short row heel and toe sock knitter for years, but last night I tried Judy's Magic Cast on for the toe... my mind is official blown! What an awesome technique, I can't believe I didn't learn it sooner! I've just been too stuck in my ways. 


Not any more, look at how awesome it is! There is no seam on the inside when you're finished! It looks like, and essentially is, one continuous piece of knitted fabric. Some people are just too clever for words!


Discovering this method was a happy accident. What I really started these socks for was to try my hand at an afterthought heel. I had heard of this method before, but something about it piqued my interest now. It seems so wrong to cut into knitted fabric, but I'm going to throw caution to the wind and do it!

I have two skeins of this yarn and since I'm starting toe-up, I'm just going to knit one whole skein per sock and add the heel in later. There's nothing like learning a new technique that gets me all excited about knitting again! 


I only have-- I don't know-- miles to go before I get to try it!