Practice makes...

Well it makes ya nuts if you do the same 8-10 rows over and over...

Since I needed something new to totally waste time,  stimulate my mind, give me something to do until I unpack the sewing room - I stopped in a local knitting shop yesterday.

I've seen those cute knitted wash cloths and have read many a blog raving about those cozy knitted socks.  I have about a dozen socks that I love to wear during the winter... just your basic sportswear tan and olive green, hiking type, wool blend, sweat wicking, cushioned socks.  Nothing fancy... or cute - just warm.  So I thought it would be fun to try making a pair of socks and signed up for a January class. 

Since it would be nice to kinda look like I knew what I was doing I purchased a skein of Hemp/Cotton/Modal yarn, some tiny needles and received a free wash cloth pattern.  You see I had decided a washcloth would be a good place to start... and that's all I've been doing... Starting - over and over.

The pattern has you knit 2 rows, then there is a 8 row (knit & purl) pattern repeat... when those are done you repeat the 8 rows again until the item is the size you want and then you knit two rows again... easy right?  Right?  Nah... not so much - especially if you don't really know what you are doing.

I did check out some knitting videos... I found these very helpful to remind the 'girl scout' in me that learned to knit eons ago.  First I had to figure out whether I was a 'Continental' or 'English' knitter - who knew it mattered... seems that I'm 'English' as I hold the working yarn in my right hand.  Then I checked out the Casting On video... followed by the Knit and Purl videos. 

What I need to find is the "apparently I can't count' video, and the 'did I just drop a stitch' video which should be followed up with the 'why did I think that would fix it' video.

I've got the casting on down pat... I've done that 4 times now. 

Last night I got through 7 3/4 rows of the 8 row pattern before I screwed it up...  Then I got completely through the 8 row pattern and into the 2nd row of the repeat when I realized I had messed up something because I had one too many stitches??  Do I need to tell you that the yarn and needles are too tiny to try and take out a row and put anything back on the needles... so you end up having to start all over... again.  And Again!

But I've got too many things to do here to be wasting my time knitting... like touch up paint in the guest rooms so that I can seal those cans for storage... start the prep work for painting the master bedroom... wash off and store those 16 half-pint jars of Cran-Apple Butter that I canned on Monday (yeah they are still sitting on my kitchen table)... peel and process the last 12/15 lbs of apples in my refrigerator... repack into foodsaver bags and label the many pint containers of pumpkin puree, mashed cauliflower, apple pie mix in my freezer... cook or freeze those 10 lbs of chicken parts I purchased yesterday...

Not to mention the idea that my Grandson will be born in Hawaii sometime in the next couple weeks... is his quilt finished??? NO... is my sewing room unpacked... NOOOOO!

It's not like I didn't have enough to keep me busy... I don't need to be fussing with this knitting stuff...