Trying New Things & Photos of Bubbles

One of the best things about knitting is that you could be doing it for a lifetime and still learn new tricks. We were studying these ancient Persian silk colorwork socks on the Stranded forum and I was wondering if back then they had some special tricks for adding additional colors (as seen on the foot) or doing intarsia in the round that knitters of today haven't discovered yet.

Here are a few new things I've tried recently.

1. PICKING UP HEEL STITCHES - Deb from the Sock Knitter's Anonymous Ravelry group posted this video of how to pick up gusset stitches on a sock. I already do the trick to avoid the hole at the gusset (occasionally - sometimes in a stranded sock it can make things look worse) but the way he picked up the heel stitches in the video was completely new to me. He did it from the reverse side of the heel and after trying it, I decided it does look neater than my previous method.

2. SOCK BLOCKING - I mentioned it before but blocking socks inside out on a sock blocker really does get rid of that crease you get when blocking them right side out. I think stranded socks might also dry a little faster because all the floats are front and center.

3. KNIT FRONT AND BACK INCREASE - From Neen on Ravelry I learned that you can do the knit in the front and back of a stitch increase without getting that noticeable and ugly purl bump. Start by knitting the stitch in the front then after you insert the right needle into the back of the stitch, DON'T WRAP the yarn around the needle, instead just pull the left needle out. Essentially you're not really knitting the back of the stitch but you're grabbing the back of the stitch instead. Her version of this increase looks so much better! Grab whatever you are currently knitting to try it and see.

Kollage Size 3.0 mm square dpns

4. SQUARE DPNS - I finally bought a set of Kollage square dpns. After spending half my life retrieving dpns that have rolled off a table, I was eager to buy a pair to test out. The most amazing thing about these needles is that stitches do not fall off the needles. I am using very slippery yarn for my current project and the stitches stay put. These are quite possibly the best needles for glove fingers ever invented! I wonder if they're hollow inside because they are lighter weight than I expected which is also a plus. On the down side, I don't find them as comfortable on my hands as my usual dpns (Inox/Prym dpns), I tend to knit even tighter with them if such a thing is possible, and I paid $12.50 a set at Webs which is pretty pricey. Still I will be buying a few more sizes though for occasional use with slippery yarns such as alpaca and for all future glove projects.

Bubbles and one of her 10 million beds

I just took some new photos of Bubbles. Speaking of really cute bunnies, check out the bunny in this story from the Santa Fe New Mexican. His name is Ruby and he has the most spectacular ears! Like the girl in the article, I'm also committed to adopting only white bunnies from now on due to their ridiculous lack of popularity. (One pet rabbit rescue even offers free veterinary care for life if you adopt a white bunny with the equally unpopular ruby-eyes.)  As it turns out Bubbles has one of the best personalities of any rabbit I've ever had and she's also the softest.



Bubbles couldn't wait until Easter to get started on her Easter basket full of basil. HAPPY EASTER!