I have recently finished knitting my first sock ever and I’m well under way on the second:
I had no immediate plans to knit a pair of socks, but I happened upon a Basic Sock Tutorial at Sweaterscapes.com and I decided it might be worth a try.
I suspected it wouldn’t be that difficult since I’d already successfully knitted a pair (or 12) of Knucks. Not that they’re the same, but some of the principles are similar at least. Anyway, the socks were easy enough.
I used the bamboo yarn I’d purchased in Japan:
I got about 100g each of 3 colors: the light blue you see here, a very light beige, and the rust colored brown which I used for the socks. My intention was to knit a scarf but now I think I will experiment with different sock designs using this same basic pattern. The bamboo yarn is very soft and while I probably wouldn’t wear the socks with shoes because of the thickness, it does make for a good pair of lounging socks.
Possum Yarn?
My mother-in-law and her friend Marie recently completed a 5-week long trip to New Zealand and stopped at our house on their way back to England. They mentioned the fantastic array of handcrafted items in New Zealand, and told me about a blend of possum-merino yarn which is apparently fantastically soft and luxurious.
I found a couple of online retailers for it, so I’m thinking I might have to try it.
Sewing a Re-useable Shopping Bag
The other day I happened upon this tutorial at U-handbag.com:
While I’m all for reusing grocery bags, another very good use of this bag is for travel. It would make a great fold-up bag to take with you to carry back all those wonderful souvenirs.
There are actually a lot of great handbag tutorials on this site, but my sewing skills are almost non-existent. I’ve been thinking about taking a sewing class for a long time though, so this might be the perfect excuse.
Holly – I love to sew (and knit) although my skills aren’t that great. But I think I’m going to try this bag. I’ll let you know how it turns out. I definitely think you should take a class! Oh – and Sears has some wonderful sewing machines, and they have a great service department! I LOVE my Kenmore machine!
We’re a big family fan of the ultra soft, fuzzy socks. They’re great for lounging, that is true. I think your socks turned out really great! Especially for a first time.
I’m a HUGE fan of alpacha yarn. It is so uber soft. We have a high-end yarn stor here in our town that I love.
I took a sewing class years ago and loved it. I learned so much from it! Sadly my machine croaked and I haven’t replaced it yet. I think you’d enjoy it a lot.