Heel Turn!

Love this yarn!  Love Queen Kahuna's sock methods!

Heel Turns on the road ~

While out running errands today, I was able to complete one of the heel turns on my youngest daughters socks. Her birthday in July, so I should have plenty of time to finish these, right? Heel turns used to make me a bit nervous, and I would need to have total quiet so I could work through the Queen Kahuna directions and be sure to get all the markers in the correct location.

Now I can do a heel turn in the car, during a road trip, as long as I have the directions and my little bag of colored markers. Practice, practice, practice!  Hurrah for turned heels, and on to the leg/cuff pattern!

Hallelujah Heels ~

I stayed up until after midnight last night, knitting squares..... finishing all that were left of those "given" to me by the ladies that couldn't finish their own squares.  At last count, I started with 10 squares, received 15 more, then received 6 from Geri, and then 3 from Kathy the greeter...so I think that adds up to 34.... at about an hour for each square.... I am glad I was able to finish so many, and I do hope the raffle will get a lot of donations for the kids' mission trip.......

 

and now I am VERY excited to have started to knit the first heel on these lovely zebra socks..."Zebra" is the color of the Claudia Hand Paints yarn, and I love the twist and the colors.  As you can see from all these rubber bands, I am using the Queen Kahuna method which is a "cannot fail" method that I have loved for a long time....Hurrah to be done with the squares and Hallelujah to be knitting on socks!!!!

Hazel's Heels ~

This weekend was great for knitting, as I made it through one of Hazel's heels on Saturday...and the other heel turned on Sunday.They are looking beautiful, and I'm looking for a good pattern for the cuff. Hazel Knits is the best yarn!All the rubber bands are the methods of Queen Kahuna's heel turns......works perfect every time!

Track Star Birthday ~

The Track Star socks are finished ~ Hurrah! In time for the Track Star's Birthday! Hurrah!!Here is the beautiful heel, right from Queen Kahuna! Hurrah!!Here's to being at Sock Summit now, getting more sock yarn!!!HURRAH!!!!! Hurrah!!!! HURRAH!!!!!

Road trip knitting too ~

Day two of our road trip, and we are still heading south. I'm still making progress on my Track Star socks, but wondering why I thought knitting the heels in the car is really the best road trip knitting. I had the instructions on my lap, in case I became lost on the heel turn, plus I had all the stitch markers (two colors to help with the heel turn instructions) clipped into a big pin so I wouldn't lose them in the car.I did finish the second heel turn, without losing markers or getting lost in the pattern. Hurrah! Perhaps on the way home I'll be knitting on the cuff...so I won't need instructions or stitch markers...true road trip knitting!!

Road trip knitting ~

My sister and I started a road trip, heading for a long weekend away. I've packed many knitting projects in the hopes of knitting a few rounds on all of them.The project for the road trip piece is the Track Star socks, and I had the first heel turned by the time we turned the lights out at our motel for the evening. Pictured here on my Queen Kahuna book on sock knitting - the best sock knitting resource I have! Turning a heel by the first night is a great start to the road trip!

Mum's heels ~

Finally finished turning the heels on mum's Christmas socks. I need to memorize the heel turn pattern, as I am tied to the Queen Kahuna book step~by~step for the wonderful gap free heel turn.

Next I'll do my Birthday sock heels!

Fine time for heels ~

I have been waiting to find time to turn the heels on my lovely alpaca-silk socks. I cast on this socks during the Sock Summit, although I'd purchased the yarn the year before. The yarn is lovely, and I've wanted to turn the heels for weeks, but couldn't find the time to sit with my Queen Kahuna book to knit the no-fail heel.


Today I did - once the car wash preparations were complete (and successful) I had the afternoon of Father's Day to finish turning the heels.


It feels so good to be on the next step of these socks!
~~

Back to Birthday Socks ~

I am glad to be working on my Birthday Socks (2009) again, as I need to turn the heel on my alpaca socks...so that will take some concentration and checking with my Queen Kahuna instructions...so I have my Birthday Socks in the car as my "mindless knitting" project while waiting in line, or car trips... the yarn is the amazing Tropicana Claudia Handpaints that I scored at the Sock Summit. Also, this yarn is currently on sale at Webs....SCORE!!!


Even if JitteryKnitter does not LOVE this color, I think it is such a happy and wonderful color, plus the yarn is so soft and the twist is great. Double thumbs up for Claudia Handpaints!



Hurrah!
~~~~

Heel Turn #1 ~

What a difference it makes to have some uninterrupted time for knitting! (yes, you ask, what is that like these days?) I was able to turn the first heel on sweetie E's sock summit socks while relaxing in front of the Christmas tree last night.



Although the Christmas tree has 'only' lights on it ~ no decorations ~ I decided to relax anyway, as 'tis the season for Joy Joy Joy.....and I needed a bit of knitting time for my Joy!

The netting you see is the 'yarn bra' that keeps the yarn from tangling with the other ball ~ while I'm knitting one heel turn, the other ball is put in the other sock to keep it out of the way, another tip from Queen Kahuna! I hope you are taking some time for knitting joy this holiday season!

Heel Turn Time ~

I'm finally getting to knit on sweetie E's Sock Summit socks. I've started knitting on the first heel turn and all is going well. How wonderful to be working on a little project after having mum's large blanket in my lap for all those weeks. I'm sure I will miss the blanket when the house gets cold!

Here's the heel turn beginning! You can see my Queen Kahuna book on my lap for reference...

Super deluxe to have more knitting projects! Never a dull knitting moment!

Sock Summit heel turns ~

Wow ~ I've reached the heel turn on my Sock Summit socks and they are looking so beautiful! I use the Queen Kahuna method for heel turns, and they work perfect every time.

This yarn is so pretty!

I wonder what stitch pattern I should use for the leg & cuff, as the yarn colors are so busy....what stitch pattern would show up?

Sock Summit Socks ~

I've made a bit of progress on my Sock Summit socks, although I spent the weekend working on sweet E's pair (Laughing Rat Supernova.... I like that name a lot). My pair are beautiful, and have a different toe than sweet E's, as her pair has side increases in the toe, and my pair has the fan toe of Queen Kahuna. Both toe techniques are beautiful and both functional.


My Sock Summit sock yarn is from Apple Laine called Funny Lady (not Crazy Lady...) and it is a beautiful yarn with a twist like my beloved Jitterbug yarn.

The color changes are in short repeats and the color tones are amazing...

Turning Point ~

Yippee! The tofutsies' heels are turned, thanks to some effort from me and the wisdom of Queen Kahuna. She has the greatest directions EVER and the heels (and the gussets and all the sock parts) turn out error free when using the Queen's methods. I highly recommend trying the Queen...

Now I have to figure out if I want a pattern on my sock cuffs, or if I should just knit knit knit until its time for the ribbing at the top....

Time for heel turn ~

Finally, it is time for the heel turn on these tofutsies. For some reason, this yarn is not as fun to work with as I would like. I love the colors, however the yarn is like string. Not really as soft and tactile as I like to knit with, so I am not magnetized to keep working on these socks so I can continue to feel the soft and luscious yarn. After talking with my friend from kindergarten, Deb, she said, "Just keep knitting on them" and she's just finished a beautiful pair of tofutsie socks as well... so I'm going to keep knitting on them, and perhaps I have them done by Sock Summit in August....but, no guarantees.....

Deb is also a big fan of Queen Kahuna sock construction.

Inspired by Ms M's Socks ~

Oddly enough, on Friday I was ever~so~close to knitting at work. Ms M was working on a pair of wee socks out of Cascade Fixation for sweet Sawyer. She was having trouble with the wrap & turn of the heel, as the pattern wasn't written clearly. On our lunch break, we went outside to the picnic table, under the sun umbrella and she knit while I read the directions. It was a great break, as really felt like we were getting out of the office and into a relaxing place. Ms M figured it out immediately, as she is incredibly bright in all these ways, including figuring out knitting techniques (I wished I had taken a video of how she knit the wee heel turn as it was something great to watch). I pondered heel turns for the rest of the work day, and pulled out my Tofutsies when I arrived home. I figured out that I stopped at the beginning of the gusset, so I pulled out my dearly loved Queen Kahuna book and started the gusset...

We call this Preparation for the Sock Summit

Amazing Jitterbug ~

After casting on last June, the Jitterbug socks are done! Eight months for a beautiful pair of socks ~ I love the yarn, even with the pooling. I did a slip stitch to limit the pooling, but still had a fair amount on the feet. I made them using Queen Kahuna's patterns, and her great crochet cast off.
P.S. these are my first "2009 Resolution" completed!!

Aren't they stunning!!!!!

Check out how much yarn I have left... pretty close calculation, eh? (yup, about 8 inches)

First Heel ~

I am back to my Jitterbug socks, and forcing myself to get through the heel turns instead of casting on a new "quickie" project (like another hat) so here is the first heel turn ~ finally!!! It looks beautiful, and so easy using Queen Kahuna's book. How people can knit socks "quickly" amazes me... as it seems to take me lots longer for knitting socks!

Three is a charm ~ really

Thanks to Queen Kahuna and her Crazy Toes & Heels book for the perfect cast off for these Monkey Socks. She calls it the Aloha Cast off and it includes a crochet hook. Her Aloha Cast Off makes a wonderfully elastic cuff and just what I needed to finish the Monkey Socks, and I still like the alpaca silk ~ a bonus!!!! I highly recommend checking out this self published book. I first saw it at our library, and then realized that all the pictures and descriptions were exactly what I needed to successfully knit socks!