Well, I cast on and got through the cuff of my 1st sock ever, felt soooooo proud of myself because I did the 2x2 ribbing and didn’t mess up tooo bad. then I went back to the tutorial and checked to see what to do next. well, I had cast on the wrong amount of st for the yarn I was using. :!!!: Dissapointed, but still having some gusto to finish the sock, I went forward to the heel, turned the heel, went to the gusset. I have absolutely no farking idea what I did, but ended up with half the st on 3 needles and teh other half in la la no needle land. :?? I thought I was following the darn tutorial! :hair:
Ok, vent made short, I see all of you posting these gorgeous items and I try them and they come out… say… a bit on the side of fugly…am I the only one that has to say… “the more you try the better you get” and go through countless items of knitted things that are not actual things but something this side of yarn gone wrong?? :grrr:
Sooo sock frustrated
Mulderknitter- NO, you’re not the only one whose beginning knitting projects are turning out… let’s say… different than intended? I have no idea what to tell you about the sock- I just got brave and cast on my first sock last night and got through about 4 rows of ribbing before I was going totally nuts… so I set it down for the night.
Meanwhile I’m working on a shawl that has a 6-row repeat, only mine tends to be sometimes 4 rows, sometimes 8 rows… occasionally 5 rows, which makes the increase/decrease end up on the wrong side… UGH. But I’m getting through it… 
Carey
What I’ve found is that you need to make many mistakes as you learn how to knit something. However, once you make those mistakes once you never make them again because you will never forget when you made them the first time! 
I have given many of my more…interesting knitted objects to my stuffed animals. Many of them are decked out in crooked scarves, squashed caps, and socks which look like they have been chewed up and spat out. And these things actually look cute on stuffed animals! xxx
Rebecca
i totaly know how you feel! i am making my mom a scarf (this :!!!: pattern) and i have frogged it 3 times today… the farthest i got was the first row of the k2tog/yo’s…i was humming along when i realized i somehow lost a stitch. third time i somehow gained a stitch. :wall:
needless to say, the yarn is sitting alone, rethinking its situation, and contemplating wiether or not it really is funny to mess with me. :nails:
[size=2]bad, bad yarn[/size]
Picking up the stitches again after doing the heel is pretty tricky. I messed it up a few times before I finally got it right.
One trick I found that helped me was to use a small crochet hook to pull the yarn through the loop and then onto the needle. Much easier that way.
Best thing I can say is just keep trying, it does get easier, but don’t feel too bad. I just had to completely frog a sock the other night because I was too loopy on painkillers and valium. People on drugs shouldn’t knit socks. 
[size=6]I am knitting my first sock on 2 Circulars…I’m past the cuff too and saw a little boo-boo…so I frogged back and managed to get back on track. YIPPEE! You can do it! I have a friend that is an amazing knitter and she has taught me everything I know. Do you have someone that can take a look at it and help you?
I too, had trouble with that Feather and Fan Scarf…my friend told me to use a lifeline and that was my lifesaver…I finished it and it is so beautiful…I gave it to a really good friend of mine…don’t give up…you can do it!
Hang in there!
Merry :happydance: [/size]
Don’t worry! Try putting everything down, drinking a nice cup of tea, watching a movie (if you get TCM, An American in Paris is on now), and give the sock a rest. I’ve found that a break helps me figure out what’s going on with my project.
Um…gee…I think we can ALL identify with you!
Here’s my biggest mishap…
A purse for Amazon Woman. :teehee:
Hang in there…you’ll get it!!! 
[color=indigo]After knitting ten pairs of socks since the first part of February, I finally completely frogged the last one I’d already frogged in part at least half a dozen times and reswound the yarn into a nice ball and pitched it behind my bed. :grrr:
Then I calmly sat down and CO another sock with different yarn and a calmer spirit. :teehee: Sometimes it just takes awhile. Learning new things, whether it be knitting itself or learning feather and fan just plane require some frogging. A good knitter recently said within earshot, "If you don’t know how to frog, you don’t really know how to knit. 
[/color]
thank you for the encouragement…
Hang in there Mulderknitter! You may be able to fix your problem by simply moving your stitches around the needles. (You may have picked up the stitches just fine, but forgot to switch over to the next needle. ) Also, remember that since you are simply picking up stitches in the gusset area, if it doesn’t seem to work out, just back track (pull out the yarn from the gusset area and try picking up again.)
You can do this! 
I just cast-on last night (my first sock)…also my first time on DPN’s. I had to frog the whole thing (a whole row and a half) two times. I finally figured out what I’d done wrong, with the DPN’s and now I finished row 5.
Don’t feel bad, I don’t even know what a gusset is yet. In fact, I don’t know that I’m doing what I’m doing correclty, but it seems to look ok, so I’m going to continue. We’ll see what happens when I get to the heal 'n other stuff.
Not only am I trying my first sock, and have no idea what I’m doing, I’ve already decided to change the pattern. Yeah I know SUPER smart of me right. Yea, we see how that goes for me. :teehee:
You are in good company. My DH and everyone at my office is sick of hearing me talk about socks. I’m so determined to make them as gifts this year and they are determined to be the death of me. Now it’s personal :!!!: Hang in there
Don’t feel bad, I don’t even know what a gusset is yet. In fact, I don’t know that I’m doing what I’m doing correclty
I don’t know what a gusset is either, but I thought I was working on that part :shrug:
I have to admit I threw the whole darn thing out last night. i was way too frustrated and had frogged so many times I didn’t even think the yarn would work right :grrr: Left the whole thing alone and I think I might try to cast on again tonight.
thanks for all the encouragement Nice to know that you don’t know how to knit if you don’t know how to frog!
[size=6][size=18]Mulderknitter,
I am just starting to knit my first pair of socks on 2 Circulars. I’m not sure what kind of yarn you’re using or what size needles you’re using. But my friend is having me learn socks on Cascade 220 with size 6 needles…just to get the experience and the concepts down. I would be so frustrated if I was trying to work with a size 1 or 2 needle and that microscopic sock yarn…LOL!
I will eventually get to that level of sock knitting, but for now, I’m doing this.
We are making children’s socks for an orphanage in Russia where the children actually wear them for shoes…that’s why it doesn’t matter if it’s wool and felts a little!
Don’t give up…set it aside and pick it up another day!
Merry :happydance: :happydance: :happydance:[/size]
Ooh I have been there, believe me. I have only knitted 2 pairs over the past year. I started my third pair back in October and they aren’t done.
When you first start the cuff it can be a little stressful. Sometimes you just have to put it away and work on something else. I did that many times and it helped a lot.
I finally conquered my fear of picking up the stitches for the gussett. After watching Amy’s videos over and over again it finally clicked!
Just give yourself time, it will happen.
I found this sock diagram posted by Beldaraan on the site: http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/forum/viewtopic.php?t=180&highlight=sock+diagram
The first time I picked up stitches on a gusset, I was following the very detailed, step-by-step directions in the “sensational knitted socks” book. Although it didn’t exactly make sense, I followed Ingrid’s advice of “just trust the pattern” and VOILA! It worked :cheering: I found the hardest part to be understanding how to rearrange the stitches on the needles so that the pattern stays on the top of the foot.
After making your heal flap and turn, you need to get your knitting back in a circle so you can continue with the foot - thus, picking up the stitches on the gusset. Sock construction is facinating to me! I have plans to start a mobius next, but you are making me think of casting on a sock tonight!
It happens to the best of us, My first sock I frogged 1x, my 3rd sock I frogged :teehee: 4x.
Maybe you should take a one day break from the sock, and come back with a fresh mind.
Also what I find that is helpful is little sticky notes to place on what line I am working on.
I dread trying to fix any problem on a sock (using sock yarn) - the stitches are sooooo tiny that I can never get them picked up again. I have recently been using Cat Bordhi’s book to learn socks on 2 circs ( size 1 needles) – I did the several inches of k1/p1 ribbing (which took FOREVER), had a problem on the first pattern row, couldn’t get the stitches on right and ended up tossing it in the garbage. The yarn was fraying so badly that I figured it wasn’t worth saving. Maybe I’ll dive into that pattern again (columbine peaks pattern).
What would be a good first “pattern” sock to try? I’ve done rib and stockinette but wouldn’t mind trying a simple pattern.