I know, I know. I promised that there would be a new episode this Friday or even this weekend at the latest. Well, I've been spending quite a bit of time (read hours upon hours) trying to get this podcast into iTunes. I know you've read that I've succeeded, and that's true, but the video quality in iTunes is horrendous! I'm going to try a few things and see if that makes a difference. I'm not going to post my iTunes link until this issue is resolved. I do apologize for the weird random "spam" in my ravelry group under the "group news" since I'll be posting a few test videos to see how the quality is.

To make a long story short, because I've been spending so much time trying to get onto iTunes and now trying to get the videos to watchable quality, I haven't had a whole lot of knitting time. I'm trying to remedy that today by working on my Clarus shawl. I'm pretty determined to finish it asap. So I have plans to record on Monday and then again the next weekend.

In other news, I've been testing out an app I can use to blog and another I can take video podcasts from. I'm going to be away for a little while starting next weekend so I should be able to keep up blogging and maybe make a video or two while I'm away. No guarantees on the video since I probably won't have a lot of knitting time (except for there and back). So we'll see how this goes.

Anyways, I should probably get back to my knitting so I'll have something to show you Monday.

Happy Crafting,

That's right! You read it here first. after three days of work, frustration, migraines, and a few curses I have submitted the podcast to iTunes! This is great news for me because I can reach a larger audience on iTunes. This is also great news for you for a few reasons. 1. I now have time to work on my knitting so I will actually have something to talk about in my new episode. 2. More followers means more giveaways and contests 3. More followers also means google hangout knit nights! I'm super excited about this and think it should be a lot of fun. 4. More knitting and yarn talk! And who doesn't love more knitting and yarn in their lives?

I've also set up my twitter account @penguinsoupknit and connected it to my Facebook Page and there's the ravelry group that I mentioned in yesterday's post. I'm thinking about setting up an Instagram account for this as well.

Short post today. Just wanted to mention a few updates and share my success. I'm so excited about it.
Back to knitting and see you this weekend!

I am determined to get my podcast posted to iTunes somehow. I'm so determined that I've spent over 16 hours in two days trying to make it happen. I've also not been knitting because I'm trying to bring my videos to you in the most convenient way possible. 

Episode 2 from PenguinSoup on Vimeo.

Show Notes:
WIP(s):
Patterm: Large Clarus shawl by Laura Nelkin
Yarn: Knit Pick's Stroll Tonal in the Canopy colour way.
Needles: Knit Picks interchangeable Nickle plated in 4mm

Pattern: So Square Socks by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Alcaulcil
Needles: Knit Picks harmony double pointed needles in 2.5mm

Finished Object:
Blocked my Stripey Socks for my mom

Spinning:
Haunted Vineyard from Cloudlover
75% BFL 25% Silk

Review Something!
The Knitter issue 55
Knit Picks March 2012 Catalogue

Cool Stuff:
Leather notions box from Ethiopia
Truly Myrtle Box Bag Tutorial
BeaGin Design Stitch Makers

Segment Options:
Books I'm reading
Shows or Movies I'm watching

Welcome to Penguin Soup's very first video podcast! That's right, I finally sat down and recorded and after about five takes, I have a podcast to share with you. It's so very exciting.

Podcast1 Feb 15 from Virginia Dueck on Vimeo.


*Show notes will be finished later I wanted to get this posted as soon as possible*
Show notes:
W.I.P.s (Work in progress)

As a special request from my Aunt Laurie (Hi Aunt Laurie!.. and maybe Nana too!) I'm going to talk a bit about my favourite sock construction methods. I like to knit my socks from the toe up with an afterthought heel. I'll go into a bit of detail about each of these methods as well as a few alternate methods below.
Lets get to it.

The Socks:

• I wear a size 8.5 to a size 9 shoe. But my foot from heel to big toe is exactly 9".
•  At the gauge I knit, I'm always knitting the 64 sts size 
• I use  fingering weight yarn and size 2.5mm needles.
•  I prefer to use double pointed needles but also sometimes use the Magic Loop method which uses one large circular.

For my 9" foot, the breakdown is like this: 2" for my heel and .5" of negative ease so it will stretch a bit and be snug on my foot. So 9"(my total foot) minus half an inch (for negative ease) is eight and a half inches. You take the 8.5" and subtract the 2" for the heel and you get 6.5" so that's how long your sock needs to be before you insert the contrasting colour.

Here's the pattern I use for the Afterthought Heel method. It describes how to make socks from the top-down with an afterthought heel construction method. But it's easily converted to a toe-up construction. I'll go into everything in a bit more detail below.

Toes

I like to cast on 16 total stitches with Judy's Magic Cast on. Here a Photo Tutorial and here's a video tutorial:
I like to use this method of cast on because it creates really even stitches and you really can't tell that anything was done differently. It's really quite seamless.

Ok, so I cast on 8sts onto each needle for a total of 16sts. I then follow this:
Round 1: Knit1, KFB (knit through front and back loop), knit until two stitches are remaining, KFB, Knit1. Do this two times, once on each needle for a total of 4sts increased.
Repeat round 1 seven more times for a total of 40 stitches (20 stitches on each needle)
Round 2: Knit
Repeat rounds 1 and 2 until there are a total of 64 stitches (32 on each needle)
*Feel free to divide the stitches evenly on three or four needles when it gets hard to work on two*

Inserting the contrasting yarn and finishing
You would insert the contrasting yarn, then continue knitting the leg of your sock, do your ribbing and cast off and then come back and knit the sock. Here's a really good tutorial from The KnitGirllls.
.


Top-Down
You could also knit afterthought heel socks from the top-down. You would cast on 64 stitches. Knit your leg following your pattern or in just plain stockinette stitch until it's as long as you want or the pattern calls for. Then insert the contrasting yarn and knit five and a half inches and then start your toe decreases and then kitchener your toe together.

Alternate Top-Down Heel
This is the only heel I can stand as of right now when I knit a top down sock. The instruction start with the heel flap and work into the turn. They are from Melissa Morgan-Oakes' Toe-up two-at-a-time socks.





Happy Crafting,

As part of my new years resolutions I am going to try to blog weekly and since this is Sunday and I don't believe I have blogged yet this week, here I am! There's really not a lot of news to be had. The puppy is more settled in, which means there are less accidents on the floor and a lot less crying throughout the night, which is awesome. He still chews quite a bit and requires a lot of supervision but I've been able to catch up on Downton Abbey and work on my moms very late birthday present of some toe up socks. I've just started the heel on the first one and can't wait to be finished them! I haven't worked on my sweater since the last time you heard about it either.

What I have been doing is a lot of puppy training. I've watched youtube videos, read articles, spoken to friends and family, people at the pet store, and random others. I've realized that there are a lot of different ways to train a dog and there are a lot of people who feel that it is necessary for them to tell you which way is the right one. I've heard of parents complaining about this before, but I didn't think it was the same with dogs. We've decided to clicker train, which means we use positive reinforcement and don't scold or punish. We do use a positive interrupter noise which stops him from chewing or chasing the cat or what not, then we correct him by giving him the right thing to chew on or pointing him in the direction of the correct behaviour. He' been catching on really really quick and this works for us. But I've had so many people tell me that this is wrong and he will behave badly because we're not scolding him. That's their point of view and animal training methods have come a long way since those methods were used, but I keep my opinions to themselves since that's what works for them.

Anyways short rant, a big(ish) block of text for you this week. I'm really hoping to get some knitting done this week, and maybe finish those socks, and maybe maybe maybe do a video podcast. I really want to so we'll see.

Happy Crafting,