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,

Last week my goal for Today was to publish my first video podcast. The sudden addition of a very tiny and leaky crocodile has postponed that for now. My new goal for a video podcast is for Friday. I'm just worried there won't be a whole lot to talk about knitting wise because there hasn't been a lot of time to knit.

Yesterday was a complete disaster training wise. He refused to use the training pads and decided that the new rug was the best bathroom. He also decided that my Macbook power cable was the best chew toy possible. He nibbles like a crocodile and dribbles like a leaky faucet! I understand that puppies are puppies and they are teething and can't hold it and don't know better and a number of other things, but I also had to wonder if I was doing something wrong.


I read many many pages on obedience training online and received numerous other instructions from friends and family. As I tried to take it all in while I attempted to tame the wild beast (of fluff) I came to a realization, which may have happened around the 4th or 5th piddle on the floor. I realized that I had to assess my own situation and decide which methods would work best for us. And this has been a success!

Since making my own decisions on puppy training methods we have yet to have an accident in the house or destroy anything that wasn't his own toy. We've got baby gates installed in the kitchen so he can run around freely in there while I get things done like cleaning the kitchen and folding the laundry (which is impossible with a puppy trying to steal your socks). We've started taking him outside to use the bathroom and he seems to enjoy it, even though I sure don't, brr!

I've also been able to get some knitting done today. He had a busy morning of playing in the snow, eating some breakfast, and trying to get the peanut butter out of the middle of his bone. He's finally having a little puppy nap so I can finally get some work done on my stripy socks for my mom's belated birthday gift. They're already 13 days late because I've been distracted with parties and sweaters and now puppies.

Now my battery is running low and I should probably go dig out the other power cable so I will leave you with this picture of adorableness.

I'm really sorry for the last few blog posts without pictures. Things have gotten busy (don't ask which, I don't want to come up with something), ideas have been floating around, and puppies are in the air! That's right. I somehow convinced the Mr. to come see a puppy with me today. He's a three month old mini Australian shepherd/pomeranian cross. He has one blue eye and one brown and was born on Halloween. He is the perfect dog for us! And I knew that if I could convince the Mr. to come see him, then that was it, the battle was won and we were getting a puppy!

I'm picking him up in an hour and am pretty excited. I just wanted to give you a quick update and not leave you hanging. There will be pictures in my next post and most likely of my new puppy.

P.S. We need a name for him. We want something nerdy and possibly video game related or something nerdy that has to do with his two different coloured eyes. I know it's hard to name so here's a picture the owners took.














It doesn't count as a blog with a picture because I didn't take that picture.
What do you think?

I've been toying with the idea of starting a podcast, but since I don't really have any followers here and it could be a lot of effort,  I'm not sure if that's something that makes sense for me. I think it would be fun, and it might be worth it even if just my mom or other family members watched it, but they just aren't interested in wool like I am.

If I do decided to do a podcast and post it to a website, should it be this website or a sister website? Any comments or ideas would be really appreciated!