[d] enclosed in brackets chaotic perfectionist for hire

Judy's Magic Cast-On seems to elude me.

It's not that I don't get it, it's just that I can't seem to get it to work the way I think it should. I searched for videos on it, and it's tough because I'm using DPNs instead of circular needles. The video below is the closest, but I still feel like I'm missing something.

Once I've done a few of the rows, I feel like it should be pulling together with the increases, but it still looks flat to me. Anyone care to offer advice?

I posted this on plurk, but wanted to open it up a little more.

Any suggestions on a 1st sock pattern...? I'd like to do toe-up, and have two skeins of Järbo Garn Mini Raggi and size 3 dpns (if that helps).

In looking around, I've seen a lot of different patterns. The part I'm stuck on (which is pretty much how things go for me) is the casting on for the socks. Do I use Judy's magic cast on? Or this one on wiseNeedle?

Once I've figured that out, I think I'm just going to do plain stockinette through to the heel and standard ribbing through to the top. They're for me anyway (my wonderful wife got the yarn and needles for me), so I thought I would start simple... and toe-up, unless there's a compelling reason to start cuff-down instead.

Now that I think about it, any suggestions for the pattern, cast-on, heel, or other parts would be greatly appreciated. I've heard that socks are an addictive project, but I'm willing to find out how true that is.

There's an Extreme Craft article about knit graffiti (which references the original AP story). Apparently, there's a group of people in Yellow Springs, Ohio who do this (among others, I'm sure), and there's a shot of one of the trees in town in the link. The picture to the left is from Flickr, by kelly__m.

From there I also found a link to Knitta:

Knitta began in August 2005, when the soon-to-be-Knittas were discussing their frustration over unfinished knitting projects: half-knitted sweaters and balls of yarn gathering dust. That afternoon, they knit their first door handle. Then it dawned on them… a tag crew of knitters, bombing the inner city with vibrant, stitched works of art, wrapped around everything from beer bottles on easy nights to public monuments and utility poles on more ambitious outings. With a mix of clandestine moves and gangsta rap — Knitta was born! Today, Knitta is a group of ladies of all ages, nationalities, and… gender.

Where to start...? There has to be a group around the Boston (or Southern NH) area for this. If anyone can find information on it, please let me know. I'm not sure how much I could contribute, but I'm willing to try.

After my last post about the beard hat, I realized that I didn't explain how I would go about getting one of these hats without forking out $135 for one.

About a year and a half ago, I started learning how to knit. For the one person out there who doesn't know, read up on knitting on Wikipedia (actually, there's some good stuff even if you *do* know about knitting). I had wanted to learn how for a while, and my mother-in-law taught me over vacation. She let me borrow some needles and bought me some "starter" yarn - now I have a few pairs of needles and some yarn of my own, but I would love to get a set of circular needles like the picture here.

So far the only "real" things I've made are a hat and a small scarf (pictures coming soon). The hat was made from a pattern (update: I found it), and was done up on size 8 US straight needles. It was going to be for my wife (K), but ended up being for my son. There's another hat in the works that'll be for K, and it should be done soon.

Next steps to getting that sweet, sweet hat going:

• Figure out the pattern (gonna get some help on that one)
• Get the right needles (circulars or straights?), probably around size 10 US
• Get some good yarn. I've seen some that would be perfect for it, but I have to find it again.

There's a ton of resources if you want to know how to knit, including geeky patterns, like the klein bottle hat and the DNA hat (the link I had is broken). You could ask me too, but I'm still pretty close to "just starting" as far as experience goes.

This isn't a Yet Another Signup post.

I joined Curbly a while ago, checked out a few things, and went on my way. It was a cool site, filled with people who do it themselves, from remodeling to construction to design, big and small. Since I'm in an apartment, I felt like I didn't have much to contribute.

Over the last month or so, I've gone back and started reading more, and commenting on the articles and posts there. It's a small community, but very active and willing to share. It's a welcoming place, and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get ideas or share their own with a group of people who like the DIY thing - interior design, home improvement, architecture, etc.