Adventures in Sock Construction and Candle Making

Yesterday, I knit my first sock. I am very, very proud of myself. ::ms. ann does the happy dance::

I knitted my first practice sock on some crappy, squeaky cheap worsted weight acrylic yarn with dpn's (d0uble pointed needles), but the damn thing fit and the only thing I have to watch when I do the real deal is the ribbing. I totally got the turning of the heel and shaping the gusset and didn't have to frog anything. Of course, this sock is this pukey shade of heather green, it makes my foot sweat, the yarn is so cheap, the ankle cuff is loose, and it has no mate, but, like I said, I am proud of the damned thing. :)

I am jonesing to do other things to break up the monotony of the Dr. Who scarf. I think I want to make a winter hat for my son. I was thinking of doing either the "Hot Head" hat from the first Stitch n Bitch book or the other hats from SnB Nation.

Today, I made my first candles. Last weekend, I purchased a "starter kit" which contained 1 pound of palm wax, scent, dye, a pouring pitcher, three votive molds, nine votive wicks (all primed), and a thermometer. I also went to Goodwill and scored myself a used double boiler (for melting wax), some used metal utensils, and I found some nifty looking tins that could potentially be used for container candles at a later date.

The candles, I will say, were crap. They're hard, and they look all crystallized, and they only burn down the middle. I followed the directions exactly, but when I looked at my supplies vs. the instructions provided, they gave me enough dye and scent (which doesn't smell like much of anything), for 8lbs of wax. The dye and the scent are divided in to four squares, one square being for 2 lbs of wax. The instructions called out to use 1 square of dye/1 square of scent. So I ended up using twice the amount of dye and scent than I needed. The instructions said that the "kit" only had one square each of dye and scent. Next time I do this, I will buy a block of wax, my own dye, and my own scent. I also want to try gel candles.

I have a Flickr account where I will be posting my own pictures of the various things I've made. I suppose I should upgrade to the paid account and then I can have as many pictures as I want and organize them.

Later. I have to get to bed now.