Season 8 of The Biggest Loser begins tonight at 8:00! I'm excited because the previews look really good. There are always changes and sometimes new themes from season to season. This season focuses on second chances. Sounds like nothing new considering that's what the show is all about, but this season looks really positive. A former contestant returns and there's a contestant there who lost her husband and two kids in a car accident. It looks like the entire group meets together to introduce themselves, and they train with both Bob and Jillian rather than against each other in two separate teams. Can't wait to see it all start tonight!
On the knitting front, I've frogged and restarted Jared's lattice stitch socks since last posting. The unevenness of the stitch pattern from switching back and forth between knitting styles, and forgetting and not being able to see where I was (hello: black yarn) which resulted in errors caused me to start over. In starting over, I discovered that I'd gotten better at casting on 2aat cuff down. Knitting in one style, Continental Combined, has worked well with the purl stitches of the lattice stitch pattern. Something else I changed was to alternate Longtail CO with German Twisted CO (for the purls in my 1x1 rib). The CO edge looks entirely like longtail but will have some extra stretch from the hidden German Twisted CO stitches.
I have to mention the specifics on how I CO 2aat magic loop if it helps anyone else having trouble. I do the method where you CO all of Sock 2 followed by half of Sock 1, then the second half of Sock 1. Instead of pulling out the loop right away after CO all of Sock 2, I wait until I actually get to that sock on the 1st round so that I don't have to stress out over stitches twisting. After transferring Sock 1's stitches to the other side and facing the front side of those transferred stitches and holding the tail and working yarn, I turn the work around so that my left hand is ready to CO the second half of Sock 1 onto the same needle that holds Sock 2's CO stitches. The reason I CO Sock 2 first is so that when I turn my work around to begin the first round, my two working yarn strands coming from my single Ziploc bag aren't twisted in the home/starting position. Waiting to pull the loop out and knowing how to twist the tail and working yarn to CO the second half of Sock 1 made a BIG difference for me (less stress!). The same two principles could be applied to the other method where you CO half of Sock 1 first, CO all of Sock 2, and then finish CO the second half of Sock 1. I'm now seeing the appeal of why knitters might want to CO all stitches for both socks at once and pull out the loop for both so that your home position is in middle between the two socks. :-) You could hold off on pulling out the loop on Sock 2 with this method until you get to that sock on the first round.
Speaking of CO magic loop 2aat, I also read something I want to try for toe-up socks. Toe-up 2aat CO is super easy, but the increases at the beginning of side 2 for magic loopers can look crappy because of the cable separation. Some Ravelers suggested working each toe separately until the toe increases are done, then put both socks on the same needle. Sounds good to me! I'm going to do that on my next pair of toe-ups.
I also wanted to blog about a recent park visit but will wait until next time since this post is already long enough!
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