OK, what is this contraption? Experienced knitters will know the answer. For the rest of us, these are going to be socks. (At least that's the plan!) I started a sock making class yesterday and this is what I accomplished in an hour and a half. I had NO idea how to make socks and NO idea how fumbly and difficult they would be. Linda, my instructor, tells me that it will get easier and easier. They are made on 4 needles. Three needles hold the majority of the sock in progress and one is the working needle. You knit in the round, working from one needle to the next, making a tubular shape.

The sock yarn is very thin, almost like a thick thread, which complicates matters. It's kind of hard to see where you are going and it's hard to control the 2 needles that aren't "doing" anything while you work with the other 2 needles. Practice, practice, practice. My assignment is to get the cuff part finished by our next class. It will need to be something like 4" to 6", depending on my preference. It's about 1/4" long right now, so for me, that will mean many, many hours. You can begin to see the ribbing shape taking place. I was thinking that these would make great presents, but gee.......they are considerably more work than I ever expected. I'll still make some for gifts, (provided I can learn how to finish them), but I won't be turning them out as quickly as I had hoped. I'll post weekly progress reports!