Kuba Redux

Well I had to take a trip to the frog pond. The way my M1's were looking on Kuba was really bothering me. They were making a big hole where the increase was. I thought this may have been the way it was supposed to look, but I slowly began to realize that it should not look that way. The light bulb finally went off. I was making the M1 wrong. I thought I had been lifting the bar from front to back, but in fact, I actually was not. What I would do was lift the bar with the right needle (going front to back) and then place it on the left, but what this essentially ended up doing was making the left go from back to front. And even though I then knitted through the back loop, I was actually "untwisting" the increased stitch, leaving the hole.

So -- I ripppppped out all of my work and have now started over, knitting the M1's correctly this time. I've only finished the first two small triangles so I have a ways to go before I get back to where I was before I had ripped - at least 2 weeks worth of work. That's OK, though. I'm not up against any deadlines and I find knitting quite relaxing so having to do a "do over" suits me just fine.

The way I discovered my actual error was when I tried experimenting with my first toe-up sock. (By the way, the Turkish Cast-On is great for this). I was beginning the toe increases, using my M1 method and noticed the holes here, as well. I decided to take a closer look at what I was actually doing, and VOILA! the light bulb went off. I ripped out the toes (yes, toes as in more than one: I'm a 2 socks at once person) but have not restarted the toe-up socks. I'm not sure I like this method, although it may be that I am too used to the cuff-down method. Once I make some headway again on Kuba, I may try the toe-ups again.