Said sock is actually finished; I just haven't taken a fresh picture of it. (A close-up of the lace is here.) Pattern is Waving Lace Socks by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Spring 2004; yarn is Lang Jawoll Color Superwash, in color 820164; needles were size 1, and I used the included reinforcing thread on the heel (at least until the instep) and toes. One skein was an almost perfect amount of yarn, with a smallish ball left over for any mending that may need to be done down the road.
I feel like I've reached a milestone. (Although I've really only reached half a milestone -- the sock needs a mate.) But it's the first time I stitched a heel, and it was magical to watch it all take shape. The more I do things like this, the more I feel that, if I shy away from a knitting technique I want to try because it intimidates me, I'm missing out on something important.
To borrow from my LiveJournal:
This is not to say that the experience has been without problems, oh, no. I had to unravel the sock completely at one stage (thankfully, very, very early in the process) and had to cast on (i.e., put the starting row of loops on the needles) a bunch of times before I was really happy. On more occasions than I care to remember, I grabbed not the stitch-free working needle from my hand, but one of the other needles that you see sticking out from the sock, and suddenly had one-fourth of my stitches flapping in the breeze, threatening to unravel. Many's the time I had to un-knit several rows to fix an error, and then un-knit several more because I took apart one of the more complex stitches incorrectly.
[The Beloved] asked me, at one point, "Why do you do things that frustrate you so much?" I reminded him of the fits he throws occasionally while playing video games. He fell silent. (The Mario Kart games? They cheat, horribly. So does his poker-simulation video game. At least, that's how he tells it. He's not at Phil Hellmuth level with his rants yet, but just you wait. :-) )
With this being my first pair, I'm not going to have much to say in response to the sock history questions posted by Lolly, the Socktoberfest host. But here goes ...
- When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?
Last month; self-taught. - What would you have done differently?
Grafted the toe a little better. It's a bit pointy, and probably not Kitchener-stitched right ... Cat Bordhi talks about slipping the stitches on each side to make a more tidy toe. Perhaps with the next sock, I'll plan to do that. - Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?
I used DPNs for these socks, but the next pair I'm contemplating is worked on two circs, a technique I've used for a couple of projects and which I like. Just waiting for the circs to arrive -- I ordered sets of sizes 0 and 1 for just that purpose, and I already own 2 sets of size 2.
My friend Liz has said, "Walk softly and make loud socks." Would this yarn do? (I am sorely tempted to get some, if she reopens the offer.) There's some other loudness in the sock stash, too. Pix forthcoming.
