Socks

I've come to the conclusion that I enjoy knitting socks but purely on an open based relationship that I've managed to keep with most of my knitting that requires to knitting anything in pairs. I say this because I'm a sufferer of SSS, the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome. It affects my mittens and wristwarmers production as well which should explain my eclectic style of hand-warming fashion where one day I may be donning a left hand with a lime green arm warmer with cables and the right with a self-striped reddish-brownish-purplish arm warmer with carefully trailing vines and leaf patterns. The closest I've ever gotten for some degree of consistency was for a good portion of my last winter spent wearing a pair of mittens in the same lime-green Homespun yarn done in the same exact styled pattern and would have been exactly alike in almost every way imaginable except for the fact that one was in an adult woman's size and the other in a much too small child's size. I could have taken the easy way out and explained this as a mistake on reading patterns when making the second but I was honest that I tried to knit a pair for myself and another for my new cousin and figured that if I swapped out into the different size then I'd have given myself a break to continue the other mitten in the other size. It didn't work quite as I had planned and so suffered that winter with one's mitten's ribbing barely covering over my wrist until I decided to knit up a mitten in a gorgeous soy-wool mix with a cute cabled cuff done all in white save for a self-patterned tip in pretty pinks and yellows. Now it just looks like I've bad taste in mittens when I pair up my lime-green Homespun mitten with my Soy Patons mitten.

In all my life I've only managed to finish two complete pairs of socks. One was my first so I had to stick it through. It was this gorgeous ruby-red wool yarn that my Aunt Kathy purchased for me ages ago for Christmas. I finished it up in Florida and was ecstatic to admire my first attempt at turning a heel none the less picking up stitches. The toe part on that sock was a little bit pointy because of how I bound off. My second one I at least hand my aunts there to correct me on how to do a proper kitchener stitch so that sock at least looks better. I still keep these ruby-red socks as my super-special socks just for pampering nights since they feel so decadent. Well, that and I don't want to throw them into the wash without fear of felting them so I only wear them once in a blue moon.

My second pair of finished socks actually was a pair I knitted from some Lion Brand self-patterning yarn. Once I had mastered the kitchener stitch I vowed to make a pair of socks that actually fit right but this one ended up a tad too tight (bah, my adventures with gauge) and not to mention that it's a pretty coarse socks to begin with because of the yarn. Pretty color overall and it's definitely machine-washable given its survived this many washes with little pilling but EGADS does it feel coarse! I alas have two more balls of Lion Brand sock yarn, one in a fugly red/blue/white/etc "Jellybean" pattern that I thought would be whimsical until I knitted it up and realized the patterning was atrocious. The other was a red/black/gray brick pattern that I *thought* would end up fugly but when knit up it actually turns out quite handsome. Goes to show you never to judge a self-patterning sock yarn until it's knit up.

Now currently I've finally decided to bite the bullet and finish the second pair to a sock I've put aside in February. I finished the first one in a week and a half (including time that I frogged and reknitted the thing). It's this knee-high stocking done in Sockotta self-patterning sock yarn. I ended up picking up two balls of the same color scheme because it looked so gorgeous in these earthy blues and greens. I figured that even if I only used one skein to knit a pair of knee highs or even if I dipped into the second skein a little bit then I'd have enough to knit a pair easily in just a normal pair of socks in addition to the lengthier version. In the very least I figured I'd have a pair of ankle socks, eh?

Anyway, I'm nearly finished with the upper calf part of the knee-high before I start working on the decreases. Between this and studying for the Praxis I've got at least something to keep myself preoccupied until then.