Success?

All of a sudden, on Saint Patricks day, I realized that I’d hit the decreases for my second sock. Crazy! Here’s (finally!) a good shot of the color, with one row to go.

And a shot of the picot edge, lace ribbing, and the interlocking double diamond lace:

So, I finished, sewed in the ends, and dunked them. Since I don’t have sock blockers, here they are blocking on a towel:

I’m convinced that I should have used size 0 needles instead of 2s. I’d gone down a size from the recommended 3s, but it really wasn’t enough. Not only is the fabric loose, but they are quite large. They look like they would fit well over my slippers, instead of under them. I’ll have to assess once they’re dry. Is it possible to shrink things knit with sock yarn?

Haven’t I touched this already?

Woot! I’m done with the first sock, and all cast on for the second! Casting on took fortitude — the picot-like double-long-tail cast on was very, very tricky for me. The first sock took many do-overs and lots of concentration. The second only took two starts, but I’m still not sold on the edging for the amount of work, even if it is fussy and pretty. Now that I’m done the first sock and able to try it on for real, I’m wishing that I’d gone down a needle to 1s. The sock is very loose. It feels nice, but so delicate. These socks wouldn’t have much elasticity, so better too loose than too tight, but I think one needle size smaller would have been ideal. I’ll have to remember that if I buy the yard again.

This yarn came with a spool of reinforcing thread. This is only my second pair of socks, and I could see how that might be helpful, but it just seemed like way too big a pain to actually incorporate into my knitting. I’m not a spinner, and I’m not a “holding two threads together” sort. Now that I’ve started the second sock, though, I’m appreciating my reluctance. The two spools are not only completely different sizes, but totally different colors.

I’m glad I didn’t bother.

Now that I have one sock done in about three weeks, even if it has been my only knitting, I’m starting to get all sock-yarn-happy again. My knitting group had an exchange last spring, and I was essentially gifted some awesome Lorna’s Laces* (generally way outside my budget). Here it is cuddling with the completed sock.

Since socks actually seem to actually move along for me, I wonder if this is my next project waiting in the wings? 🙂

*(Kevin is deeply unimpressed by sock yarn, even Lorna’s Laces, and credited with the title quote for this post.)

Win some, lose some

The football viewing continues. Going into the weekend, we were both psyched — three teams in contention: the Eagles, Seahawks and Patriots. Despite our loyal viewing, however, the results weren’t stellar — only the Patriots made it through. 🙁

That aside, I had a lot of couch time, and made major progress on the sock. By mid-Saturday, it looked like this:

Can you see what that is? (Aside from the high-def football, now that Kevin has a new power source and his computer and media center are back up!)

It’s a heel turn!! A *major* mental victory, if not a real (sports) one.