12/19/19: I was putting these socks on this morning and ripped a hole in one of them: right next to where I repaired the heel blow out.

I’m going to try to mend it. I love these socks too much to give up on them.

4/3/11: Damn, damn, damn. For the second time in a week, I blew out a heel in a pair of hand knit socks and it was one of these socks. I LOVE these socks and am so bummed.

I think the heel blow outs are caused by the socks being knit too tight.

Lesson learned.

5/1/09: I cast off the second sock today and THEY FIT!!! Yay!! I really like these socks.

The updated details for these socks are:

• CO 6 (with 2.5mm needle)
• Increase to 64
• The foot is 7.5” long (from the tip of the toe). This took nine pattern repeats.
• The heel flap is ~2” long.
• One heel is eye of partridge and one is a slip stitch heel. I prefer the slip stitch heel.
• After decreasing the gusset, switch to 3.0mm needles.
• Each leg has eight pattern repeats.
• The cuffs are 2x2 ribbing and approximately 2” long.
• I used the sewn bind off for the second time and love it!

When I reknit these socks I took out two pattern repeats on the leg and decreased the length of the ribbing. I really like how long the socks came out. They’re long enough to keep me warm, but not too long (I don’t like super long socks).

The one thing I will change on my next Monkeys (and there will be more!) is to knit some plain stockinette for a few rows after the toe increases are finished. I have freaky angled toes and the pattern looks kind of wonky around my toes. I think putting a buffer of stockinette in before the pattern begins would make this pattern look even better.

As always, I LOVE this yarn. It’s not splitty, the skein size is generous and I just love knitting with it.

4/27/09: Tonight I finished frogging and started the second leg while watching Secrets (kind of weird, but a good movie).

4/26/09: I finished the first sock tonight and it fits!!! I really like it.

I knit 2” of ribbing and did the sewn bind off. I also started frogging the second sock tonight.

4/25/09: Today and tonight I finished the leg (eight repeats) and started the 2x2 ribbing.

I knit today while watching 20/20 (twisted murder story!), Stealing Lincoln’s Body (fascinating), Chuck Jones: Memories of Childhood (what a charming man), and Pygmalion (so much better than My Fair Lady!).

4/24/09: I was finally able to look at these socks tonight.

I frogged back the first sock and began reknitting it while watching Humoresque (very good) and Possessed (spectacular!!).

The Monkey pattern on the new part of the leg isn’t lined up with the Monkey pattern on the foot, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to fiddle with it and get it perfect. I just want these socks to fit.

3/30/09: ACK!!!!

The feet of these socks fit perfectly.

The leg won’t go past my heel because there is NO stretch to the pattern.

I’m going to have to rip back both legs and reknit them with a larger needle.

Dammit.

For now, these socks are sitting in the corner and thinking about what they’ve done.

I knit the sock on a 2.5mm needle. I’m going to go up to 3.0mm for the sock leg on the second try.

3/29/09: I finished the socks tonight while watching The Amazing Race and the last hour or so of Sabrina. I have 5g of yarn leftover.

As always, this yarn was a complete joy to work with. It is not splitty, the colors are gorgeous and the skein size is generous.

I prefer this pattern to the original Monkey pattern. I think it looks better and it is more fun to knit.

Details of these socks are:

• CO 6
• Increase to 64
• The foot is 7.5” long (from the tip of the toe). This took nine pattern repeats.
• The heel flap is ~2” long.
• One heel is eye of partridge and one is a slip stitch heel. I prefer the slip stitch heel.
• Each leg has ten pattern repeats.
• The cuffs are 2x2 ribbing and approximately 3.25” long.
• I used the sewn bind off for the second time and love it!

The photoshoot will be in the morning.

3/28/09: I finished the pattern on the second leg (also ten repeats) and started the 2x2 ribbing while talking, eating and knitting with Felicia today.

This evening I knit a little over 3” of the ribbing while watching The Purchase Price (a nice pre-code movie: you can’t go wrong with Barbara Stanwyck and George Brent!).

I was going to finish these socks tonight but I’m too tired.

Tomorrow.

3/27/09: I knit a few more patterns on the second sock while watching more of the figure skating.

3/26/09: I finished up the pattern part of the first sock leg while watching two episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, two episodes of ER and the men’s free portion of the World Figure Skating Championships.

I knit ten repeats on the leg before starting 2x2 ribbing.

3/25/09: I knit a few more repeats on one sock while watching the World Figure Skating Championships (pairs free), the last half of the final episode of MASH and part of Titanic: How It Really Sank.

3/24/09: I knit a few repeats on one sock tonight while watching Wild Boys Of The Road and Other Men’s Women (two thoroughly entertaining pre-code movies!).

3/22/09: I started and completed the second gusset tonight while watching A Place In The Sun (excellent) and an episode of Frasier.

3/21/09: I knit one more repeat on the first sock while watching the end of The Lincoln Assassination.

3/20/09: I finally picked up this sock again. I keep getting distracted by my other socks that are on the needles. I’m like a freakin’ Magpie (oh, shiny, must play with!).

I watched the last hour of The Corn Is Green tonight while finishing the first gusset decrease.

I’ve heard people rave about this movie as Bette Davis’ masterpiece, but I just wasn’t that into the movie. The plot of the movie just didn’t interest me and her performance was good, but nothing special.

I knit an eye of partridge heel on the first sock. I’ve done this heel before (and love it), but this one went off the rails at some point and never came back. It doesn’t look bad, just not that great. I’m going to do a regular slipped stitch heel on the second sock.

I did a couple of repeats on this first sock leg while watching the first hour of The Lincoln Assassination. So far, it’s excellent and is closely following the book I’m reading: Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase For Lincoln’s Killer.

3/11/09: I turned both heels and started the first gusset while catching up on four episodes of ER.

3/10/09: This afternoon I finished the second foot while watching Boys Town.

Each foot is nine repeats and ~7.5” long.

This evening I knit both heel flaps while watching Day Of Fire: Civil War and Cheers For Miss Bishop (fantastic movie!).

Each heel flap is ~2” long.

3/9/09: I knit two repeats tonight while watching the season premiere of Dancing With The Stars, The Rachel Maddow Show and The Daily Show.

3/8/09: I knit two repeats tonights while watching Desperate Housewives and while processing pictures.

3/2/09: Tonight I finished the foot of the first sock and started the foot of the second sock while watching The Philadelphia Story and It Happened One Night (two of my all time favorite movies).

The foot is 7.5” long.

2/28/09: This morning and this afternoon I knit another repeat on the first sock and cast on and completed the toe on the second sock while eating and gabbing with Felicia.

This evening I knit two more repeats while watching No Sad Songs For Me (my gosh: what a horribly melodramatic film!!).

2/27/09: This afternoon I knit another repeat while watching The Real Abraham Lincoln and then I tried the sock on.

It fit, but if it stretches out at all, it will be too big. I also compared it to my perfectly fitting socks and it’s definitely bigger than them. So, I’m ripping again.

Since these needles (2.75mm) are too big, I’m going down to 2.50mm. Since 2.25mm was too small and 2.75mm was too big, I’m really hoping that means 2.50mm will be perfect.

Despite all the ripping, I’m still very happy with these socks. This pattern is perfect for showing off the yarn and the pattern knits up insanely fast. It’s also fun and not distracting while watching TV/movies.

This evening I switched to 2.50mm needles and cast on 6 and increased to 64 while watching the end of The Real Abraham Lincoln (surprisingly, for the National Geographic Channel, this documentary was not very good: it left out important facts (like the state of the Lincoln marriage) and had horrible editing) and The Rachel Maddow Show.

While watching The Public Enemy (I wanted to like it, but I just didn’t) I knit three repeats of the pattern. I think this is going to fit perfectly, but am going to do a couple more repeats before I deem this the perfect needle size.

2/26/09: This afternoon I finished the first toe and knit the entire second toe while watching Madame Curie (very good and I learned a lot).

For each sock, I cast on 6 and increased to 72.

This evening while watching The Picture of Dorian Gray I realized that I didn’t like the ribbing pattern that I chose. It’s not doing this yarn justice at all. I found a pattern I want to use, but my current needle size (2.25mm) is too small. So, I’m ripping out and reknitting a toe with the larger needle size (2.75mm). If this fits the pattern I’ve chosen, that’s what I will knit.

I finished the first toe just as The Picture of Dorian Gray was ending (creepy movie, but very good!). I cast on 6 and increased to 64. I’m going to do a pattern repeat or two to make sure this pattern is working before I cast on the second sock.

I knit three pattern repeats while watching An American In Paris (love this movie!). The yarn looks great with this pattern and I think it’s going to fit. So far, it’s not quite as tight as I usually like my socks, but I’m going to knit a bit more before I decide whether to rip or keep going.

2/25/08: I started the toe of the first sock tonight while watching The Story Of Louis Pasteur (interesting).