Finish by 17th January for posting!
Done by the 15th.
Took lots of pictures to experiment with home made sock blockers (from here) and trying to get good shots of the socks on my feet, plus close up of the detail, seeing as it gets a little bit lost in the stripes! Next time I promise I’ll take the washing off the line before taking pictures… First time using striping sock yarn, first socks done in fingering weight, first socks completed toe up. Lots of firsts!

Skein was underweight: 94g

Hrm, I need to learn to read through the whole pattern…ripped out the first half of a perfectly good toe because I started doing the increases for the M size rather than the large because I didn’t see the other instructions…

December 6: Lots of false starts. Have learned not to use black scrap yarn for the provisional cast on if using dark working yarn, as it is impossible to unpick without losing stitches (unless you have good light, perfect eyes and aren’t tired). Now I’m finally on to the pattern area of the foot, pretty sure I won’t have them done by Christmas but I’m willing to be surprised!

I’ve decided I’m going to do different decreases - k2tog on the left of the leaf, ssk on the right of the leaf - make them slant together better. Still k3tog on the top of the leaf.

January 5: Finished the first sock on the 20th of December, second one cast on January 3… I had a fair bit of a break between them, kind of lost heart for a bit after I never got them done in time for Christmas. But I’m on the second sock, and reversing the chart so the patterns are mirrored. I cast off using the bind off recommended in the pattern, but I really don’t think socks for me or mum need the extra stretch - our legs are thin enough for my regular cast off (or at least mine are, and mum’s aren’t much bigger).

January 8: Worked out that, at least for these socks, I prefer the method of picking up and working wraps as documented in the Universal Toe Up Sock Formula - seems to suit my style of knitting best.

January 10: Finally on the home straight - did the heel yesterday, got the ribbing set up. One more repeat of the leaf panel (currently only 5 rows into it), then the final panel plus 8 rows ribbing. Then block and post! Definitely finding the heel way too pointy - I think it decreases too far (9 sts left unwrapped is too few as far as I can tell). Not sure how changing this number would affect the rest of the sock if I were to make it again - will have to do some research. (I guess it would make the heel section shorter, so you’d have to make the foot section longer to compensate, plus a longer leg. Not sure I like short row heels anyway…)

January 13: I think I would reverse the ribbing pattern if making these again - I just like the knit 4/purl 2 ribbing better than the other way out. Onto the final chart, then 8 rows of ribbing and I’m done. Will use same stretchy cast off method, but finish off with method c outlined here.