10/30/08: This is my last-minute October Sockdown entry for Sock Knitters Anonymous. I was going to sit this month out because I have other things I need to get done… but I can’t stand it! I think I might really be a sock addict.

This is a neat pattern… it reminds me of the Tumbling Blocks design from quilting.

Since this is more of a stitch pattern than a complete sock pattern, I’ll be using a basic sock recipe from Ann Budd’s Getting Started Knitting Socks and will plug the stitch pattern into that. I cast-on 60 stitches for these. On the chart provided with the pattern, knits are ‘o’ and purls are ‘--’.

11/16/08: I’ve been working on these on-and-off. Today I finished the heel flap, picked up my gusset stitches, and started on the decrease rounds. That’s when I realized that the instep was centered over needles 2 and 3. It needed to be on needles 1 and 2 in order for the pattern to continue correctly. Ugh! So, I had to rip out the heel flap and start over in the right spot.

11/18/08: First sock finished. I was working on the first rows of the toe when I looked down and noticed that a couple of the blocks a pattern repeat down looked really weird. I tried fixing the problem by laddering down stitch by stitch, but that didn’t work out so well. So, I ripped back and redid the last pattern repeat. Good times.

All-in-all, I did 2 pattern repeats on the leg (about 4 inches) and 3 1/2 on the foot… 3 wasn’t quite enough. I ended up doing a slightly shorter toe to compensate (knit one row, then decrease row/knit row twice, then decrease every row until 20 stitches left on the needles). The toe is a bit rounder than I’ve done before, but I have caveman feet so that’s not a bad thing.

Now on to number two…

11/30/08: Finished! And just in the nick of time, too. The sockdown deadline is today at midnight… I just made it.