09/02/08: I’m knitting these to participate in the Sock Knitters Anonymous September Sockdown. The socks need to be orange, a Cookie A. pattern, or the Mystery Sock done in orange (but it’s toe-up, and I’m chicken). I went with this yarn because I happened to have some in my stash that I got on clearance a month or so ago… before I knew about the Sockdown. Lucky coincidence…

I decided to try this pattern because I’ve never knitted from a chart. I also thought it would be cute with the orange yarn. They’ll be my autumn socks!

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09/03/08: Only did three repeats of the cuff ribbing instead of four. I like shorter socks, and I feel like four repeats would be out of proportion with the rest of the leg once I’m done.

This is my first time doing cables on such small needles. It’s going to be… ummm… interesting, I think.

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09/08/08: Well, I’ve been poking along on these and finally got through a complete repeat of the leg pattern. Then I decided that it’s going to be too loose. I’ve been knitting socks on zeros and ones, and I had a feeling twos might be big. But, the pattern says that the stitch used on this sock is less stretchy, so I trusted the pattern. I should have gone with my gut, instead.

So, sock got frogged and I started over. I hope it doesn’t end up too tight now… that would really chap my hide!

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09/11/08: Well, my hide is chapped. The pattern repeat on the leg is tighter than I’d like… but, I can get the sock on. I’m not sure if I should live with it or go back to the 2s. What to do?

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09/12/08: I decided it’s going to bug me either way. So, I ordered one of the Knit Picks Harmony dpn sets that have the in-between sizes. The socks are on hold now until that arrives.

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09/22/08: My dpns came today… yay! I know it only took 10 days, but it felt like forever.

So, back to working on these. I sure hope the new needles make a difference.

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09/23/08: Let me just say that I love my new dpns! Well, once I got over feeling like I was going to break them… I usually use metal.

When I picked these up to work on them last night, I decided to frog and start over with the wood needles. I’d finished a couple of repeats of the cuff pattern when I had to put the sock down to do something. When I came back, I started knitting backwards (with the yarn coming from the left needle instead of the right). I’m such a nimrod! I was really annoyed when I’d figured out what I’d done. More frogging ensued, but I’m on my way now.

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09/28/08: I swear these socks are cursed! Once I figured out the pattern on the heel flap (which was a little unclear to me), I thought I was good to go. Alas, I was almost finished with the decreases on the gusset when I realized that I’d completely forgotten the plain knit rows in-between the decrease rows. Ugh! So, I ended up ripping all the way back to the beginning of the heel flap because I lost some cables while I was frogging and couldn’t fix them.

I’m just a little grumpy…

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10/05/08: I saw the Yarn Harlot in Santa Rosa yesterday. She took a picture with my sock! Now I have to finish the second one… lol!

Sabrina and I drove more than 4 hours to get there… and got a little lost on the way. We ran in just after she began talking, so we didn’t miss much (thank goodness). Unfortunately, we had bought books beforehand to get reserved seats, but lost them because we didn’t make it on time. But, we had a perfect view from our seats on the floor, so it all worked out. We had a great time… I’d do it again in a heartbeat!

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10/08/08: The first sock is finished! I almost thought it would never happen.

I ended up doing two pattern repeats on the leg and three and a half pattern repeats on the instep. Well, I originally did four on the instep, but the sock was already as long as my foot… without the toe decreases. Since I wasn’t looking to make clown socks, I ripped back one pumpkin and started the decreases. I also did a different toe than the pattern instructs (alternate decrease rows and knit rows until there are 20 stitches on the needles, then graft). And I changed every sl1, k1, psso to an ssk “improved”.

The sock is a little looser in the ankle than I’d like, but there was no way I was restarting these again! I guess I was knitting a little looser when I first got my new dpns. Like I said, I felt like I was going to break them… but, I got over that and the foot is fine. Anyway, it’s not horrible (and not nearly as loose as it was on the size 2 dpns), so I decided to live with it. Now on to the second sock! Hopefully, the second one will go a lot smoother than the first. Pray for me!

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10/15/08: Cursed… cursed I tell you!

I was happily knitting along on the second sock last night. I’d just picked up the gusset stitches and was a couple of rows into the decreases when I saw it… a mistake on one of the pumpkins up on the last row of the leg! It’s pretty noticeable… I don’t know why I didn’t see it sooner.

So, do I live with it or frog back? I’m not even going to try to go down vertically and try to fix it that way. There are two cable crosses along the path and, well, I’m just not that suave. But, if I frog, I’d have to do the heel flap and gusset again. I need to think…

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10/16/08: Yes, I frogged. You knew I would! So, I’ve fixed the wrong stitches and am back at the point where I’m ready to start the heel flap. Whew!

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10/26/08: Done! With all the issues I had with these, I can’t believe I actually finished in time to qualify for the Sockdown. I don’t blame the pattern… the Force just wasn’t with me.

Overall, I’m happy with how these turned out. They’re not perfect, but they’re cute anyway. I think I’ll wear them to work on Halloween.

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