Wednesday, October 27, 2010

At last

These socks took me way too long to finish.


Pattern: Marlene Socks by Cookie A.
Yarn: 1 skein of Dream in Color smooshy in colorway Gothic Rose
Needles: size 2 addi lace circular for magic loop
Mods: I opted to do the ribbed toe from the pattern picture rather than the written instructions. Other than that, I knit these exactly as written. Unusual, I know.

It's a great pattern, I love the yarn, and the color is fabulous. So what gives? Part of the problem was that I made a rather large mistake when knitting the first sock several months ago. I don't remember exactly what I did except that I ended up with too few stitches along the bottom of the foot but I didn't realize this until I had gotten almost to the end of the toe. Naturally, I ripped back to the heel flap and reworked the foot but by this point it felt like I had knit two socks and I didn't really have the heart to cast on for the second sock.


Fast forward to our apple picking expedition last month when I cast on for sock #2 during the car ride. Everything was progressing smoothly until last week. DH had brought a little bug back with him from Portland - just a sore throat and stuffy nose, nothing major. Except that it hit me like a steam roller and put me out of commission for four days. I barely knit, that's how yucky I felt.


I knew I was truly starting to feel better when I picked up this sock again and it's interesting yet easily memorizable repeats were a great companion as I recuperated. 



Now that they're done and I've worn them once, what do I think? The fit is great - snug but not tight - and they don't fall down. I am hopeful that the twisted stitch heel flap will hold up reasonably well. I just have one little worry: my big toes were stretching the knitted fabric pretty thin by the end of the day. I don't think the socks are too small, I just think the fabric isn't as dense in the twisted stitch ribbing as I'm used to. Dream in color yarns tend to bulk up a bit in the wash for me and I'm hoping it does so here. Otherwise, I may be darning the toes pretty soon.

Once I had finished up the second Marlene sock, I needed a nice feel-good project to help me kick my cold. So I cast on with my new acquisition from the Portland trip and I've been knitting on it exclusively ever since.


Can you blame me?

5 comments:

Jonah said...

I'm glad you're feeling better!
Also, does this qualify as "third sock syndrome"?

Gale Bulkley said...

Those socks are absolutely beautiful. As is the garter ridge on that shawl.

Jacey said...

Ooh, Terra is knitting up quickly! It looks gorgeous so far, and no, I can't really blame you. Marlene has been in my queue for quite some time; yours look amazing, and I'm glad to see you finished, despite the frustration.

Brendaknits said...

4 days without knitting!!! You must have been sick. Nice socks.

Rachel said...

SO glad you finished the Marlene socks...these really are quite stunning. Here's hoping that both the heel and toe hold up to years of wear!

Boy--it didn't take you long to start knitting up that Shelter did it? ;) Mine arrived and after seeing the color in person, I'm very pleased with my choice. So I know personally that Terra is going to be your perfect fall knit!

Hope you are feeling better...you must have been feeling bad to not knit for 4 days!