Socks, Eating the Toe

I have, once again, embarked on knitting socks. As I was preparing for my graduation from Purdue University it dawned on me that I would have absolutely uninterrupted kntting time. PURE Knitting. Just me in a sea of hundreds of other students all sitting, waiting for the same thing. Of course, this inspired a flurry of "what will I take with me to knit?" Socks, gloves, the inevitable scarf crossed my mind.

But socks had been lurking in the back of my mind for some time and having been encouraged by the chapter in Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's latest book Knitting Rules, I began my journey into socks once again. I was completely ignoring the fact that the last pair of socks I had knit, I had frogged three times, reknit the heels twice, and reshaped the toes on each sock at least once. (There may have been some late nights and the occassional OMG, while consuming increasing amounts of chocolate.) Not to mention that I had knit them for my friend, Monica, with the size 12 feet. So even imagining that I would finally break into the stash of sock yarn that I had been hoarding for some time, was daunting.

Finally though, I cast on Thursday night dutifully following the theme in Stephanie's book for when you want to knit socks without a pattern. I measured around my ankle, made a swatch (gag!) and multiplied my gauge by the inches in my ankle. (These socks were going to be for me. My one time trip down the road to sock glory by finally finishing a pair of socks that didn't need to be frogged.) Dutifully I cast on my stitches in the round and worked my sock.

Prime knitting time on Sat. rolled around during the ceremony and I was able to finish more than two inches (and I didn't even knit during the whole ceremony) of the sock. I decided that it was time for a break and worked on my lace shawl that I've been knitting since Mid-March.

It dawned on me midweek after graduation that I should probably check my progress and I hauled out a pesky tape measure that had somehow gotten lodged in the recliner. The sock was coming along nicely. Time to start the heel. After carefully rereading the chapter about socks, I worked the heel, back and forth, always slipping the first stitch. It wasn't until I had finished the heel that I thought to look at how big my sock was becoming. . .

At this point I have decided that I am quite hopeless with gauge, swatching still sucks, and Monica is getting another pair of socks.