Sunday 14th May

I was determined to finish my socks by the end of the weekend and I have! Yay! I love them! There is a wee bumpy bit on the inside toe of one sock that is a little bugging but ... I tried to re-weave in the top about 3 times then pulled too far and undid a bit of the cast off row - My completely winging it tie up seems to have lessens the bump but I'm not 100% sure it's gonna stick - soon find out!

So - my first pair of socks ...

The Good
I 'invented' [through pattern mis-reading] left and right socks which feel more comfortable to me than my initial sock with it's centrally-oriented toes.

Good knitting karma led to matching striped through absolute accident - I only noticed after about an inch that I had done this.

The Bad
My first sock - despite very thorough maths [which I detest] was too big with such a long toe decrease that a Stitch n Bitch friend commented that it looked like a condom... It had to be frogged.

My first sock 'proper' I made the heel flap too long and so when I picked up the stitches along the edge I had about 6 too many and had to k2tog to get the right amount [then make a note of this mistake to repeat it for the 2nd sock]

Once re-establishing knitting on the round I got carried away with the decreases and decreased until I had 5 stitches less than I supposed to and had to m5 on the sole side to catch up [then make a note of the mistake to repeat it for the 2nd sock]

The toe was such a horrendous nightmare:
a. I changed to the Opal sock toe and didn't read the pattern thoroughly [watching tv at the same time] and only spotted the Rnd 2: knit line too late and had to decrease on every row.

b. Despite noticing that I hadn't read the toe pattern thoroughly I continued in this trend and didn't spot the 3rd line of Rnd 1's instructions - and so I decreased 1 stitch at one side and 2 stitches at the other - which is why I ended up with a left toe.

c. I perceived this as good fortune and decided to reverse this for the 2nd sock to get a right toe. Upon reaching the toe on sock 2 I noticed that the Rnd 1 instructions were actually decrease 2 stitches at both sides - and I didn't know which ssk2tog I had omitted in the first sock. So I was either going to get it right .... or end up with 2 left feet ...
Muting of the TV and frantic discussions with the boy - if i decrease by 1 stitch at one side and 2 at the other which would be the steepest side? [Answer - to decrease by 1 stitch - thanks the boy - my head couldn't get around this but I trusted him and thank God as it worked!]

All of this aside - I have a pair of comfortable socks which I think are cool and am happy with! I am prepared to try this again - and indeed have bought some cotton yarn from K1 Yarns to try. I am coveting Socks that Rock and Koigu and ... and ... yes the addiction is strong in this one.

This was a great portable and light project - easy for KIPing and although straight stitch all the way, not dull as it is knitting in the round, and that gave it more interest for some reason.

Oh! And I also discovered (at last tuesday's stitch n bitch meet) the reason why my socks are inside out when I knit and others are not. Because for some inexplicable reason once I have cast on I knit back over the row and then join them together - instead of joining them together immediately - I think this must be a lefty thing but am pleased to realise this.

It doesn't make any difference to the sock [or indeed anything else knit in the round] as far as I can tell - but it would be nice to see my sock building in all it's glory rather than having to turn it inside out periodically to see and risj having it all fall off the needles.

This is me for the evening - too tired to write anymore. I'm off to update my Lana Grossa sock bar to 100% - yes!