So, what is the deal with socks?

Sock yarn -- my new passion. And why? Not because I knit socks up like a storm. No, it's much simpler than that. It's that:

Somewhere deep inside, I believe that I WILL BE ABLE TO KNIT SOCKS UP LIKE A STORM *IF* I have enough sock yarn.

Have I been knitting socks long? Ummmm...that depends on if you expect me to actually finish a pair.

When I was in the US this summer, I stopped into a lovely LYS in Rochester, Minnesota called Kristen's Knits. The employee there happened to be knitting a sock on 2 circulars, and I asked, "What is the deal with socks? Everyone keeps raving about knitting socks. Is it really that great?" Being a particularly excellent salesperson, teacher, and just general great woman, she proceeded to walk me through the store, picked out Cat Bordhi's book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles, two kinds of sock yarn (actually, she picked one to start me off, and I asked for a second), and two pairs of circular needles. (I also purchased enough bamboo, linen, merino, etc to come very very close to filling up a punch card.)

Here is the very first sock I ever started -- on those same circulars and the yarn that she started me on. I found that using Cat's "simple sock" pattern I needed 1s, not 2s or 3s. I began the child's sock. I got this far last October, and finally convinced my son (4) to let me put them on his feet. It took a while, since he didn't want "the needles to poke his feet." Understandable. I got them on him -- and realized that the sock was too narrow. (Fast forward 6 months to this week, and I yanked them wider and got them on his feet without a problem. In 6 months, he's realized that I've knit him a "Lightning McQueen" vest, a hat, and a blanket, and socks have got to be great. He has willed them to fit!)



After I realized that my yarn was perhaps thinner than what was required in the pattern, and I had no access to the kind specified, I wondered if I should knit a Christmas stocking -- only ONE sock, big stitches. I started in March -- understanding that it had to be done by December. Two weeks after starting, here it is (minus some embroidery). By the way, the fuzziness where the name would be is where me, the privacy freak, has erased out my kid's name in the picture.



With that under my belt (and intarsia in the round is NOT for the weak), I began a new sock, this time for ME! Unfortunately, I realized that a 3 is totally not the right needle size for the combo of this yarn, this pattern, and my knitting style. The yarn is not wound very tightly, and I figured that it knit much smaller than I had supposed.






Luckily, my brother-in-law arrived, bringing goodies and beautiful sock yarn with him. I cast on again (using 3s, I must be a VERY slow learner, but the 3s were the only ones not already in a project), and found that it knits like a dream, but I do need to use 1s or 2s.



That brings us back to my FIRST sock, which is holding said 1s. Now I have to finish his socks before I can start mine. It's a very very good incentive.

Oops -- update. I couldn't wait. I finished the first of his socks, cast on the second, and....I couldn't wait. I cast my own socks on in the beautiful Cherry Tree Hill on dpns. Just to see what my gauge is, mind you. I have to finish his first -- his feet are still growing!