Satisfaction

Thank you all for your guesses/responses to my "sneak peek" last night. Here they are, completed:


Pattern: Really? the infamous Jaywalkers (pair number 4 for me)
Yarn: Socks that Rock, in a colorway they unfortunately no longer carry - Fire on the Mountain
Needles: Those same Inox dpns, US size 1/2 (they fall kinda in between)
Started: Oh god, so long ago, I can't even remember
Completed: 11 August 2006

Notes: So much to say, and nothing to say at the same time. I raced to finish them before daylight disappeared... This shouldn't have been a problem -- I was more than halfway down the foot when I posted my sneak peek, but then I house-sat for a friend last night with two kittens who have not yet been introduced the wonders of yarn and poof! My plans to knit all night were thwarted. I did finish in time this afternoon, thanks to some old episodes of Project Runway and a very productive (work-wise) morning. I started these socks so long ago, there might still have been snow on the ground. I need to the ankle of one sock, got tired and didn't touch them until this last weekend. In the last six days, I have knit the heel and foot of one sock and the entire second sock. I thank Clifftop and my new-found urge to finish all these old WIPS for getting me through it.


I'm not sure why I stopped. For a long time, I thought about ripping out the ankle I had knit on the one sock and starting over. Now I'm SO glad I didn't because I love them. I love the way the colors look in the pattern, I don't mind the huge swatches of pooling pink (though I wish it was the green pool instead). I don't even mind all that much the fraternal quality of them, though can someone explain to me why they don't pool similarly? I think my initial frustration was due to the fact that I knit the first half of the first sock using magic loop. I don't like magic loop. I'm all about dpns.


The one thing I don't like? I tried a new toe-technique. That is, I waited too long to start decreasing the toe, so I didn't it pretty fast, creating a rounded toe. I like the looks of it on, except that with this pattern, I think there is something strangely alien about the toe. Does anyone else get this? Maybe I'm crazy...


And, you might remember, I once said the sign of a good pair of socks was how they look with your favorite shoes? Well, here you go:


These are obviously not boot socks -- too bright. But they do look great with my favorite pair of Doc Martens (ignore the safety pin holding the strap on -- these babies are 12 years old!). Oh yeah, fall socks! All ready to be worn with a skirt and a cute little sweater (to be knit, of course!)

In other news, today I felted for the first time. And it wasn't on purpose either. Remember these?


Well, they are now these:


The world's warmest, felted socks.


Yeah. Oops. In my defense, they were already felting a little as a result of being worn with my boots and being a little too big. So I figured, "What the hell? I'm throw them in the wash!" (I'd heard that some knit picks "hand wash" yarns held up to a delicate wash). No go. Out came felted socks.

I also think I'm going to join Sock Wars. Although I think my sock knitting patience is wearing thin (I crave a sweater -- a whole sweater!), I can't resist the call of competitive knitting. I've also joing Sock-a-Month II. Yeah... 2006, the year of the sock.

** Editor's Note: Who I am kidding? I'm going to be writing my dissertation this fall. I don't have time for competitive sock knitting... though it sounds like so much fun... sigh.