Finished Socks

My first pair of socks are done.  I wove the ends in this afternoon.  Of course now it is too warm to wear wool knee socks, but they will feel good when it's cool enough again. 

I'm eager to start my next pair of socks, using On Your Toes Limited Edition yarn by Kertzer.  I can't quite figure out what the yarn will look like, so I thought that was a good enough reason to use it.  I'm still having trouble with short row directions, so I'll use Fleegle's toe again.  The colors are turquoise, purple, blue, white, aqua, gray and black.  The turquoise, blue and black alternate with white for a diced effect. 

I'm beginning to understand how people can knit two socks on 2 circular knitting needles.  However I don't think I'll be able to do that at home.  Emily looovvveees circular knitting needles.  She is front and center any time I'm anywhere near a circular knitting needle.  She likes the way the ends bob on the cable, which she wants to chew.  I'm sure they wouldn't work very well after being chewed, so I have to keep them all stashed away in a zippered pocket.  She also likes to chew the ends of wooden knitting needles, so I doubt I'll be investing heavily in them.  She bit the tip off a hardwood birch needle..  I had to buy a bamboo circular knitting needle once, so I'm keeping that way from her.

She looks deceptively sweet, doesn't she?  

Tale of Two Toes

I recently finished my first sock in over 30 years.  I'm currently knitting its mate.  It had been a long time since I started the toe on the first sock and I did not keep good notes.  When I wanted to start the second sock,I didn't find the exact pattern I used (Fleegles Toe-Up No Flap No Hassle Sock Pattern.).  After successfully using the figure-8 cast-on and knitting around the stitches on the two needles once, I decided to follow Lynne Ashton's Seam Free Rounded Toe for A Toe.  Stubbornly I didn't want to make a stitch in a different spot on the second row, so I knit even instead.

The two toes didn't match.  I didn't think I was following Fleegle's toe correctly the second time, but I was.  The second toe, accidentally recreating Fleegle's pattern, fit much better, following the contours of my toes much more nicely, and I decided to keep it.   I don't know how similar the first toe I knit is to Ms. Ashton's. It turned out a lot shallower, like the toes for athletic and tube socks.  It relies on the stretch of the fabric.   It turns out when I knit the toe for my first sock, I didn't follow that pattern correctly either.  I left out knitting alternate rows even.

In my defense, my allergies were bothering me greatly when I started the first toe.  That was a few years  and many allergy shots ago.

If you ignore the toes, I am avoiding the second sock syndrome.  I started the second sock within a couple weeks of finishing the first sock, AND it's the same width as the first.  After getting used to the mechanics of the toe and the heel I just may turn into one of those people who think knitting socks is fun.

On a completely different topic, I was just yelled at by my cat until I starting to play an album on my laptop.  This cat has a minimum daily requirement for music and she yells at me if she doesn't get it.