It’s Socktoberfest right now, and I’m feeling like a horrible Socktoberfester. I’m knitting socks, yes, but they have become what is easily the most challenging project I’ve done to date (for me…maybe some other people would rather knit these than do fair isle or cables, but I’m sitting here looking longingly at my fair isle whenever I pick up these socks…)
(Pomatomus – again, slightly blurry..I’ve got to get that fixed…)Every step of this sock has been a struggle for me. The leg, the heel, the gussets (I do not see any good reason for switching to 5 needles for the gusset and then back to 4 for the leg), the charts (they read fine, I just hate looking at them 10 times every row), the pattern (starting rows with yarnovers is not my cup of tea)…And I’m quite sure the sock knows I’m struggling with it, because every inch or so I find myself rescuing yet another dropped stitch or wondering how the heck I have 12 stitches at the end of a repeat when I should only have 8 or something like that…
What’s worse is this: I don’t know if I’m going to have enough yarn. That little itty bitty ball of yarn in the picture is all I have left on the first ball, and I still have another half inch of foot to go before starting the 2-inch toe. It’s the icing on the cake, really.
The thing is, I know without a doubt that when these socks are finished they will be gorgeous, and probably extremely comfortable, given how stretchy the stitch pattern is. People who have seen me knitting them have exclaimed saying how lovely the colour is or how nice the pattern is…and then I tell them how much I’m hating the knitting and they look at me like I’m covered in crazy.
Not only do I have Socktoberfest to think about right now (Lolly, is it a rule that we must love all sock knitting during Socktoberfest? If it is I think I’d better disqualify myself or start up a basic pair right quick…) but I also have to finish a pair for October for the Sock-A-Month Knitalong. (Let’s not even get me started on my bitterness towards the folks who are merrily churning out stockinette children’s socks at the rate of 8 pairs a month and racking up bonus points. No no, I had to pick challenging things to fit my Size 11 feet.) I’d better pick up the pace.
Maybe I’ll love it more on the 2nd sock. Hmm.
Glenna Knits 
Pom…Pomat…That pattern always turns out nicely. I haven’t knit it though. Hope it gets better for you.
(Btw, no wonder you couldn’t find my email addy last time I left a comment. Blogger doesn’t ask me for it.)
twig – how bizarre! Blogger must be experiencing schizophrenia.
I am very much looking forward to being able to wear these Pomatomuses (Pomatomi?) – I will not be beaten by a sock pattern!
You could try the dice thing- roll ’em to tell you how long to work on them for, or how many rows to do. Then you know there’s an end in sight each day, and you can go back to fair isle!
Okay so I take it back – maybe I won’t try this pattern! It sounds frustrating, and I have a long line of other sock patterns waiting to be tried.
That said, yours are gorgeous, and surely you can find another ball of that yarn if you get desperate. It’s Kroy right?
loulou – that sounds like an awesome idea! Discipline is where it’s at, though…as long as I can do a bit each day I’ll be good.
kelly – (hi! *wave*) oh it is such a conundrum. I don’t think I’d be feeling nearly as frustrated if I wasn’t under a Sock-a-month knitalong deadline. It’s Kroy, yep. I’m crossing my fingers but I have the feeling a yarn purchase will be in order.
Yikes on that wee ball of yarn to finish…I’ve heard from many people who have started…that…particular sock and ended up not finishing them, it was due to it being not intuitive. Makes for a bit of brain scramble while knitting them, and I am very much with you on starting out with a YO, that said, I am clearly in awe of your character (I was anyway) even more so.
Blogger has seriously turned into a whacknut…a real crap shoot.
Good luck on your sock knitting, I’m a couple pair down and a zillion to go and the days just seem to be whizzing right on by…
Marianne – well it is most reassuring to know that other knitters have been challenged by this pattern! That’s exactly it, this pattern seems to resist knitterly intuition.
But i am nothing if not determined, so I will press onwards 🙂
sending you thoughts of sock love; may sock numero duo glide right along… and may you have plenty of yarn.
teyani – thank you so much! 😉
As luck would have it, I finished sock #1 with a teeny tiny bit left to spare. Sock #2 is now on the needles and I hope it will go faster with the knowledge of Sock #1 in hand!
I am sooo glad to read that you had enough yarn!