A pair of socks - finally!

About six weeks ago I posted about my adventures in sock knitting and how it hadn't exactly gone to plan.  I had somehow managed to knit an enormous heel and ended up with lots of extra sock in places where I didn't need sock.  So I pulled it all out and hid it in a bag as I couldn't face the thought of knitting any more socks any time soon.

Last week, that changed.  A very good friend of mine, who I will forever think of as Snowy Owl and not her real name, has been on a big sock adventure of her own and I was inspired to get back to my sock.  I wasn't going to be beaten by some wool!

I knew there were errors in the pattern I'd been using first of all (40 stitches on one needle plus 36 on another does not equal the 80 you're telling me I should have in total) so I found another pattern I liked the look of on Ravelry (and I had a coupon code so it was free, always a bonus!) and got knitting away.  I remembered how to do Judy's magic cast on for toe-up socks and soon I was merrily knitting away.

When I got to the patterned bit on the foot I realised that this too was wrong - I should have 30 stitches on one needle but the pattern only used 26 stitches before returning to the 30 stitches on the other needle.  What was I supposed to do with those extra four stitches?  Not to be beaten, I returned to the first pattern which was accurate for the foot bit.  So, moving between two patterns on my iPad on my lap I eventually knitted one sock all the way to the heel bit.  Which is where it all went wrong last time.  I left the first pattern, and went to the second pattern, and by following it meticulously I somehow ended up with a heel.  A heel! Just the one, and in the right place!

After that, it was easy.  I don't like long socks so I only needed to knit a little bit of leg before I knitted the cuff section and then I WAS DONE!  I had a sock! WHICH FITS!

A pair of socks!

Okay, so it is a little bit big (think I could get away with four fewer stitches) and it is also a little bit long (think  I could get away with four fewer rounds).  But it fits.  I was happily wearing my sock around the flat, before my other foot felt a bit weird for being naked so I took my sock off and happily sat it on my desk so it could be admired throughout the day.

As soon as I could, I got started on sock two.  I wanted to learn to knit using a circular needle rather than double pointed needles, so I ordered a circular needle and learned how to do Judy's magic cast on using circular needles and then knitting using magic loop.  Which is magic.  Somehow I can knit a small sock on an 80cm cable.  I had been shown how to do it before, but I'd forgotten.  Now, however, I think I've got it mastered.  It is so easy, so simple, no more dpns poking me and quicker.

Following the notes I'd made from knitting sock one (always make notes! Don't lose the notes!) I had knitted sock two in no time.  As you can see from the above photo, I didn't pay much attention to colour matching the socks.  This is something I will think about for my next pair, but at least with these two (which were knitted ever so slightly differently) I can see what I like and dislike and add all of that to my notes.

I am so proud of my socks.  They fit me (the one made using magic loop is slightly better than the one made on dpns), they're pretty much error-free in their knitting (although perhaps don't look too closely at the pattern on the foot) and I've learned quite a few new knitting techniques, not least magic loop which is, as the name suggests, magic.  

Knitting, and crafting is general, is full of trials and tribulations, frustration when you know what you need to do but for some reason your hands just aren't making what's in your head and on the pattern in front of you.  So it really does feel pretty good to be able to learn from all of this, and then make something so good (even if I do say so myself) a few weeks later.

I've loved knitting my socks so much that I've already started my next pair.  Next challenge will be knitting two socks at a time (madness!) but that's not going to be for a while yet.  For now, I'm perfectly happily with my magic loop making just one pretty sock at a time.