First Sock Saga Pt 2

(First part here. It's been longer than I meant to between socks!)

Later that night, I decided to cast on my first sock with some of the yarn. After taking a second look at my pattern, I realized I didn’t have size 5 DPNs. I tried a small swatch in size 6, and didn’t make gauge. Since the pattern gauge was measured without blocking, I ripped it out and knit a new one with size 4s. Also no go. Apparently I was pretty close to this knitter’s gauge. SO. I picked an entirely different pattern. It also called for size 5 DPNs, but my foot was larger than the pattern said AND it was designed to be loose anyway. I cast on with my SRK On Your Toes in the Carousel colorway and began knitting.

I’d picked out the yarn because I thought it was the ugliest in the bag, and I was certainly right! In my head, I kept thinking “knit ugly yellow stitch, knit ugly pink stitch, knit ugly pink stitch, knit ugly yellow stitch” at every turn. Then the stitches were just pink. THEN! Then they were blue and purple. And the colors were wonderful. The wool was springy, a big change from worsted weight cotton or even my worsted weight wool. It was soft. The heel and beginning of the instep was beautiful. Then I got back to the yellow and red. I was disappointed, but I couldn’t resist trying it on and taking a picture.

Pattern found here.

I worked through the yellow and red, and started on the pink. And the pink kept going. After such a short amount of it the last go around, I wasn’t expecting it to be so long but it ended up being a solid inch and a half of the sock foot. I kept pulling more yarn than was strictly necessary out of the center of the ball, hoping to get back to the blue and purple wonderousness. Of course, I was thwarted again. I pulled out the last of the pink..to reveal another yellow and pink section! It has the added bonus of being a less bright yellow than before, making it more like dirty dishwater after a particularly oily meal. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. By the time I’d finished the toe, it’d also switched back to the brighter yellow but it’s difficult to see up close, let alone when my foot is down where it normally is.

On the one hand, I’ve made my first sock! There are minor ladder problems that I think I’ll be better able to look out for now that I know how the wool feels when tensioned correctly and I am not a fan of the colorway. The yarn itself is fantastic. I just don’t know who dyed it and thought the yarn should ever be used! Perhaps there are people out there who love these colors. I am just not one of them.

In any case, I cast on my second sock the next day, finished the ribbing, and promptly set it aside to work on a few other things. I decided to go back to it a few days later, but I didn’t like the way it looked thanks to not paying enough attention and ending up with ladders at each end of the three needles. So I ripped it out and started over again. I got to the top of the heel flap and set it aside to make a few things. I finally picked it up again and finished the heel flap and turn, and then finishing the gusset, foot, and toe the next day. So now it’s complete! And it fits pretty well.

I actually like think it turned out much better this time as far as the color repeats are concerned. The heel looks better and I really like that the toe ended up being the blue and purple. On the other hand, they’re fraternal as I suspected. Not by a lot, but by enough to be noticeable. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the rest of the yarn, but I’m pretty sure I have enough to make another set of ankle socks if I want or combine it with another 50 grams of yarn and see if the color works out with an alternating pattern.

There are a few minor problems with them. I need to work on making the gusset decreases tighter, for example, and there are a few other places with minor ladders. On the first one there's a weird large stitch that might be a dropped and wrongly picked up stitch, but I can't quite remember. Even with their mistakes, I am so proud!