Self Striping Yarn is Supposed to Be Easy

I finished the first sock in my current pair. I had to rewind the ball upon reaching a knot to figure out where to start to maintain my striping pattern. Unfortunately, I discovered that there was a relatively short run before another knot, which started in a completely different place AND was running backwards. SO. I wound the whole thing into a new center pull ball, marking the color changes as I went. Turns out, there weren't enough stripe sequence repeats for me to make a matching pair of socks, so I had to just start at the outside of my new ball and work, hoping not to hit the point where I know I need to start my second sock for the cuffs to match (I didn't). I'm disappointed they won't match. On the other hand, I finished the first sock.

The second sock's cuff will (hopefully) be the same. The toe part will be different. I really love the pattern of these socks. It's subtle enough that it doesn't fight with the self striping, but interesting enough that it's not incredibly boring to knit.

Oh, and remember that cowl I mentioned casting on the other day? I finished it too.

I wasn't planning on using this color pattern, but I just so happened to use a scrap of the icy blue yarn as my provisional cast on. I liked it so much, I decided to use more of the blue leftovers for the edging. I was worried I'd run out, but it reached with just a few yards to spare. I love the dropped stitches and I kinda want to find more patterns that take advantage of them.