Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Sock That Refused To Be Knit

So I've been working on the same sock since Sept 22nd. I've knit on it nearly every day and it still isn't a sock. The saga of the Pomatomus sock began innocently enough. I saw that Alicia was destashing yarn, so I got a skein of Socks That Rock Medium Weight in Tlingit from her. I've desired this color for some time and I liked Elfielori's project that I'd seen done with it. The sock was 72 stitches, and I already knew I'd be modifying it down to a 60 stitch. No problem. But then I got fancy...
I decided to do 2.5 repeats of the pattern down the leg. Once I got to the foot, I'd figure how to proceed. Except I couldn't figure it out. I puzzled and puzzled... and then I noticed a different problem. My decreases had been k2tog. They SHOULD have been k2tog tbl. Three little letters I didn't read. It bothered me, so I ripped back to the cuff. (Note, in the picture there is no heel. I had put the heel in and most of the gusset before discovering the additional tbl problem.)

Try #2. I decided not to get fancy, so I did the 3 full repeats of the pattern down the leg, turned the heel, started the gusset... and it was too tight. So I ripped out the gusset, extended the heel, put in the gusset again.... and although the gusset now fit, I realized that the rest of the sock was a little tight. And by "a little tight" I mean that I was nearly ripping the sock in order to get my foot in it. Once it was in, it fit. I then decided that the sock was too tall and I didn't really like how the yarn pooled.... so RIP.

Try #3. I went up a needle size and I'm only doing two repeats of the pattern down the leg. I like how the colors are lining up now.

Mum called me a bulldog for continuing on with this sock. I'm hoping that means that I'm persistent. Anyways, this sock is a prime example of why I don't do 2-at-a-time socks. Hopefully I'll have at least one sock to show for Soctober.

9 comments :

Anonymous said...

You are amazing. I would either have just plugged ahead doing the wrong decreases consistently throughout or thrown the thing into the bottom of my basket and moved on while it sat in time out.

On the upside, this looks like a perfect yarn-pattern combination. These socks, hard fought as they are, will be gorgeous!

Cindy said...

You could always title it the never-ending sock project?

Anonymous said...

Oh goodness, you are certainly persistent! I can see why though - those socks are gorgeous, so well done you! Now that you've got it worked out, I'm sure the rest of the knitting will go very quickly.

Jennifer said...

If those socks ever allow themselves to be knit, they will be GORGEOUS! I've been a great admirer of that sock pattern and your yarn choice is lovely. Good luck!

Maryse said...

The shades in that yarn are gorgeous! Perfect match with that pattern!

Elfielori said...

I tend to look at the images in a blog post first and then go back and read what's said. When I glanced at the first picture I instantly thought,"Those look like my socks!" Then my eyes travel to the white link text and I see my Rav name, it made my day. Good luck with your socks!

Anonymous said...

Sounds a lot like my latest sweater! The thing has been knit into at least part of a sweater no fewer than 3 times and I'm currently undergoing reconstructive surgery down the front panel. I'm going to light it on fire next and see how that turns out. (except that I really wouldn't do that, it's Malabrigo afterall, but I so want to if this doesn't work out)

Kelley said...

You go girl!! It looks awesome and I bet they end up being your favorite socks.

Alicia said...

oooh I hope this sock works out! I only did that pattern in mitt form and remember it made a nice FO but I didn't particularly enjoy the knit itself. Hope it starts behaving better soon!

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