Getting past the cuff

I decided to be a perky kind of knitter and cast on for the next sock in the Super Sock Scarefest series. Those last two pairs of socks were motivational! I’m just having trouble getting past the cuff.

I started to knit the first sock and realized my Shaefer sock yarn is a little too thick. It’s like a light DK rather than fingering weight.  With this in mind, I went stash-diving and found a lovely merino the Mother-in-Law gifted me for Yule one year.

Commence the re-knitting of the picot cuff (grumble, grumble, fiddly-arsed…grumble), and the first part of the actual pattern.  I tried for about four rows, and raised an eyebrow, rechecked the pattern, tinked back, and tried it again.

No, I wasn’t seeing things.  It just wasn’t working out for me.

It wasn’t the yarn.  I’d like to think it’s not the pattern.  It’s definitely not the needles.  I’ve knit with this stuff before, and it’s divine.  The only drawback is that it tends to felt a bit in the wash, and that wasn’t going to be happening anytime soon.

No, the problem is that almost the entire sock is purled.  Now…I can purl with the best of ’em.  Really, I can.  I’ve gotten faster and more proficient since I switched knitting styles.  The problem is that once I got past the cuff, the sock wanted to lose all sorts of tension at the needle joins.

I suppose I could have soldiered gamely forward, but I also realized that while others will love this pattern, it’s just not for me.  I can’t see it for myself, or for anyone else on my list for Yule.  So….it’s a no-go.  Both aborted versions were ripped mercilessly back & are awaiting return to the Stash Drawers.

Second sock, optional?

I also cast off sock #1 of the Mystery Sock from September.  I tried it on.  It’s a bit small on me, but I know others that would fit it perfectly.  My problem?  I don’t want to start sock #2.  I generally don’t get second sock syndrome, but this sock has been such a slog that I really just want to let it have a timeout.  Maybe I’ll come back to it in November, when I have a bit more patience for it.  The sock was almost literally a black hole of knitting.

In the meantime, I’m left with two very plain socks.  One that I was finishing up just before SKA and SSS started up, and one that I (foolishly) started during a lull.  I’m not sure that I want to keep going with plain stockinette, though, and am kinda at a loss for what to tackle next.  The SKA knitalong has the choice of a designer, a Yule stocking, or an underappreciated sock; and the SSS has two un-knit patterns…none of which really float my boat.

If not socks then what?

I spent a good portion of 2 hours this evening looking at shawl patterns, thinking the Aeolian Shawl would be wonderful, then scrapping the idea when I realized I would have to switch back to my Windows partition to actually do the printing (because Lexmark just doesn’t like making drivers for Ubuntu Linux.  Damn them straight to Heck).

Guess it’s time to take a gander through ye olde shelf of sock books and see if there’s anything that turns my crank.  And yes…I do have a good shelf’s worth of books on sock patterns.  I’ve gotten very particular about my sock shelf, however.  Don’t get me started on either the overabundance of sock pattern books, or the current crop of wish-fulfillment Pride & Prejudice spinoffs I’ve found recently at Chapters.  It’s not a pretty sight.