Look- I made almost a whole sock!

(Note from the time I posted this picture until I posted this blog, I actually finished the heel of the rainbow sock. So I DID make a whole sock this weekend, just not really...)

Sock knitting just isn't working out for me lately. The mockery socks are slow slow slow just because time to knit them is short. They are also a little looser than I like, but otherwise pretty good. The cuffs are nice and tall, and I really like that.

The Marlene socks- well, they are bigger than my last try, but still tight on the calves. Who do these things fit? In the sport weight yarn they feel very heavy and thick and not elegent and pretty like the pattern deserves. Not sure what I'm gonna do to make the pattern again, but for now, they are being ripped out I think.

I also started "Dead Simple Lace" socks from "Socks from the Toe Up" by Wendy Johnson. I think I like these okay- the rainbow yarn I dyed is knitting up beautifully, though it's "flashing" on the socks- the blues, yellows, and reds all seem to be pooling and circling around the sock. Still very pretty though. I knew that Wendy was a very very loose knitter- she calls for size 0s for 8 st/in, so I did my standard size 1.5 for a 64 inch sock. I am getting 9 st/in, but I think it's still a little big too loose. How can I have feet that require "wide" shoes, but are also too small for the width of most every sock pattern. I'm going to make them a little too short, that way they need to stretch lengthwise and hope that will make up for the width a bit.

Most hand knit socks call for toes that are 8 stitches or 10 stitches wide on their first/last (depending on the direction) row and end up with super pointy elf toes that look ridiculous when laid flat, but actually work pretty well for my feet. Wendy's instructions for turkish cast on instructed 16 stitches, and since I didn't consider that the direction I knit shouldn't affect what I cast on, it wasn't until I got halfway through the foot that I realized this is making a very very square toe, not a tapered one. As such, the socks aren't perfect for me- the end of the toe of the socks is so wide it doesn't even touch my toes! When I do other socks from her book, I'll make sure to start with only 8 stitches. I've decided I need a "win" though, so I'm NOT ripping them out. They'll just fit a bit wonky, like store bought socks.