Pattern: Stitch in Thyme, my own pattern.
Yarn: Plymouth Rockin’ Sox
Needles: US Size 0, 32″ Knit Picks circular
Started: When dinosaurs roamed the earth. (July 1st, 2008)
Finished: About damned time. (November 15th, 2009)
Recipient: Me
Techniques: Magic Loop, vigorous pulling of bootstraps.
Stitch in Thyme Socks
They can’t all be winners, but they can certainly be opportunities for learning. Case in point? These socks have taught me a lot. Things like:
- I didn’t think the yarn and pattern combo through. I really wanted to use this yarn and design a simple sock pattern to go with it. I should have focused on a texture stitch instead of a lace and stockinette combo if I was going to knit with this style yarn. Better yet, I should have chosen a different yarn.
- It doesn’t matter that I lost interest in the project, I should have buckled down and finished it regardless. The reason why I didn’t finish it until now? I hate SSK. How stupid is that?
- It’s a good thing my left foot is wider than my right, somewhat making up for the fact that the foot of the second sock bears witness to how much my gauge changed between then and now.
The foot forward is the larger new sock, the receding foot is the denser first sock.
And sweet jeezus, what a difference! My first sock has something like 11 stitches to the inch on size 0’s, a nice firm fabric that isn’t rock hard. (Seriously!) I wish I had the socks right in front of me to measure, but believe me, I’m probably not far off. The cuff of the second sock was knit consecutively, so it matches. However, last year I put the project aside and haven’t knit on it until now. Therefore, the heel and entire foot of the sock are at a much looser gauge. And I do mean much looser, visibly noticeable, probably 8 stitches per inch. No matter how tightly I tried to ratchet my stitches, I just couldn’t get those stitches to match up. Was I knitting the first sock on speed? WTF! I don’t even OWN sock needles smaller than 0’s.
I really like the tiny leaf pattern, just not with this yarn.
I finished these up just to be done with them. It was either that or rip them out, and then the yarn would probably get tossed in a bag and forgotten for years. No way was I going to reknit them in this yarn, which while lovely to work with, I find just flat out ugly knit up. I can deal with the difference for so long as the socks last, which is better than lighting the whole thing on fire.
Consider the FO post my perp walk of shame. I have no one to blame but myself that they came out this wonky, so there you go. Posting the “bad” along with the good is only fair!
Leg back detail. Definitely should have made them taller!
On a positive note, I really like how the pattern worked out. I wanted to design something easily resized, simple to work, but still offering the opportunity to have a bit of fun. If a knitter hasn’t tried lace yet, this would be a nice way to give it a go as the pattern is only three rows, and easily memorized. My favorite part is how it looks down the back of your foot. I’ll reknit the pattern in some of my Bittersweet sock yarn and then release it with the updated photos. I expect the visual appeal to go up tenfold.
