It's All Over

I've finished the damned charted lace socks! I bound off the toes with the three needle bind-off last nite while watching the tube. When I worked on the first sock, I wondered if I'd ever finish it, never mind the second one BUT the second sock was a lot easier than the first. By the second sock, I understood the chart & could see the pattern & find mistakes before they got out of hand. I tried to get a picture of the heart shaped detail in the closeup here - hard to do on your own feet while balancing on a stack of magazines!!! I now understand the value of a life line if you have to rip back several rows. Those YOs do all kinds of strange things when they're free to move. It's hard to 'read' the pattern in the knitted stitches when some of the rows repeat & others do not in each motif when you aren't used to charts or lace knitting. I have knit a lace sock before but it was a small repeating pattern stolen from a sweater. It was a simple K2, YO, K1, YO, K2 that went on & on. Not a chart to follow. I thank my friend Karen for her lovely 'Counting Bracelet' which also helped me keep track of the rows on my chart. Sixteen days for a pair of socks is almost unheard of for me - unless they're BLACK. Have you noticed how black socks take a very long time to knit???

But, as I said, it's all over. Will I knit another charted lace sock?? Probably. But not right now. I need to knit mindless, plain socks for the Ex who's having problems with athlete's foot & nail fungus again. I told him he has to stop wearing boots or shoes ALL THE TIME. I had him wearing sandals when he was in the house so his feet could dry out. And he has to wear wool socks. He wears cotton socks & as we all know, they get wet & stay that way inside boots. Since he won't wear commercial wool socks - they itch!! & won't fit in his shoes anyway - I am knitting several pairs for him. He likes the hand knits - they're thin, they keep his feet warm - he's complaining of cold feet all the time too, and they don't get wet & stay that way.


I just had to cast-on SKEW from Knitty! Have you SEEN that sock?? It's wild and crazy so I just had to try it out. I think I'm more excited by Arcitectural sock design than pattern right now. Of course, I'll have to wait to see how I feel after I've played with SKEW some more.