I have never knit socks before. I have not even remotely had the craving or interest or anything to knit socks before. Hats? Yes. Blankets? Yes. A sweater? Yes. But socks? Absolutely not.
That is, until this summer. Because knitting and summer seem to go together in my head.
Anyways, once the project bug bites, it itches. It reaaallllly itches. And so, I had no choice but to begin Project Sock.
Goals
- Make a sock (ideally, two)
- Use 100% wool (If I am going to put in work, I want them to last)
- Challenge myself for literally no reason.
That is it.
The Pattern
After a very, very casual DuckDuckGo search of “Free Sock Patterns”, I set my sights on the simple “Ol’ Reliable Top Down Socks” pattern by Tanis Lavalle. It can be found on Ravelry.
What I liked:
- It was simple
- It seemed attainable, and (hopefully) beginner friendly?
This is a top-down style sock pattern, which means very little to me, seeing as I have not knit a single sock—top down or otherwise.
The Materials
I found this really nice pinky wool at a local wool boutique. It is nice stuff. Soft on the skin, and the color is as close to my vision as possible.
If this color was a fruit smoothie, it would taste delicious. Maybe I should try to make a smoothie this color. Now that would be fun. I bet I could do it.
A Rocky Start
While the wool boutique owner gave me great pointers and direction with my project (seriously, thank you!!) I still found myself getting things a bit tangled-up in the cast-on. And I found that working with multiple size 1 knitting needles is a challenge in itself. So tiny!
How many times did I goof on the cast on? Three times. Yes, that means I set everything up, realized it was a twisty mess, and unraveled the whole thing three times. I was not a fan of that part. Tedious counting can really take the fun out of craft things for me. But once I got the stitches in place, the pattern locked in, and mentally adjusted to the small size of everything, it became enjoyable. Knitting really can be a bit of a soothing, mindless thing sometimes.
I was coasting along wonderfully, until I reached the heel part of the sock. And now, for several weeks, I have been a bit frozen. There are things in the pattern that just lost me.
After stalling, and reading the pattern maybe 35 times, I decided to wing it. Which, turned out to not be the move. After finally looking up a bit of guidance on YouTube, I realized what is is supposed to look like… And I will now once again be unraveling rows of teenie tiny stitches. Stressful! Knitters know that dropped stitches can cause chaos. While pretty much anything can be fixed, digging out a very small dropped yarn loop is not enjoyable.
Ugh.
Project Outlook
So that brings us to now. Project Sock needs some unraveling, and I need more knowledge on how to do a decent heel.
But it is not over until it is over. The wool boutique shop owner said she really enjoys making socks since they knit up pretty fast. A fast project? I am listening… and I admit, I did fantasize about knitting a whole drawer of beautiful wool socks. Doesn’t that sound like a dream?! I’m going to take some deep breaths and persevere. Tomorrow.
Project Completion: 20%
Project Completion Timeline: By the first frost (?)