Not according to plan

I was dead beat when I got home tonight and just wanted some really easy crochet to work on. Somehow I ended up with the Looks Knit Great Fit socks. In retrospect, I don't think "really easy crochet" and "socks" belong in the same sentence.

Originally I was worried the socks were going to come out too small; now it seems like the left one (the only one that's gotten past the cuff) is probably going to be too big. And I should have learned more about the anatomy of socks before getting started. I'm not sure where the heel flap is supposed to end. Does it go to the bottom of the heel and then stop? What if I don't have the right number of rows yet? Normally I'd probably set about experimenting and making it up at this point, but it's been a long week and I'm tired. And I don't think I have any mindless crochet projects currently going, aside from a baby blanket that I'm just not in the mood for.

I'm wondering if I should just frog the whole thing and start over. I think making that decision tonight would qualify as rash, though. I guess I'll just go back to screwing around on Ravelry. Carpenoctem invited me to co-moderate the lazy, stupid, and godless group (intentionally lowercase because we're too lazy to capitalize), founded to mess with those who declare anyone who occasionally enjoys a good swear as "lazy, stupid, and godless." It's off to a smashing start!

Sock stress

So last night I finished the second cuff of the Looks Knit Great Fit socks. Then I stared at them in delight for a while because they're just the same size. Then I looked at the next part of the pattern and that's when I started getting nervous. Heel flap? I'm not even sure what a heel flap is, exactly, and I've been wearing socks my whole life! This is going to be the hard part, I can tell already. I've kinda lost the gauge because I had to make the cuffs bigger to fit me, so I'm not even sure that the directions will hold water now.

But I will persevere. Because socks may be intimidating, but the Panda Silk is worth it. The socks, they will be mine. Muahahahahahaaa.

The joy of sox

I'm really starting to understand why so many of my knitting friends are obsessed with socks:

• They're portable.
• Sock yarn comes in all sorts of wild colorways that might be scary in sweaters, but are fun in socks.
• You can splurge on the good yarn because you only need a ball or two.
• You get hundreds of yards out of that ball which will keep you busy (and hopefully not buying yarn) for a while.

While I admired my friends' socks, I didn't think I was interested in making them myself, because for me socks are boring and utilitarian. I don't even really have my own socks -- the Mad Husband and I share a large stockpile of black socks because they match our shoes. But now I get it. Handmade socks are beautiful little works of art.

The Looks Knit Great Fit socks are made in the opposite direction of most of the socks I've seen knitters working on -- you start with the cuff. Luckily I'd learned a lot about how important to try socks on as you go by watching those knitters, so that didn't come as a surprise. Camanomade suggested making the two cuffs first so I could make sure they're the same size, so now I'm happily hooking away on cuff #2. I was so excited when I reached the point where I understood how this big flat piece I was working on would become the cuff. It sort of clicked and now I'm all sorts of excited to see how these turn out.

Though frankly, even if the pattern weren't making sense to me, I'd still be enthralled because of the Panda Silk. I might marry this yarn if I weren't already taken.

Snow and socks

This morning I looked outside and much to my Southern joy, it was snowing! Sticking, even. Snow is always a cause for panic and celebration in the South. Panic because we don't know what we're doing and can't drive in snow and must all run to the grocery to buy milk, eggs, and bread if snow is predicted. Even if we don't even use milk, eggs, and bread. It's a tradition. And celebration because everything in the South tends to shut down at the sight of snow. And we Southerners sure do like to sit in nice warm houses and look at the snow and/or go outside and play in the snow (though it's rare that we have enough snow for a snowman). And it always melts before we have to shovel it or anything unpleasant like that. So to us it's just fun. Hopefully now this makes a little more sense to those from regions with lots of snow. I hear snow gets old really fast when you have it six months out of the year.

Of course the snow is a little less exciting because it's happening during a three-day weekend.

Even so, I did venture outside in the snow because I managed to lose my I hook this week and I can't do any work on my Crochet Chocolate Top without one. Can you believe that pattern is from Moda Dea? They're making some real progress, I think. I'm doing it in Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton which is like crocheting with a big fluffy cloud.

Of course this is where the problems started because Needle Nook has a $10 debit card minimum and the hook was only $2.25. Luckily (or unluckily for my supposed yarn diet), I fell in love with Crystal Palace Panda Silk sock yarn in the jade colorway. It was so pretty and soft, and also machine washable, which Alpaca Sox is not. I'd wondered if alpaca socks might be too warm for Atlanta, so I think you can tell what happened: I got the Panda Silk and I'm going to frog the Alpaca Sox and use the Panda Silk instead.

I hope I didn't give the impression last night that I didn't have faith in the Looks Knit Great Fit pattern. I do. It's myself I'm worried about. But I know I've got other great crocheters to lean on (including the designer -- luv ya, Fearless Leader!), and I want to have cool socks to stick on the table at Knitch too. So here I go. It's 408 yards of sock yarn, I've got a crockpot full of chili, half a clue what I'm doing, it's snowing and I'm wearing glasses. Hit it!

You're never too old to break some rules.

"Just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

This is an excellent piece of advice which often in my life I have considered and then ignored. Only I used to ignore it in regards to boys in berets and drinks that glow in the dark. Now I'm ignoring it to crochet socks.

Let's have a moment of silence for my misspent youth. Man, it was fun!

Truth be told, I may have gotten married and developed a bum knee, but right now the thing that's making me feel the oldest is that I was supposed to be out tonight swilling margaritas and instead I stayed home to crochet.

So yeah. Back to the crocheted socks before someone starts screaming at me for claiming to be old.

I've actually agreed with a few knitters that knit is better than crochet for some things and socks are one of them, but I should make a least a token effort to keep a new year's resolution. Plus lately a whole bunch of hookers over at the Crochet Liberation Front and other assorted crochet spots have been talking about crocheting socks all of a sudden, so I can always blame the peer pressure.

Truth is, I have no idea if these crocheted socks will even be wearable. But I have to try. I have the Looks Knit, Great Fit crocheted sock pattern from Laurie Wheeler (also known as the Fearless Leader and Big Cheese of the CLF) and some very pretty Alpaca Sox yarn (I needed one more skein to bump my order up to free shipping).

I'm not at all confident this will work, but I have nothing to lose. All together now: It's just yarn!

And if nothing else, working with that C hook is going to be good practice for when I get around to keeping the new year's resolution about lace. Wow, that hook is small.