While this is my maiden post and I should probably do a soft intro and ease in, I’m so very perplexed by my current project that I must dive right in.
I’m knitting socks. My first EVER pair. For my boyfriend Joe. They are made of beautiful, self-patterning merino wool in lovely autumnal colors. The 2×2 ribbing came out right (as things that require me to count so rarely do). After about 2 inches of said ribbing I moved to stockinette for another 5 inches. I was so pleased with the tightness and uniformity of the stitches, the look of the yarn, the swift progress toward the foot that I was actually stopping to admire my work thinking I was doing splendidly for a novice sock knitter and then the heel happened.
Let me say from the onset that there was absolutely no problem with the instructions I was given (specifically by the Yarn Harlot in Knitting Rules!). All I had to do was put half the stitches on one needle (32 stitches to be exact) and knit (right side) *S1, K1* to end and (wrong side) S1, purl across and repeat these 2 rows 14 times.
Well, ladies and gents, as Phil Collins would say (yes, I’m obviously mental from the sock fiasco of 2007 if I’m quoting Phil Collins), something happened on the way to heaven. I’m 2 repeats in and working on the right side row when I realize that the row is going to end on a slip instead of a knit this time around — certainly not right. I figured I had knitted where I should have slipped or vice versa and that all I’d have to do if tear back and correct this tiny error.
How wrong I was.
As I examined the stitches to find the offending one I realized that there were a lot of stitches… definitely more than I started with….I counted. 4 more stitches. I faced a classic dilemma at this juncture: tear back or k2tog?
I’m a process knitter for sure. I’m not so much about the finished product, I love to knit. I have given away everything I’ve ever made and I don’t really sweat the occasional twisted stitch. But something about these socks is different. Maybe its because I paid $20 for awesome yarn. Maybe it’s because they are the first thing I’ve ever made for Joe and I don’t want to give him something crappy….I think that’s close.
I realize upon reflection that I knit the way my grandmother did… out of love. I love my new “niece” Hadley Rose Stanfill (or HR as I’ve oddly enough come to refer to her) and her mother Laura, my best friend since I was 10 so I knit HR a tiny cardigan. So now these socks have taken on the huge burden of being the embodiment of my love (the pressure of this being compounded by the fact that I drove the poor man damn near insane this weekend so they are also I’m Sorry Socks) so they must be perfect. They must be the best, most beautiful socks ever made by human hands. This is a lot to put on my first ever pair of socks.
Since these socks have a lot to live up to I decide to tear back. Some of the extra stitches appear to be accidental yarn overs (I don’t understand how I missed that), some split yarn and some… well, I can only figure that stitches reproduce asexually without my knowledge or permission.
Tearing back socks is hard. The stitches are really friggin small….hell, there are about 20,000 stitches in a pair of socks (see Joe, I love you 20,000 tiny stitches worth!). Nonetheless I accomplished this without entirely losing my mind and was only up until midnight fixing and reknitting. I’m happy to report I now have most of a heel flap.
If I don’t return from lunch please assume that I’ve attempted to turn the heel and may be out doing harm to myself or others.
