With Pictures

Once I got the camera home, and found some spare batteries, I took pictures of my current sock project.

These are the socks I'm working on for Noah, the first pair I've ever made for him. He picked out the sage green sock yarn at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. He did make it very clear that I shouldn't get upset when I don't see these socks outside of the house, because these are specifically house socks. It was very thoughtful of him to preface this project of mine with communicating his intended use for these socks, so I don't go whining later "You never appreciate anything I ever make for you. You don't even wear the socks I made for you outside of the house. What, are you embarassed of my sock-making abilities?" We have just avoided that whole problem with such wonderful communication on his part. Seriously, we are very good at communicating...and him predicting my reaction to certain situations.

As you can see, I'm avoiding the whole one-sock syndrome by making both socks at the same time. This is not as hard as it may sound. I got the idea from the pattern I used. Once I knit the leg for the first sock, I replaced the needles with different sized needles, and casted on the for the second sock and knit the leg. This way they are identical. Then I traded needles and knitted the heel flap for the first sock, and traded needles again to knit the heel flap for the second sock. If you were really cool, you'd have enough needles of the same size to avoid the whole trading-needle tango, but I'm not that cool, so I just keep trading the needles when I'm done with one part of the first sock and need to work on the same part for the second sock. This technique also ensures that the socks turn out identical. For example, if you knit the first sock completely and then start the second sock, any alterations you made to the pattern may be forgotten by the time you get to the second sock. With this two-socks-at-once technique, the socks are more likely to be identical, and you are more likely to end up with two socks. I'm at the point on the first sock where I need to measure it with Noah's foot to get the correct size. Hopefully these will be finished sometime next week.