Yesterday, I decided to teach myself to do socks, from the toe-up, on two circulars, both socks at the same time. This is three entirely separate skills, none of which I had learned before, but I was undaunted! My previous sock experience includes one crocheted sock (never had the desire to make another) and about 2/3 of a sock knitted from the top down on dpns. There was nothing wrong with the latter sock, and I suppose I could have finished it, but I wasn't crazy about the yarn - it was cotton, and even though it was a gorgeous colorway and the heel came out beautifully, it just didn't have any stretch to it when I pulled it up over my leg.
I had actually decided that knitting socks was completely pointless - why knit something you're going to hide inside a pair of shoes, anyway? Isn't the whole point of knitting to make other people jealous with your fabulous, fashionable crafting skills? But then, Bucky asked me to make him some 100% wool socks for his cycling shoes (wool socks dry VERY quickly), and since personal knitting requests from my beloved are a rare treat, I decided to give it another go. I did some research, found a delightfully sane and easy-to-modify pattern for basic toe-up, short-row heel sock construction, ordered a pair of size 2 circulars, and chose a nice slate gray ball of Knit Picks Palette yarn from my stash.
While waiting for the size 2's to arrive, I decided to do a bit of practice. The only size circulars I already have two of are a size 6. That's a bit on the small side for worsted weight yarn, which is all I really have in sufficient quantities to practice with, but I figured it would do. Due to the thickness of the yarn and the tightness of the gauge, I'm making socks that will be more like slippers than anything I can stuff into shoes, but that's ok! I chose a particular shade of yellow that I'd probably never wear out of the house anyway. :P It's some Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride that a friend sent me as part of a yarn-bomb care package. I'm pretty impressed with the results thus far! The toe looks a bit trapezoidal, but when I stretch it over my foot, that effect is pretty well diminished. I have about another four inches to do before I turn the heel, but I'm excited to see how long they get before I run out of wool. It might not be very long at all, but then, who knows? I'm working from both ends of the skein, so I'll just stop when I run out. :)
