I’ve figured out which socks to make for my secret exchange person, and I bought this gorgeous yarn for it, but before I start, I want to knock out one other pair of socks using 1) the continental method and 2) the magic loop. I’m making nopurl monkeys. I’ve made the regular pattern before and found it a breeze, so if I have trouble with this easier version, I’ll know that it was my methods, not the pattern that defeated me. It took me a week to do two socks separately, so I think I should be able to finish the two in a similar time frame. The socks that I want to knit for the exchange are more complicated, but I feel like I should have a better idea of my skill level after finishing these socks (or not, as the case may be).

I finished my two-a-time-socks, and while I’m happy that they’re finished, things aren’t perfect. The two black and grey socks are pretty much the same size (there’s about an eight of an inch difference in length between the two socks), or at least close enough that I can live with it. The red and pink pair, though, are nowhere near close in size. I don’t understand how they ended up being so different. I finished them last night before i went to bed, hoping that the second red sock would grow overnight, but no dice. I’m not necessarily a perfectionist, but I need things to look a little better than this, so I’m going to rip out the decreases for the toe, add more rows, and then finish again. The whole thing shouldn’t take more than an hour to fix , but it’s still demoralizing.

Never let it be said that I am not talented. My specific talent would be to get completely turned around whilst doing things that should by this point be totally routine for me. I’m finishing up the two at a time socks, and simultaneously practicing my Continental-style knitting. I’m really proud of myself, because I’ve made great strides and now I’m faster this way than I was the other way. I still need to pay a lot of attention, but I am really getting this. So this pride may be the cause of today’s mistake, although I do not discount your garden variety knitting retardedness. While doing the heels of the second pair of socks, I somehow got all tangled up on sock A and then I was stuck on the needles, unable to get cleanly to either sock. Did I pick up stitches incorrectly? Did I just confuse myself? I was simultaneously knitting and helping a coworker cut the cord between herself and her 19 yo daughter, so I will condede that I was not paying as much attention to my socks as I could have been.

I signed up two weeks ago for the Sit ‘n Knit sock exchange, and now that the signup is closed, Anne-Marie sent us all the names of our recipients. I have some ideas for what I will be doing, and will probably be good about documenting it and all that good stuff, but I won’t post anything specific until the final exchange happens in April.

I will say, though, in case whoever got me decides to visit, that I am really grateful and excited and will love whatever you choose to make!

I haven’t decided which pattern I will use, but I have a WIP on one of the needles that I’m considering using, so I will have to haul booty and finish up, hopefully before the weekend arrives (I always give myself some wiggle room, so that means Sunday)!

So I found my tapestry needle. It was not, as I feared, in the bag with some project that I barely started before abandoning it. No, it was actually in my handbag! It had fallen out of the little stitch marker pouch that I keep it in, so while none of the stitch markers fell out, the two thin tapestry needles I had in it did. No worries. It occurred to me when I got home from work yesterday that I should look in my purse before getting all crazy and tearing through my knitting projects, and sure enough, I saw two shiny little needles amongst the piles of stuff that fell out of my bag. I was busy last night (what kind of freak goes to the 10:45 movie showing after working until 9? That would be me…), so I finished up this afternoon during my break. Here is the finished product.

I am almost finished with my two-at-a-time socks. I did the last 4 inches of stockinette using the continental knitting method, and I’m really proud of myself. The socks are really cute, and I would have finished them completely, except I somehow left my tapestry needle somewhere. And I don’t even know where! I’m going to check the bag I used to carry the baby socks I made last month, because that’s the last time I remember doing kitchener stitch, but I somehow feel like I’ve had that needle more recently than that. So we’ll see when I get home. I’ll upload a picture once the socks are finished and the ends are woven in.

So it turns out that the socks I was making for Satanski are too small for him, so I’m going to finish them, but then I’ll still have to make him a different pair.

Also, the my long size 1 circular needles are 2.50 mm, instead of 2.25, which is throwing off my gauge in the swatch I’m doing, so I need to get another needle, or figure out how to make the same socks with the needle I have now. That’s definitely too much math for tonight. I think it’s stupid that North American needle sizes are so limited that two different sized needles are given the same classification. Morons.