WIP nightmares, part 1 - socks

My ds has been having nightmares lately... I think I have been too, but then again I've been awake. I've been living my nightmare... I've been frogging more than hooking. January was a frustrating month on the crochet front. I'm fairly adept at tweaking patterns to fit, but sometimes it's nice to just crochet what's written and not have to do the math every second. That sounds funny on my blog, 'cause those of you who know me, know that one of the things I love about crochet is the MATH. Yes I admit it, I love math... but I digress, back to crochet and WIPS...

So my 2007 resolution was to finish making my beloved dh his socks - 'Oxford Style' socks (Crocheted Socks!) using Patons Kroy Socks in 'Windsor Tweed' with Silja in 'dark charcoal' for contrasting cuff, heel and toe. So I picked them back up where I left off, finished the leg (55 st around using a 3.25mm hook) of the 2nd sock so both were ready to begin the heel. I switched colors and began the short-row heel. Now, probably because it involves math, I actually enjoy making short row heels, and in no time I am about ready to start then increase on the first heel. So picture this... here I am, feeling so proud of my progress, and as we're sitting in front of the TV, I realize my dh has his shoes off, so I try to put the half sock on his foot.... it DOESN'T FIT!! AGH!!! I had taken all the measurements they tell you to take, foot circ, leg circ, foot length etc. Well, I knew dh had a wide foot, what I didn't realize was that while his widest foot circ is 11 inches, he has wide ankles so the circ around the heel/ankle is 14.5" at the widest point. No way can a crocheted sock stretch 3.5". I refused to frog these babies though, I had spent way too much time on them! I figured they would fit me, even if I had to redo the cuff to make it tighter. I spent the rest of the evening re-reading this pattern, all the other patterns in the book and then digging through all my other sock patterns. (It was then that I ran in to the Autumn Spice sweater pattern, but that's another nightmare story!)

It was time to start again. This time, I decided a toe-up sock was the way to go to accommodate EE ankles. I would try them on his feet hourly if we had to! I chose the Southbay CGOA sock using my Addi 3.5mm hook with Silja sock yarn in light gray. So these have been chugging along OK. I just had to stop and check it on his foot every so often. I took them out to 53st from the toe, did 20 rounds even and then began to increase at the top of the foot as the ankle approached. When I was ready for the heel I had 61 st. I just have to stop frequently to check with his foot. Now that I know sock #1 works through the heel, I'm playing catch up with #2. Then I need to see if I did too many decreases after the heel (it still needs to get over that 14.5" stretch!) I love that it's easy to make a custom sock!

In the midst of all this (while I was still chugging away on those first socks for dh) I started another pair of socks as a sock-a-long at crochetsocks. This time they chose Mardi Gras Carnival Socks, a pattern available at e-pattern central by the same designers as my Crocheted Socks book. Well this one is definitely designed for small feet! More math!! I increased to my usual stitch count for the top cuff and leg, but the stitch pattern just doesn't have much give to it at all. Like another person working on them said, it's a good pattern for elastic sock yarn. I stuck with it to help others through it, but now that most if not all others have finished ot stopped, I'll put it on a back burner. I've done more than this, but not enough to warrant another photo!

So thus is the nightmare sock saga.... two on hold, one moving along slowly but steadily with lots of measurements and adjusting.... maybe I need to go make a sweater!