This should be under the Merriam-Webster’s definition of “suck”.

I have been working on this pair of socks for…ages, since way before last Christmas. But they are just a pair for myself so I was in no great hurry, just working on them here and there as I have a few minutes.

The yarn is one of the normal mass-production yarns…Patons I think. I have the label but I am too lazy to go hunt it down. Anyway, I had two balls of it, one for each sock. Now when I made the first sock, I ended up pretty much having  just enough to finish it (and I was sweating it there at the end), but I did finish it. So I don’t know where I went wrong. Maybe my beginning tail was longer or over all those months my gauge loosened up or I finished the other during a waning moon instead of a waxing or there is a small discrepancy from one ball to the next. All I know is I felt like crying when it became apparent that it just wasn’t going to make it. Sure, it’s not that big of a deal, if I really tried I could have it redone a couple days, but I was sooo ready to have them done…even though it is now June and just the thought of wearing wool socks makes me want to chew my feet off, it just would have been nice to have a project completed, haven’t had a whole lot of those lately.

The offending sock has now been frogged and recasted-on (is that English?). I decided I would give it one more try and if I still come up short I will just…set fire to it. Sounds like a reasonable plan to me.

Monkey Socks from Knitty in Blue Moon Fiber Arts Jasper

Pattern: Enjoyable, not overly complicated. Would have preferred something that didn’t require purling though. Did 5 leg repeats instead of six just to be on the safe side.

Yarn: Beautiful, unbelievably soft after a pre-blocking wash. Curious how well it will wear though, seems too soft to be very durable.

My second ever pair of socks! Made for my little sister’s 16th (GAH) birthday present. I have to say I was pretty proud of myself, I only made each sock once!*

Some might wonder at the logic of giving a pair of wool socks as a gift in the summer (or period here in Louisiana), but considering the usual temperature my parents keep the house at (somewhere between a “well-digger’s shovel” and “a witch’s tit in a brass bra”), I think she will get enough use out of them.

*As opposed to my first pair of socks ever which I ended up having to knit almost completely twice because I ran out of yarn and had no time to try and acquire (by some miracle) a matching skein. Plus restarts and frogging because of mistakes, etc. So probably all total ended up knitting them somewhere between 2 and a half and three times total.