In three days, it will be my 1 year anniversary of finishing my first ever pair of socks! I could not have done it without the support and encouragement of my awesome co-knitters Hannah and Paula and all the fabulous folk that commented, sent me tips and just talked shop with me as I knit. The memories make me feel all warm and fuzzy as I slide back into Sock Thursdays once more.
I am so stoked more people are working on socks, especially because as I work on my second pair of Nice Ribbed Socks, I marvel that socks inspire such awe/fear/wariness. A year ago, the very idea of “turning the heel” made my stomach drop, but no more. Now it’s like coming home
Last Thursday, I cast on a pair of socks, not knowing I was coming up on an anniversary, or was coming full circle on a goal that started with this very yarn ages ago, or that I’d be engaging in a healing meditation; I just missed all the Sock Thursday folk. Now it’s one week later and I have to admit that:
a) OMG I’ve stuck with it! I thought this was going to be my Only On Thursdays project – a thing to keep me out of trouble as I waited for my circular needles to start a sweater. Silly really. As soon as I hit that second color change, I knew I was hooked. Partially because sock knitting is the single best bribe to do my physical therapy and then spend some time on ice. This week, PT got real and I’ve been dealing with the fall out a bit more graciously because I’m making socks. Normally, I get into a funk when I’ve worked my foot and leg hard enough to effect my hard won range of motion and step count. Somehow knitting and thinking about the pain in terms of the part of the sock I’m working on lessen the blow of having to take a couple of steps back so to speak.
b) It is just like riding a bicycle, I fell into this project as if I’d been knitting socks my whole life. There were some tense moments where I realized I made a mistake about half an inch back (that’s what I get for going off hastily written notes instead of the pattern itself), or dropped a stitch, but it didn’t feel like a big deal.
Then I picked up my sock on Tuesday, knit the heel flap, turned the heel and got about three rows into the gussets without batting a lash. I did have to focus, but it also just happened and that’s just magical.
c) Self stripping yarn is saving my life right now. It’s been great at helping me keep track of reps, progress and it’s just fun to see your yarn change as you knit. Especially in this case since the yarn cake doesn’t seem to be getting any smaller 🙂 I’d always thought it was weird that a lot of sock yarn had color variations but now I absolutely, 100% get it.
So where am I now?
Right about there 🙂
Not bad for one week! For those of you that are wondering, the stitch markers that are hanging out on this sock are keeping track of the beginning of round. Mostly out of curiosity, but also because my last pair of socks had a weird, although subtle, spiral thing going and I wondered if I knit them unevenly or if the yarn is just fun like that.
Are you working on socks? Would you like to? Come join us! Cast on, and link up with us so we can cheer you on! I’m shamelessly stealing the new updated list of folks doing Sock Thursdays from Katherine since I’ve been out of the loop for so long!
- Alex at Alexand Knits
- Paula at Spin a Yarn
- Hannah at unsophisticated + jejeune
- Jennifer at A Creative Yarn
- Katherine at Fiber and Sustenance
Project(s) in Progress 
Love your socks! That is some seriously pretty self-striping yarn and impressive progress in one week!!
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Thank you! I’m amazed I got this far so fast – the first socks I made seemed to take forever but hopefully I can get the pair done in a month this time.
The yarn was a gift and thought I wasn’t crazy about the colors at first, it’s really grown on me 🙂
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Oh my gosh! Look at you go Maggie! I absolutely agree that self-striping yarn is just the neatest. I wish now that all of my sock yarn was self-striping after working on my latest pair. The stripes create interest when viewing the finished item and also eggs you on to see if you can get to the next color change before stopping. Thanks so much for the kudos. I remember posting my very first post about socks and I instantly received a message to join you and Hannah. I felt an instant camaraderie 😀
Knitting socks two at a time is only fiddly at the beginning when you cast on…making sure both of your yarn balls are going in the same direction (when working in magic loop or two circulars). YouTube videos were a huge help to me trying to figure out that part. Then you just knit per normal until you get to the heel. Those are worked one at a time and then when finished, you go back to two at a time. I know you can do it…however, I also know that you really like your DPNs instead of circulars 🙂
Great job in keeping off that leg/foot and using your knitting as distraction. I’m still in the weeds as far as my cubital tunnel syndrome and wish that I could use knitting to help it. I’m going to make a quick post letting everyone know where I am so people don’t think I’ve dropped off the face of the earth.
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I’m convinced that knitting, and knitting socks especially, gets its magic from the amazing people you knit with. I remember seeing your first sock post and thinking: “There is no better way to tackle socks than with a mob of fierce knitters!” and thanks to you keeping things going, we are officially mob sized as a sock group! I honestly can’t give you enough kudos 😀
Two-at-a-time socks is going to have to wait for me. I’m curious, but you’re right, I love me some DPNs – I think I like them for the same reason I like self striping yarn, in that I know exactly where I am in the sock and can think stuff like “Okay, I have 16 stitches on needle 3, and then I can take a break and change ice packs.” It’ll be interesting to see where I am next year in terms of socks. I can’t see being over making socks one at a time on DPNs but who knows! I vow to knit at least one pair two-at-a-time, because I’ll try anything once. Maybe if I start at different points in the striping it won’t be too bad?
I feel you on the DL list 😦 I’m sorry you’re still out. The last time I went to get an MRI, I ran into one of the doctors who looked over at me and said “Non-weight bearing injuries are the absolute worst, I’d rather have a broken arm” to which I responded “Are your kidding? I wouldn’t be able to knit – and some one would be dead!” He laughed but looked a bit weary to be in the lift with me. Which is all a long way of saying that I know this sucks, but you’ve got this! Hmmm… If you’re not knitting, perhaps you can enjoy physically reading, since that’s not something that you can do at the same time as knitting. May I recommend The Rook if you haven’t read it? We can start a book club until you’re back on the needles 🙂
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Aww…thank you so much! I can’t wait to see where you are next year and myself too as far as our sock knitting goes! I think we’ll be worlds ahead of where we are now. I would also rather have a non-weight bearing injury than a broken arm. Knitters have priorities 😀 I slept in my braces last night and decided I’m going to wear my wrist brace while working today and see if that helps.
I have been reading a ton of books lately…mostly trashy smut novels that I have had on my Kindle for quite some time and also catching up on some of my favorite series. Is the book The Rook by Daniel O’Malley? It looks quite interesting! I’m going to see if my library has it before buying from Amazon. I see there is a second book too so it is a series.
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Oh, if it’s trashy novels you’re after, we’re all set or a book club 😀 I both been reading and listening to a bunch of fun stuff and you’re welcome to borrow any of it.
Daniel O’Malley’s book is the one! It’s really good and I think I’m on my third read now. The next book is good too, though for a whole other set of reasons. I can also recommend the Finishing School series by Gail Carrier and the two follow up series to that. They’re wonderfully written and a ton of fun.
Let me know how the braces work! I have to admit, I know very little about CTS but does arnica gel help at all? It’s been working miracles for my tendons so I thought I’d pass that on.
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I knew Gail Carriger sounded familiar! I’ve read The Parasol Protectorate series and loved it! It’s been quite some time and I didn’t even know she had another series. I will definitely check it out. When I talk about trashy…I’ve been reading the Dragon Fall series by Katie MacAlister (I’m on the second book) and the Reality Romance series by Lizzie Shane (I’m on the fourth book). I’ve also read a few that were horrible and not even worth mentioning. I hate when I spend well earned money and get an unsatisfactory experience. Maybe it would be a good idea to blog about them until I get my knitting feet back under me 🙂
I don’t have Arnica Gel; however you did remind me that I have the little Arnica tablets that dissolve in your mouth in my purse. I do have BioFreeze, which I had also totally forgotten about! I put some on this morning along with my brace and it is helping so much!!!
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I can’t lie, I am hella amped about a reading segment to your blog! I only know one other person that likes to read the same kind of books as I do (my friends are officially boring there) and this sounds like a nice way to branch out of the kind of stuff I’m reading. I think I’ll throw in a review here and there myself too 🙂
The Finishing School series is actually the precursor to the Parasol Protectorate! I happened to read them in the wrong order but that was actually kind of cool.
Dragon Fall sounds familiar but I haven’t read it yet – it’s going on Goodreads as soon as I’m done typing here!
Its soooo good to hear something is helping! I’d never heard of arnica pills or BioFreeze, but I’m also looking that up stat so I can be ready for PT on Monday.
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It’s so good to have you back here my lovey. I do love reading your posts. I said to Paula I would join sock Thursdays , but haven’t managed yet – I will, just very manic at the moment. I too love self striping sock yarn – it’s a little piece of magic 🙂
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That’s the beauty of Sock Thrs, it’s a wonderful place to come back to when you can – or lure you back in my case 😀
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Love that sock yarn-could you tell me what it is? I love self striping, too, seeing the pattern progress. It’s a lovely sock.
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Thank you! Unfortunately, I got this yarn as a gift (from a non yarn person) and I don’t even know what fiber it is. 😦 If I figure it out, I’ll let you know.
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