Sock class-finished!

Check it out. Look what I wore home tonight after the last sock class. A pair of socks-finished!

Here's the pretty shot. Let me say..I love this yarn! Knit one crochet too, crock-o-dye. OOOOOOOOOOOh baby. Merino and silk. Delightful.

Now,....when you take a class, you should learn something. Right? Well...I've learned a bunch. First of all I learned to knit the socks toe up. I've been wanting to learn for awhile. Yep...check that off the knitting bucket list. Second....I don't like magic loop.

Now, before you jump...let me explain. Magic loop has worked for a whole lot of people. I have talked to them, watched them...and I'm just not one of them. And that's ok. If you don't try and learn something new, you'll never know what fits right for you. My problem was that the ladders through the heel drove me bonkers. You can see the holes that it created in the wrap heel for me. And I had even twisted the stitches to help to minimize the holey effect.

The second sock wasn't as bad as the first. but I'm still not satisfied with the results.

Third, I do like the way the bottom of the feet feels when I have the socks on. It's a great length for my goofy feet. The heels feel kinda goofy for me, but that just may be me. Or they're a different shape than I'm used to. They feel short in length and too wide for my preference. Yes, I know that there is room to tweak the daylights out of the heels to make them a better fit. But there are many other ways to try toe up socks. I'm not done learning yet.

However, here's another view of the holes. EWWWWWWWWWW I don't like them. I'm going to take some left over yarn and weave the tar out of these holes shut. But for the pictures tonight I wanted to show them warts and all. That's how you learn. Right?

This is the second sock, not nearly as bad as the first one was. Therefore, third, I liked making socks with 2 circs. Which kinda but shouldn't have surprised me. I make hats and sleeves all the time on 2 circs. The 40" needle I had may have been too stiff, it was brand new, and it had a catch on the join I didn't like. I'm going to get that taken care of fast. When I switched to the two pairs of 24" length after the ankles, these socks just flew off the needles. Watching opening ceremonies I nearly finished the whole leg of one sock. That to me felt fast. And that's coming from a committed double point knitter.

Fourth, I don't like the way the tops flared out. I understand that this is a very loose bind off (k 2, k2tog, *slip stitch back, k2 tog* all the way around. Yes, it's stretchy. And no it doesn't show when you're wearing the sock. I'm picky after all the socks I've knit from the top down using the old Norwegian cast on. When you're taking pictures of socks laying down, they look prettier.

Fifth, I loveeeeeeeeeeee this yarn! Therefore, I bought another skein in the midnight colorway...

 and in the current. Not sure which pattern I'm going to choose, but now that I know how lovely it feels to work with, picking up some more during class days (thank you class day discounts!) and seeing how the colors all look knit up, I am looking forward to making some more. Merino and silk...what a combination!

I have learned a lot. I'm not done knitting toe up socks. I have books. Lots of books and I know there are other ways to cast on, make heels and certainly many more patterns to knit into socks. I look forward to learning lots more. At class tonight someone said that every time you learn something new and can do it, you add 2 more years to your brain health. (or something to that effect.) Well, I plan on living a very long time with all I want to learn yet. HA!

But for now I'm going to wear the snot out of these socks. That yarn feels soooooooooooooooo good on my feet!

But maybe not with stretch leggings on a 92*F day. I'm ok with waiting until the weather isn't summer anymore. Really ok with that.