Good Intentions Don't Make Good Socks

I love a good swap, so I signed up for the Hot Socks swap.  Basically, you send sock yarn, hot beverage makings, and something else of your choosing to the person chosen for you.  Since there are a number of countries represented, it's a fun way to get/send yarn that might not be available locally for you.  And you know how I feel about sock yarn.  Anyway, I decided to make  a quick pair of socks, in addition to the other stuff, for my swap pal, Ketutar, who lives in Sweden.  I thought it would be nice to knit them out of Lorna's Laces sock yarn, since I don't know how available that yarn is over there.  I had one skein of the Somerset colorway.  No problem.  I know from past experience that I can get a pair of short socks with about a 4.5 inch leg and careful knitting out of one skein.  I've done this several times before.  Not so lucky this time.  As I started knitting toward the toe of the second sock, it became alarmingly apparent that there was no way I was going to have enough yardage.  So, I ripped back from my cast on cuff edge on both socks (not so easy to "rip back"  going against the way something was knitted) to get enough yarn (barely, we're talking down to the last inch) to finish the toe and then I had to do a cast off edge for the cuff, even though they were cuff down knit socks.  I am not happy with the result.  I photographed the socks against a gorgeous platter that was a wedding gift from an obscure relative on Mom's side of the family who has great taste in pottery, in the hopes that it will make the socks look better.  I hope my Hot Socks recipient doesn't judge my knitting ability too harshly.  These are sad.  I debated whether or not to even send them along, but decided it was silly not to after all the effort I put into them trying to eke out enough yardage. 

So, in an effort to cheer myself up after this knitting debacle, I'm including a photo of my niece, Bella, wearing a felted bowl my sister (who swears she can only knit in a circle) knit, as a hat.

Comments

[Ketutar]

LOL I love the socks :-) I'm very happy you sent them to me anyway :-D The color is very pretty, the yarn is very soft, and I don't see any problems with the knitting either :-) Might be because these are the third pair of socks ever knitted to me, and that makes one pair for every 13 years of my life... now THAT's sad ;-) Anyway, I'm very happy about them :-)
And the rest of the package too :-D

[Teri P]

What lovely socks, Jessica - I have to say I admire your determination! The platter is so pretty, too. When I first looked at the shells, I thought they were skeins of yarn!