Back on Track; Death by Socks

So I lied a bit in my last post. When I said I had three socks left to knit. Apparently I completely blocked out the fact that I had the second sock of this pair half done, when I ripped it off the needles and threw it on the bookshelf. I finished the first of the pair last night, and actually got so far as crocheting the chain for the provisional cast-on of the second sock. I didn't remember it until I went to look for the ball of yarn to start picking up stitches in the provisional cast-on.

The brief wave of relief was quickly flattened by the further remembrance that the other sock was cursed.

It remained cursed for some time after I went back to work on it. Since I'd had to take it off the needles, I needed to count rows on the first sock so I could make sure they were the same size. Did that. Then when I re-started the second sock, I miscounted, and had knitted several inches past where I should have started the heel before I realized it.

Back to the frog pond. But this time I was smart, and learned a new skill. I threaded a 'life line' through the row I needed to rip back to - some of the same sock yarn on a tapestry needle, threaded through a loop of each stitch in the row. Then I could rip back just to the point where I needed to be, and easily put my stitches back on the needle without the risk of dropping any - with the bonus that they were all facing the right way. I have a problem when picking up live stitches of always needing to pick them up backwards (because that just seems to be the way they're always facing), and then having to knit the entire picked-up row through the back loop to get them oriented properly again ... just a bit of a pain. With the pre-rip lifeline, none of that. It worked great, and it was the first time I've ever successfully used it.

So ... I ripped back this sock again ... but this time I got it right. I went on to get the heel in the right place, and I'm now more than halfway through the leg ribbing, and then I'll be done! Wowsa.




If I had a little more motivation, I could probably have finished it tonight ... but I'm probably not going to. They will be done tomorrow, though, and I'll start the third and last pair. With five days to knit two socks ... eh, it's do-able, but it's going to be tight.

In other news ... what could be more fun than Death by Socks? I'd be an early casualty, I'm just not that quick a knitter (usually). But it's a neat idea.