I Have a Confession to Make...

And now that I've finished the SockapalOOOza socks on time, I feel I can safely bare my soul! ;)



On Friday, April 7, I posted a picture of this stunningly beautiful ball of yarn I received from my Spectrum Sock-Yarn Swap pal, Gabby Knitter!

What I did not want to admit, until the SockapalOOOza socks were safely off the needles, was that I loved this ball of yarn *so* much that I shoved aside all other projects (except for the SockapalOOOza colorwork socks, of course!) and immediately cast on a pair of Fabulous Marigold socks for myself! .. Now, I am not a person who wears much yellow or orange. I have one t-shirt that ended up in my laundry one day that is orange, oversized, and from the Ceramics department at the University I attended. I still have no clue where this errant orange t-shirt came from.. but it is the *only* piece of clothing that I own that will color-co-ordinate with my Fabulous Marigold socks. Most of my wardrobe is actually in the blue-green-purple range, but this will in no way deter me from wearing these amazing yellow socks. (as soon as the second one is finished..)

See, I took the Fabulous Marigold sockyarn to the Sci-Fi convention (April 13-16). I brought the SockapalOOOza colorwork socks too, but because the whole sock was charted, I really couldn't work on them while I was socializing and gasping at costumes. I needed a simple enough stitch pattern that I could drop my project into my lap when I needed to look up someone's registration on the computer or hand them their badge. (volunteering for the registration desk proved to be a convenient way to baby my knee for much of the weekend.) I needed a project that wouldn't take up much room--again ruling out the charts and board and multiple balls of yarn required for the SockapalOOOza charted masterpiece.

Working at the registration desk, I met *many* of the con-goers face to face. Hundreds of them. .. and let me just say that after the third hour knitting on these Fabulous Marigold socks, I had lost track of the number of compliments on the yarn. Not on my knitting (although there were a few compliments on that, too.. but not enough to make me lose count!) .. On the YARN! Complete strangers coming up to me asking where I found the yarn. Boy was I proud!! :) I have the bestest sock-yarn-dyeing swap pal ever!

You can't imagine how difficult it has been to knuckle down and get the SockapalOOOza socks finished before crowing about GabbyKnitter's prowess!! .. of course, it was also this Fabulous Marigold sock, knitted in 4 days while socializing, that woke me up to how much time the full colorwork was taking, and to the realization that I could rework the idea to an achievable goal! Thank you again, GabbyKnitter! :)

So here comes my end-of-April Spectrum Yellow-Orange blowout:



Friday morning: a ribbed cuff and a stockinette upper. I wasn't happy with the number of stitches I'd cast on, and I decided that I liked the ribbed section better than the stockinette section, so I ripped it all out and cast on again.



Sunday morning: Not a full sock, actually.. making nice progress, though. It got longer before we left the building, and even longer still before we got home that evening. (we stopped for a meal on the way, which gave me some prime knitting time.)



Late Sunday evening: decreasing at the toes, cuff turned down.



A while later: reworked toe. (for the 5th time...) .. first I started the toe too early and made the decreases too frequently, so the toe was all stubby and my toes were curled under. Then I started the toe too late and made the decreases too infrequently so the toe shape was very pointy and stuck out farther than my toes. Then I decreased at about the right rate, but the wrong shape... anyway, you get the picture. I often *say,* "it's simple, I don't work from a pattern, I just decrease when I need to and increase when I need to and fit these several parts together the way I like!" ... but in reality, there's a lot of changed decisions I make along the way. Ripping and reknitting when something doesn't quite please me.

By now, though, I've kitchnered shut the top of the toe and there is no going back! ... well, I suppose I could.. but I'm thinking I won't. It's a decent fit. Maybe as many as three rows longer than ideal, but very cushy. Comfortable socks!

I have one more sock to make (hopefully a matching one..), and I still can't get the inchworm song out of my head.