Knitting used to be stressful to me – learning anything new is for me (especially when learning from people who are experienced – they just make it look too easy). But I’m grateful to be shown the ‘right’ way to do something so that I’m free to make plenty of my own mistakes. If I was taught from someone who had no idea what they were doing, well, I doubt I would be able to call my creation a sock…it could be a deformed polygoness shape.

I was going to attach these pictures to this post, but this sock comes with a story too. I said I was going to knit this sock a size smaller and went down two sizes…and still too big. I can only look forward to what the next pattern will bring, but I will continue to decrease until I find the right fit for me. I decided against the purl stitch above the heel, as I accidentally did with the first sock. So instead I purled the heel – the whole thing before noticing!

I thought I had the ‘turning the heel’ thing down, but that too was a difficulty all its own. I spent over an hour attempting to unknot my yarn. I was working from the center of my ball and had multiple strings in my hands – otherwise I would have cut sooner. By the time I got to the center the knot was too tight to tangle with (pun intended). I was glad that I was able to handle it with patience, but oh was it tested. I would repeat this process twice more causing me the need to ‘knit-in’ a few times and causing a mess of the heel flap (which translates to – not being rounded just put together).

I didn’t want ladders this time (so the sock gave me zigzags) and I have a few holes that may have gotten there from rotating the yarn forward as I worked (partly distracted). I also paid attention to the gussets and got them on the sides this time – ya! But…after a few more hours I was ready to decrease for the toes. I was worried that the sock would be too long and had a reduce-the-stitches party and now I can feel a lump under my toes. Note: these decreases should be on the sides or top next time, but over all it is still a sock.