What’s on the Needles: Cabled Socks

Why am I knitting thigh-high, worsted weight socks in April? Well, they were supposed to be a Christmas present. I'm sure I'll finish them in time for this Christmas.

I'm always wary of socks because I know my procrastinating ass will get second sock syndrome hardcore. Now, because a dear friend asked for warm, thigh-high socks I decided to suck it up and find a good pattern. I think that's still makes me a good friend even if I am still four months overdue. I searched all over Ravelry and the best pattern I could find that fit what she asked for was this beauty from the Vogue Knitting Holiday 2012 issue.

To avoid second sock syndrome I decided to knit both socks together, a technique I had never tried before. This is not a good pattern to do that with for the first time. This is not a good color of yarn to do that with for the first time. These are not good needles to do this with for the first time.

Maybe I'm just not used to the way Vogue Knitting presents its patterns but this is a horrible pattern to follow. (Not a horrible pattern, though, it's gorgeous.) It took me a few rounds and lots of mistakes to learn what their abbreviations for the cables were. Until then I had to deal with the app's unique problem. I'm not sure if the pattern is on two pages side by side or if you had to flip over the first page to get to the second part, but on the app two pages are difficult no matter what. The pattern key and the majority of instructions are on one page while the chart is on the second. Because my screen is only 7 inches I have to zoom in to read the pattern, and if I need to switch the page I must un-zoom, change the page, re-zoom, and — if my device is acting particularly slow — wait for it to all load again in a bigger size. It's not the end of the world, but it is unnecessarily time consuming and frustrating.

Another thing that is I'm having trouble with is the color of yarn I'm using. The first thing I tell beginning knitters and crocheters is to use a light colored yarn, it will help you see the stitches.

Light-colored yarns also photograph better.
Unfortunately, my friend and I are both in love with this dark purple and all I have are these thick, inflexible Boye interchangeables to work it on. I will just have to deal with choosing the most complicated way of getting these done because I know the end result will be worth the trouble.

Comments