Are done! I finished the last toe up today while watching a bunch of episodes of Monarchy I tivoed off of pbs. Yes, sock knitting and shows about British History I'm livin in the fast lane.

The heels and toes in the pattern use a reverse yarn over short row from Priscilla Gibson-Roberts which gave me some trouble so I made one of Ann Budd's Better than Booties baby socks from Interweave Summer 2005 to get a chance to practice with it. A coworker of Cody's just had a baby girl anyway and I wanted to play with those braided cables.

So I got some good practice with the short row method and that crazy zig zag bindoff. And some play time with braided cables. I also found out that I'm totally spoiled with knitting socks on 2 circs. I had to use DPNs since I didn't have any 0 circs and was holding those dpns so tight I actually pinched a nerve in my left hand ring finger. The tip of my finger was numb and I had to completely remove my wedding rings for the first time in seven and a half years. Both experiences pissed me off enormously. Not to mention that I still have another bootie to knit because I'm also getting spoiled knitting two at a time. So I ordered 2 addi turbos in US 0 when I ordered the lamb's pride. They'll be here on Tuesday.

Anyway, now that I've gotten some better practice with the short row techniques and that nutty bind off (which I found worked out much better when I ended up slipping them onto 2 smaller sized dpns anyway) I can definitely see the benefit. The toe is very comfortable and it's nice to have the seam on the top of the toes instead of right at the end. I've always preferred commercial socks with that kind of toe seam so it's been nice to see how that's done.

I'll have to try this technique with another pair sometime because it really is more comfortable wearing this kind of sock with shoes. Like hmm these adorable brown tennis shoes with pink accents I got from Target a month ago for wait for it...FOUR DOLLARS.

And it was with a 20 dollar gift card they gave me for changing my prescriptions to them. Well, my pharmacy closed and transferred my prescriptions to them I didn't have much choice. But at least we got a few gift cards for it. And some adorable little faux converse shoes.

I never did get the striping to completely work without fail. But I think they're close enough and pretty cute anyway. And super super stretchy. They're breathing nicely on such a hot day. And I only used half of the two skeins of yarn I bought so I can make another pair if I want to!

These are actually much further along, I'm past the heel now and in the home stretch. Stretch being the operative word here, this is a cotton lycra blend from Greenwood Fiberworks I bought last February (before it got so popular ahem yeah I suck for pointing that out sorry about that). The yarn is so stretchy I've been having a hell of a time with the tension.

The ribbed cuff was where I held it way tight. Below that I held it way loose. In these photos I'd just started to get it going at a nice midrange and the yarn was starting to at least somewhat resemble the striping it was supposed to have. I'm not going to stress about it. Handknit socks are handknit socks and I bought two skeins of yarn so I have enough for another pair. I tend to overbuy on the sock yarn. I hate hate the idea of running out of yarn.

I'm following the pattern that came with the yarn. Fun short row heel. A few inches on the foot to go then I start a short row toe. Kind of intimidated by using the same heel rows for a toe. But I just follow row by row and trust in the pattern designer with this kind of thing.

In other news, I'm knitting up the Drag Queen Grover yarn for a non-knitting client that liked the yarn and wanted to buy it. All the while I'm doing a mental nose-thumbing at the art yarn snobbery contingent.

I hate the elitism that can come into play in the knitting world. The anti-novelty, anti-acrylic, anti-this, anti-that. I just don't think there's room for it in this craft. To me every yarn (and every kind of needle) has a purpose, a use, someone to appreciate it. If you don't like it, just don't buy it or knit with it. But this whole thing about not thinking it should exist...that's craft totalitarianism and I will fight it. And fight it hard baby. Vive le craft!!