Sock Saga

Even though I'm more or less retired from my profession, I decided to cram in a bunch of classes so that I could keep my certification. Two long days of workshops, which would result in 15 credits. I dug out my nice pants and a little jacket and decided to treat myself to a ball of "real" sock yarn from my old stash (which I"m not delving into this year), packed up my #1 dpns, styled my hair, and had Ricardo take me to the downtown Hyatt, where the classes were being offered.

So, I'm sitting there, with my quality yarn, settling in for a long day of sock-ing. I finished the ribbing (something I never enjoy), and got into the body of the sock. The yarn was one of those patterned types, with many colors, patterns and stripes that emerge. Thus, I had decided just to knit straight, with no lacy stuff. I was sitting off to the side, listening with half an ear, when three little stitches slipped off the end of one of the back needles. No biggie. This happens all the time. But then I tried to pick up the stitches. The yarn began to split. I tried again, rubbing it with my finger to make it a little more cohesive. It got worse. In fact, I've never seen yarn like this. It more or less exploded under my finger, into a fuzzy ball. I made a little grunt, causing people to look over at me. I tried to cram the little loops back onto the needle, but they were about four times larger than the other loops. I knit around, thinking they could be knitted up and settle themselves down. They didn't. Instead, the spot with the three stitches was stretched out, and very thin. As I knit on, it looked like a big hole in the sock. I decided to rip it back. When I did, that section of the yarn was very thin, so I cut out about six inches, and knotted it. Then I realized the colorway would be off. And trying to thread the loops back on the needle would be a problem. A BIG, fuzzy problem. So I gave up.

There I was, with two days looming, and nothing to knit. Ricardo was meeting me for lunch at the hotel, but I knew he'd never find another small project to bring along (not to mention the right size needles). So I told him to bring me a ball of white fingering weight baby yarn I'd put aside on the dresser, not knowing exactly what I was going to do with it.

I was in sock mode, and had the right needles, so I decided to make some thin trouser socks to wear with my loafers. But, I didn't want to make them so plain, and really didn't have the time or place to work out an interesting pattern. I improvised a little eyelet design--only one row in four was a pattern row--with a diagonal line cutting through it. It's pulling a little to the right, but maybe it'll straighten out when it's on a foot. Just turned the heel.

I don't know if I'll ever try to use the rest of the sock yarn. I think it's possessed.