I've been looking at a lot of sock patterns and coveting sooo many sock yarns, but I've been very intimidated. They just LOOK difficult, right?
Snooping around Ravelry, I found this pattern for slipper socks using Dream In Color's Groovy yarn. I was lucky enough to snatch up a few skeins from ESK before the colors I wanted were out of stock, as this yarn has been discontinued (isn't that always the case?!). So I grabbed my skein of Groovy in Blue Sage and started the easy part - the 2 x 2 ribbing and the heel flap - except the heel flap wasn't quite as easy as I though. The math is a bit off, or my head is, because if you split 36 stitches in two, it's 18. If you decrease one stitch every row for seven rows, you're going to end up with 11 stitches, right?
Snooping around Ravelry, I found this pattern for slipper socks using Dream In Color's Groovy yarn. I was lucky enough to snatch up a few skeins from ESK before the colors I wanted were out of stock, as this yarn has been discontinued (isn't that always the case?!). So I grabbed my skein of Groovy in Blue Sage and started the easy part - the 2 x 2 ribbing and the heel flap - except the heel flap wasn't quite as easy as I though. The math is a bit off, or my head is, because if you split 36 stitches in two, it's 18. If you decrease one stitch every row for seven rows, you're going to end up with 11 stitches, right?
Except that pattern says you should end up with 12. I was flabbergasted. Four times I unraveled my work and knitted it over and over. Still, I only got 11 stitches. Whaaaaaaa? I forged onward, trying again and again, before I hit YouTube.
YouTube saves the day! User PleasantSeas has a video for a pattern that is close enough to the pattern on Ravelry to make my day. Cue the many "AH HA!" moments. I redid the heel turn once more, finally just winging it on the number of stitches and decreases. And then.. how to continue? I hit a wall again with figuring out how to continue knitting the rounds. The solution was realizing my issues were easily corrected by adding one simple element - a fourth DPN. How that never occurred to me, I don't know.
I think I'm on a roll now. My goal this weekend is to finish the pair of socks. Who knows, maybe I'll start on Hermione's socks for the ESK Yarnathon, too!