After all the problems I had with my first pair of socks, I was happy that things were going smoothly. I finished the legs on both socks, did the heel flaps without any issues and was excited that I was going to catch up with the other people doing the Knit-A-Long (KAL).
And then a funny thing happened. Not funny haha. Trust me on that one.
As I'm doing the heel turn and picking up stitches for the gusset, I think to myself, wow, these socks look pretty big. This isn't the first time I had this thought. It had crossed my mind when I was knitting the legs that they looked awfully wide, but I shrugged it off, assuming that it was just puffing out because it was flat.
But as I made the turn into the foot of the sock, there was no more denial. The sock looked huge. Like Sasquatch could wear it. Or the Jolly Green Giant.
I hadn't bothered to do a gauge swatch, which was foolish in retrospect, but I hate knitting them so much when they don't make anything and it's just a sock. How far off could I be? Well, I got my ruler out and checked my gauge. I was five stitches off the pattern. That's a lot of stitches and it explained why I was knitting Christmas stockings and not socks that a human could wear.
It took the heart right out of me. I'd been all excited, all happy and then all the air was sucked out of my lungs. All that work and I wouldn't have socks I could wear.
Okay, so I never wear socks at all if I can help it, but still.
At first I thought I would continue just to learn how to make socks, but when I woke up the next morning, I decided to start over and knit them smaller this time. I'm starting the ribbing on sock one, and the good thing about my earlier disasters is that I was able to get the cast-on right the first time. I'm hoping it goes much quicker this time around.
