In Which the Pirate Wins at Yarn Chicken.

The Silkie Socks that Rock that I got earlier this year is now a pair of actual socks! The pattern is from this dummies.com article, “How to Knit Socks with Slip-Stitch Ridges“, adapted to slip every fifth stitch, instead of every sixth. The finished socks are a little tight to pull on, but once I have them over my heel, they do fit well. If I use this pattern again, I’ll add another stitch or two for ease – and a yarn with more yardage.

I started knitting on Flexi-Flip needles, but got frustrated at the number of gusset stitches and switched back to DPNs. I didn’t try again for the second sock; maybe next time. Or maybe I’ll just sell the needles; I’m not sure I care for them. (I have them in both 2.25 mm and 2.5 mm sizes – if you’re interested, message me on Ravelry and we can work out a price and shipping costs.)

As I got close to the toe of the first sock, I started to get nervous about not having enough yarn for both. There are only 360 yards in the skein, and I have long feet… and my previous Socks that Rock socks were both a few yards short. So I stopped the first sock just before the toe decreases, broke the yarn, and cast on for the second sock on a fresh pair of needles.

In the ensuing game of yarn chicken, I began to think that maybe there was hope for my sock toes… but just in case it was necessary, I found a coordinating pinkish yarn in my stash to fill in the last few rounds. The colour is a little off in this picture because I took it at night; unfortunately we’re a little short on daylight hours at the moment. Things should be turning around this weekend, though. ;)

The closer I got to the end of my yarn, the faster I knit, as if I could race the yarn to the end. (Anyway, I wanted to finish this pair before the end of the year.) At the toe decreases, I began to alternate working on one sock and then the other, carefully knitting from the inside and outside of the ball at the same time, conveniently finishing off both socks at the same time. Here there’s about 32″ of yarn connecting the two still-ungrafted socks, and I tried them on at this point. “I think they’re long enough. I think they’ll fit! I think I just barely squeaked under the wire!”

With some trepidation I snipped the yarn connecting the two socks and started to kitchener stitch the first toe shut. I had to stop halfway across to tighten up the graft and free up a little more yarn, and… I made it. I won this round of yarn chicken.

I still have to weave in the ends, but I need to catch my breath first.

One day I’ll learn not to knit with short-yardage sock yarn, no matter how pretty it is. (Or to plan ahead for contrast cuffs/heels/toes, and then this wouldn’t be a problem.) But this was a really neat pattern and I enjoyed knitting it. I’d do *that* again, for sure.