Worth The Wait

Sometimes I amaze even myself. Way back when I was still part of the "Georgetown Group" (The Halton Hands in Motion Knitting and Crocheting Guild), the owner and guild prez, often brought in new items to meetings, and I saw this sock yarn and immediately coveted it. Now, I thought I had bought it in July 2007, on my way back from a follow up after my surgery. Apparently not. According to my blog, I bought it in April 2007. Well, actually, in re-reading that post, I see that the guild meeting was April 12, but it seems that's not when I bought it. According to a picture I posted on June 11, 2008, the ball of yarn was in my stash, and still intact. Oh, but by August, I had knit the socks. Two and a bit times? Gee, I wish I had read that post before I tried again.

So, apparently these socks have been languishing in the 'mid-term UFO' drawer. You know, those projects that are not 'current' but not totally hibernating. Having a little time out. A year and a half is a little time out, no?

Just after I made the green pair of socks that I recently posted, I received some back issues of KnitWords magazine. And, gee...there was a pattern for 2x2 ribbed socks! LOL! They're made slightly different than the ones I figured out myself.
I made the first one I showed in the last post, and felt it was too big. Well, yeah, even though I got a tighter gauge than the pattern, they were 72st (I think) and I had written in the post in 2008 that 64sts were too many. I sized down a bit for another try, but in order to get the end needles arranged like the pattern recommended, I think I ended up with 68sts.
Optical illusion? Is one foot really that much shorter than the other? :)

Pulled up nice and tight and freshly washed I thought they were perfect.

It didn't take long though, for the saggin' baggin' to happen. The sock is clearly too loose in the leg, and I think I need more rows of plain knit before I start the short row heel. I think I want the ribbing to end just above the ankle bone. I've never liked short row heels because I seem to have a deep heel. But on the machine, this is truly the easiest way. Not the only way, but I'm not sure that the amount of work needed for a heel flap would be worth the work. I could take it off and knit the heel by hand faster, then put it back on to knit the rest of the foot.

The foot is also on the looser side. I could tighten up the gauge, but I"m already getting 32st/4" (and the pattern called for 30st/4"), and I like the fabric. I can use fewer sts, but then I have to recalculate the foot length as fewer sts would mean fewer rows in the heel and toe. The pattern row gauge was 36st/4" but I got 44 rows/4" and I like the fabric.

I haven't matched row gauge in any pattern yet. I seem to get too many rows. But I like the fabric.
And I'm not re-knitting these socks again! When I enter them into Ravelry, do I put August 2008 as the start date?!