Painful, But Necessary

Well, I'm afraid that the sock project which has been languishing in my WIP basket finally guilt-tripped me into taking it to my knitting group on Wednesday. You may remember them from earlier posts:



As I was struggling to knit them on the 2 circular needles I was thinking about what it was that kept me from working on them. Although Christmas knitting DID need to get done, it seemed there was something more to my having set them aside. Then I figured it out.

I had to admit that I really do not like knitting 2 socks at once on circular needles. I'm much faster on dpns. The 2 socks on 2 circs method slows me down because I am constantly having to fiddle with untangling the yarn(s) and needles.

That problem was further exacerbated by the fact that the yarns, in this case, were coming from a singular source (the sock blank) which made it all the more difficult to keep them from tangling and getting into weird/difficult to knit with positions in relation to the needles. At some point, I suppose, the process became too inwardly frustrating, so I set them aside.

So, I decided at my knitting group to seperate the Siamese twins in order to transfer them to dpns. It seems like a no brainer solution, doesn't it?

Well, let me tell you, it was a difficult process during which I think I recalled every swear word I ever learned (in any language, real or imagined).

Because I had to begin unraveling the sock blank at the wrong end, it didn't really want to unravel. I had to perform intricate "pass the balls through the loop" manuevers at each end of every row. Because of this, the yarn was twisting as well. And the yarn was already VERY kinky because it was being unknit from the sock blank.

I started the seperation surgery at about 10 a.m. Wednesday morning. The yarn was ALL over my living room (in my attempt to keep it from tangling up as much as possible). I did have a couple errands in the middle of the day....but it took me until 8 p.m. Wednesday to have two balls of yarn and two socks, one now on dpns while the other waits on the original circs.



Truth be told, I may have to set them aside once more until I recover from the process of seperating them!

What I learned about sock blanks:

1. I love the colors my friend used to dye the blank with. The potential to make whatever color and patterns you want is priceless and well worth it! The yarn itself is lovely, and after what it went through on Wednesday, I'm guessing it's quite sturdy as well!

2. If I ever find myself in possession of another I know now that I had better seperate the two balls of yarn BEFORE beginning the knitting process. I won't attempt to start two socks on two circs again....the method is just not for me.

Anyone else out there ever knit a sock blank? What did you learn? about the process? about yourself as a knitter?

Happy knitting!