FO: Garter Rib Socks

Pattern: Garter rib from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks' Felici in the Pebble colorway
Needles: Knit Picks' DPNs size 1 (2.25mm)
Started: October 3
Finished: November 2
Modifications: Maia's toe-up gusseted heel, eye of partridge stitch carried through the heel turn and up the back of the heel.
What I learned: 1) Love the look of EOP instead of a slipped stitch heel. 2) I don't work well on deadline. These were initially my October entry for the SAMKAL4 and, well, you can see when they got finished.

When I first started these, the garter rib pattern was great; interesting enough to not be boring, but simple enough that I could work on the socks anywhere. After I finished the first sock though, SSS hit hard. I could barely stand to switch from knit to purl every other row. I see some straight up stockinette stitch socks in my future.

The same thing happened with the yarn, on the first sock, I loved it, the feel of the yarn and the colorway; I kept anticipating each color change. However, with the second sock, the yarn (and needles) just seemed too fine/small. At times it felt like I was working with sewing floss instead of wool yarn. Don't take that as a knock on the yarn though, I suspect it may have to do with the colder weather and lack of humidity (or something like that).

The socks fit well enough, but I think I made the feet a little too long. I started the heel flap sooner, and thus made it longer, than on the twisted tweed socks and it messed things up. The foot being longer made the leg shorter, they're just barely long enough for me. I'm still experimenting to find the perfect equation to fit my feet, but with all the variables, I'm afraid it may take a while. Unfortunately, I don't have it in me to knit the same pattern over and over again until I get it right.

P.S. Check out the blog contest over at Fine Martial Fiber. Can you guess the smiles?