Twisted Socks
Pattern: Twisted Socks
Yarn: KnitPicks Dancing in Two Step, 2 balls
Needles: see below
Began: January 2006
Completed: August 31, 2006
UFO August was worth it just I could get this, my longest lingering UFO, off the needles. These are the second of three pairs of fingering weight socks I’ve attempted so far. The first was a horror show of yucky yarn and uneven stitches that will never be completed. The third will hopefully be done in the next 7-10 days. Considering how much of my online time is spent mooning over other people’s socks and scheming ways to add to my sock stash, it’s pretty shameful that I’m only just now managing to finish a pair. With the fear of tiny needles overcome I’m looking forward to kicking into gear heading into Socktober. 
In most cases, socks are described as fraternal when colors pool or stripes don’t match up. In this case, the socks were actually knit at different gauges! Sock #1 (on the right in the picture above) was knit mostly on 3.25mm (US 3) needles for a stockinette gauge of 7-8 sts/in. Sock #2 (AKA the one with the color pooling) was knit on 2.5mm (US 1.5) needles at 9 sts/in. I know this sounds like sheer craziness, but in my defense, the only gauge the pattern gives is for the twisted rib, and the idea that anyone can get an accurate gauge measurement out of ribbing, especially in a yarn with some elastic content, is a myth as far as I’m concerned. For the first sock I trusted the pattern and used the recommended needle size, but the ribbing came out very loose, more like slouch socks. So I went down a size for the second pair only to realize that Inox’s idea of US 2 is more like US 1.5 so the second sock is a bit more snug than I’d like. But both do fit and I love each in different ways. There are more differences and problems encountered that I could mention (like how I switched the direction of the twist with sock #2 to make it quicker to knit and how each toe was knitted no less than three times before it fit) but I think I’ve rambled on long enough.
As I mentioned in the previous entry, these count as my August socks for Sock-a-Month 2 (off to a good start!), my first Summer of Socks socks, one of my last UFO August FOs, and the first dent in the sock stash for Summer of Stash.
Very nice socks! I’d say you’re off and running on the sock thing now … yippee!