Well, I think I finally was bitten by the sock bug — I’m having a blast cranking out socks! Several months ago when I was on my yarn-buying spree I bought a few different brands of sock yarn on eBay, but I lacked the confidence to actually use it. I’ve got some beautiful Opal Handpainted and four different colors of Lorna’s Laces (Uptown, Desert Flower, Camouflage, and Bittersweet), not to mention some Koigu that I decided would make really cool-looking socks. Oh, and I also picked up 10 balls of Jojoland Fingering Wool specifically for the purpose of knitting socks (it was the first “sock” yarn I ever bought).

Lorna’s Laces Bittersweet — mmmm!

But even though I managed to knit myself three pairs of worsted weight socks to wear around the house — sans shoes — there was something about sock yarn that filled me with trepidation. Even the few socks I managed to cast on never got very far; I’d just put them down mid project and never pick them up again.

I bought the Tofutsies planning to knit socks for my sis; and I also hoped to knit socks for my mom, my MIL, and my Big Guy. VERY ambitious.

Camouflage socks for the Big Guy, since frogged.

Now I’m finally off and running. I really like knitting toe-up socks, and now — in addition to the above-named yarns — I’ve added one skein of Socks that Rock Lightweight to my stash, thanks to a fellow Raveler who was doing a bit of destashing.

Of course, starting Saturday my main focus, knitting and otherwise, will be the Tour de France, and my project for the KAL is the Simple Knitted Bodice. But to fill the dead space between finishing my sister socks and casting on for the SKB, I decided to finally knit up my Koigu socks.

Koigu sock number one — all finished but the ribbing

And I amazed myself by nearly finishing the first sock in only TWO days! For me, that’s phenomenal — although I must qualify that by saying the sock is not finished yet. I stopped just before beginning the ribbed cuff, put the sock on waste yarn, and put it aside for the moment. I want to get sock number 2 knit up to the same point before continuing, and the reason for that is simple.

I’m not following a particular pattern, and I’ve had to make notes as I knit the first sock so I can duplicate it. I’m pretty sure I can catch up with sock number 2 before Saturday, and from there it’s only ribbing, nothing special to remember. I can work on completing both socks at my leisure, maybe in between bouts with my silk SKB.

Once I finish the sweater, I’m definitely looking forward to more socks! I’ve been knitting plain stockinette thus far, and I actually enjoy the simplicity of it. But one of these days I’m going to get up the nerve to tackle a pretty lace sock pattern — then look out, there’ll be no stopping me!