WIP Wednesday: It looks like a sock!

Well, this past week gave me a decent amount of knitting time, because ... I went on a cruise! Yep, in February - Florida does have its perks sometimes :) I'll post about my trip soon. Anyway, I'm not all that big into the "activities"on the ship while you're out to sea, so I spent a good deal of my down time working on my sock. Now that I'm home, it looks like this:

Look! A sock! A noticeable sock! lol It's pretty cool that now you can tell what it is supposed to be, even if there is a bit of work to do. Actually, here is what the entire project looked like as of this morning:

While on the ship, I managed to finish the lace section - including shaping for the calf at the back - but I ran into a bit of a snag as far as finishing the sock. I knew going into this project that I was short 67 yards of yarn compared to what the pattern calls for. I just figured I would make normal length socks instead of knee socks, never really working out exactly what that meant I needed to do. I got the lace repeats as far up as I thought I had yarn for, then I skipped a diagonal lace section completely and went straight into the top ribbing. I made the good decision not to bind off though while I was on the boat - my puny bit of yarn I had left was worrying me and I had no idea how much yarn it would take to knit the heel. So, I just put the stitches on a piece of scrap yarn and started on the other sock - I managed to make the entire toe while on the boat :)

So when I got home, I set to learning how to make the heel. I'm making this sock along with the Knit Sock Workshop Craftsy class, so instead of trying to figure out the heel on my own, I wanted to take advantage of seeing how it was done first hand. It turns out it's incredibly easy, but it was still nice to see it done. So last night I picked up my heel stitches and started decreasing. As I had feared, I did not leave enough yarn to finish my heel as the sock is :( It kind of sucks, but it's not too bad because 1) I hadn't bound off 2) I skipped the extra lace section and 3) I only have to pull out that small ribbed section and 1 lace repeat and I know it will be enough, then I'll just do ribbing with the leftover yarn until I run out again. At least I have it all worked out now so the other sock should go much quicker.

On another bright side with having to rip out a bit, they did hit my calf at almost the widest point - not the most attractive look. I think that pulling out a bit will make them look like a normal tall sock length. I will say that this yarn is extremely comfy - I was afraid it would be way too hot since it's merino wool and nylon (the yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Fingering in Blue Topaz), but it's just nice and snuggly. Also it's a strange thing to have a sock that fits my large foot - every sock I have ever worn is stretched to the max, so to have this one not tight almost makes it seem too big, but in reality it jsut "fits" like it should.

And here is a close up of the heel. I would have finished it last night if I'd had enough yarn - it's surprisingly quick knitting since it's such a small area. I'm excited to get it finished so I can enjoy the finished product :) And I really can't wait to see how they look when they are blocked - I'm sure that lace will pop out and look awesome. So exciting!

So that's it for me this week :) I'm really pleased to have so much to show compared to how little progress I've made over the last month. I'm also happy to report that I don't seem to suffer from Second Sock Syndrome, lol. I'm actually looking forward to knitting the second sock! Anyway, head over to Gracie's Goodies to see what others are working on this week!