Alligator Feet

I have finished the first sock of a pair for myself.

I checked out Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks from the library, having heard good things about it. Wow! It is not just a sock pattern book. It is an instruction manual on the construction of socks, a thesis on the possibilities of sock architecture, an inside-out tour on the very THINKING that makes socks possible.

I can't say enough about the way this book was put together. Instead of presenting individual sock patterns, instead she shows how to "build" socks using four, five, six, eight, and twelve stitch patterns, plus ripple stitches, cables, fair isle, and mosaic. She also presents each pattern with instructions for using four or five DPNs or (my preference, since it's the only way I know how) two circulars, and gives a chart so you can choose your gauge and size. So you get to choose your pattern, your yarn, your gauge, your method, and get going. Amazing!

I didn't, apparently, measure my foot correctly, so my sock is a bit on the big side:


I've already cast on the mate, though, and will just soldier through with big-ish socks. That's what Birkenstocks are for. (Can you tell I live in the Northwest?)