Look at these beeeyooouuuteeeeful socks!

I just took some sock pictures! First, the exciting Sockapal-2-za pictures - one flat and one on my foot:







They were knit just for me by the wonderful Ms. Swim. I love her blog, and was so excited to see that she was the one who knit my beautiful socks.

I couldn't get a photo that showed the true richness and beauty of the colors, but believe me, they are great. And they couldn't be more me. Rich reds and purples, with some oranges, greens, and pinks thrown in. I don't think there's actually any brown in them, but they give the impression of having some brown in them, which is a pretty neat effect. I think I'm going to have to hunt down this Koigu colorway and buy a truckload.

My sock pal's socks went out on Saturday, along with some nylon needles, which had to be one of the last KBTH trades. *sniff* (I can't tell you how bummed I am that KBTH went *poof*.) The needles and socks were for two different people, and although I checked the addresses about half a zillion times before addressing and stuffing the envelopes, I'm still paranoid that my sock pal got the needles and the needle gal got the socks. I'll be happy when I hear that the package recipients did get the right stuff.

On to other things - namely, the advanced_knit lace socks. Beieve it or not ('cause nothing surprises me with this lace sock fiasco endeavor anymore), I ripped them out. I decided that I really, strongly, intensely disliked the yarnover short row method. It was easier to screw up than the wrap method, and I thought it looked sloppier and less sturdy. Maybe it was because I'm knitting the socks at a looser gauge than I usually do, but I was just not at all happy with the way the toe and heel turned out. I was going to tolerate the toe, but when the heel looked so vulnerable to wear and tear, and so sloppy, I just pulled out the needles and ripped my heart out.

I decided to go with the same basic pattern, but to do top-down instead. I was thinking of doing a wrap short row, learning a different short row method (maybe that Japanese method, with safety pins), or doing my first figure-8 toe and putting off the short row decision until the heel. But I just couldn't bear the thought of another provisional cast-on (I can do them just fine, but find them very tedious), and was watching a movie that required too much attention for me to try a new method. (And the only reason I allowed myself to rip was because I knew I had to cast on again immediately, to try to thwart this lace sock curse.) So I went for the tried and true, and am a good way into the foot of the first sock already.

Links to pictures:

• This is how it looks unstretched
• This is how it looks with the cuff stretched. The lace pattern is extremely stretchy in the vertical and horizontal directions. I didn't make the cuff as long as I was planning because 1. This yarn and this pattern is, in my opinion, more suited to a short showy sock than a long sock meant for warmth, and 2. I'm going to block the cuff to be as long as it is in this picture.

I'm trying to figure out what to do about foot length. On one hand, I've seen that the lace stretches a lot vertically, and looks very good like that. On the other hand, with the foot, there is lace on the top and stockinette on the sole of the foot. Stockinette doesn't want to stretch nearly as much as lace does. This means I either end up blocking the stockinette to within an inch of its life, or leave the lace relatively unstretched lengthwise. I think I'm going to to for the latter, but any suggestions? (This question directly aimed at the lovely woman who designed these socks, as she surely has experience with this already. :)

With all of this lace sock knitting, I got absolutely no work done on Rogue. The only time I touched it was to clear it from the living room, as it was distracting and cluttering. I'm at the point where I need to figure out when to stop working on the sleeves, which is fiddly and exacting business. Maybe tonight, although it will be tempting to get the first lace sock out of the way. Once it's done and kitchenered, I'll feel more assured that I'm not going to rip it out, burn it, or feed it to the giant spider who lives in front of our living room window.