So… you remember that whole smugness I had about knitting two socks at a time on two circular needles being so easy?

Well, technically I’ll still argue it’s surprisingly easy. However, I managed to screw mine up a bit last night, proving that though “easy”, they do require a certain amount of attention and focus.

I made the mistake of trying to turn the heels and pick up gusset stitches while chatting with the ladies at our LYS’s sock club last night. Not a good idea. I apparently wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing.

At first glance you might not see the problem here (particularly if you’ve not knit using this technique). However, if you take a look at where the yarn is coming off each sock, you’ll find the problem. The socks are essentially mirror images of each other, and they should be the same, with the gussets picked up on the same side and the yarn coming off that side. I’ve knit myself into a bit of a corner so now I need to rip back and fix it.

One of the tricks to this technique, I’m finding, is that you need to pay attention to where your yarn is (particularly when you cast on, and when you work on a single sock at a time to do the heels). It’s not difficult. You just need to make sure you follow directions properly, which clearly I did not.

Needless to say, I’m a little perturbed with this project at the moment, mostly because it’s my own darn fault. Thankfully though, it’s entirely fixable … when I have the patience to do so.

Last night, I did not have that patience.

So instead, I decided to cast on my new sock for sock club! (Pfft, who am I fooling? I would have done it anyway. I couldn’t resist.)

The yarn is Schaefer Anne. I have one other skein of Anne in my stash but I have yet to work with it. It’s a blend of 60% merino wool, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon. It is fabulously soft. I have to admit, I’m enjoying working with a fiber that has some mohair in it — it’s a fun change of pace. I’m not sure of the colorway name (”Blue Jeans” maybe?) but I believe it was an exclusive for our sock club. (Can someone from the club correct me if I’m wrong? — I thought that’s what I heard someone say.)

The pattern we’re using is the Anne Lacey Cuff Socks designed by Rebecca Hatcher. It’s a toe-up pattern which is relatively new for me. I’ve only ever knit one practice baby sock toe-up before, and I struggled with it a bit.

While at the LYS last night, I grabbed a 32″ Addi Turbo needle in size 2 and when I got home, I cast on and started knitting. After just a few rows, I realized size 2’s weren’t going to do the trick at all. (And come to find out, I read on Ravelry today that size 2 Addis are really closer to a 2.5 and that their 1’s are more like 1.5’s — did y’all know that? I sure didn’t.)

So I tore out what I’d done, which thankfully wasn’t too much. I reexamined the pattern and saw that it calls for a size 1 needle. (Where was my brain last night?!) Unfortunately, I realized I didn’t have any long size 1 cable needles. I had size 1 DPNs, but I really had wanted to do magic loop because that’s what the pattern was written for, and I was anticipating having enough problems doing toe-up that I didn’t want to complicate my (knitting) life further.

That’s when I remembered that when I’d ordered needles from Knit Picks to do the 2 socks on 2 circs, I’d ordered both 1’s and 2’s. The 2’s are otherwise occupied at the moment, but I still had the 1’s stashed in my bag! Wahoo! So while they weren’t really long enough to do magic loop (16″ and 24″), I decided I’d try using two circulars instead. I didn’t, however, decide to do two at a time in this case. The book I have doesn’t explain how to do toe-up using this technique and after my fiasco earlier in the night, I wasn’t feeling like taking a risk. Heh.

So I cast on again using the size 1’s. Much better! I now have a lovely little toe. It’s so snuggly and soft.

I think I may actually give up my beloved DPNs for sock knitting at some point. I’m starting to really like the 2 circulars. For some reason, magic loop didn’t really appeal to me when I first tried it. Either way, I’m glad I’ve tried all 3 needle type/technique options. Now I need to work on getting comfortable with toe-up socks. And then move on to all the different heels and toes…