FO: Riff*Con Socks

A major part of my Dragon*Con experience this year was working on these socks.

Pattern: Riff by Lise Brackbill from Knitty, Deep Fall, 2010

I worked on these in line, in panels, in the car, and while charging my phone in the most unlikely places, such as under an escalator or in a commandeered storage closet.  Obviously a girl in a short skirt and high heeled boots, cosplaying as Indiana Jones, hunkered under an escalator, and who happens to be knitting a bright pink sock, draws a bit of curiosity (though not nearly as much as all those men in kilts and fairy wings).

It was all friendly interest.  Most people were just curious as to what I was working on and left it at that.  A lot of the curiosity was directed to my choice to magic loop.  Several were new knitters who had yet to progress to socks because they were confused as to how to join in the round.  It was fun to show them what I was doing and introduce them to the joys of Ravelry while waiting to see the ever amazing Wil Wheaton.

Now if you look closely you might notice a problem that typically arises from having too much fun while knitting.  One sock is noticeably larger than the other.  Remember all those careful notes I took?  Yeah, forget those.  I somehow managed to have to reknit the one sock about three times and still made it one diamond shorter on the foot.  This should in no way reflect on the pattern.  It is very well written with fascinating construction.

And yet, somehow the shorter sock fits better than the one I meticulously measured and calculated.  So much for note-taking.

I Think I Must Buy Clogs Now

Last night I did something I've never done before.  Something that I've seen in photos but have been too intimidated to try.  Something I was sure would be insanely difficult and at which I was destined to fail miserably.  I knit a patterned heel.

Heel number one of Riff socks in ONline Supersocke Silk.

Understand that this heel was not achieved painlessly.  I was almost late for work because I picked them up to fix a mistake I made at dinner the night before and ended up in a screaming match with the stitches because they would not accommodate the stitch count properly.  Evidently it really is possible to fit a thirty stitch chart on twenty-eight stitches.  We came to terms with our differences, however, and enjoyed an evening of blissful twisty-ness and VMA mockage (All I wanted was to watch Adele and see the Hunger Games teaser.  The rest was miserable).

Luckily I had a stroke of genius in anticipation of my disagreement with the sock and printed out part of the pattern on which to take notes.  Normally I try to keep them on my phone or kindle, but I decided that if I was going to be able to make this sock a mate I needed something more permanent.

I also did not want to risk losing my pattern while at D*Con later this week.  Priorities, man.  Those lines will be miserable without my sock.