Sock Madness 13 Qualifying Round: Smock Spaghetti

[janestarz]

Oh it's so pretty, the Qualifying sock has mock cables by wrapping 3 to 6 stitches in yarn, a technique calling smocking! I was feeling much improved and got pretty far:


Row 49 out of 60 for the leg

But once I almost got to the heel I finally picked up on something that I should have noticed some 60 rows previous:



At the Beginning of Round marker, I had 4 stripes, while on the other end of the sock I had only 2. I offset the entire pattern by making a mistake in the first row of the sock, during the cuff ribbing. Apparantly I miscounted and offset the ribbing; there should be 3 stripes on either side.

I contacted the mods in the Question Thread -- oho! the dreaded question thread! Most people posting there can't read a pattern properly, haven't read the rules, are genuinely confused by knitting in general and socks in particular, or have just had a minor coronary event because of a mistake they spotted in their knitting. Posting in the Question Thread should never be done lightly, and I did so with my heart in my throat.

The rest of the sock, heel flap and instep, match the leg ribbing just as perfectly as the cuff ribbing fits the leg ribbing. It's all to smoothly transition from one part of sock architecture to the other. Mine wouldn't, with the counting mistake. I waited a full hour, maybe more, waiting for the judges' verdict but I already knew in my heart I would have to frog.
So halfway through the hour, I started a new cast-on from the other end of the skein (after re-winding the skein so I could reach the other tail). Once the verdict was official, the first sock became Smock Spaghetti:



I'm just glad there's still more than a week left to finish this pair of socks, although at this gauge it will be a tight race. I've never liked knitting 9 sts/inch, it's a tough gauge on my hands and it's slow going. Knitting the largest size at 82 stitches makes every round longer than the smaller sizes as well. I hope I won't run out of yarn!
But I completely agree with the judges' verdict. I'd rather have everything go smoothly and knit a beautiful sock than get a jog in the back of the leg and never quite match up the mock cables. I PM'ed Haastjerepje, one of the Mods, to tell her. She complimented me on being a good sport. And that'll teach me to cast on while having a fever.

Plenty of time to make cheerleader. Who knows, maybe I can compete. We'll see!

Comments

[anemoona.livejournal.com]

Wat zonde! Maar wel begrijpelijk van de mods. Het patroon van de sok ziet er toch wel heel anders uit dan de ontwerpster het bedoeld had. Maar goed, met anderhalve week te gaan zou 1 sok toch nog wel kunnen? Toch?

[janestarz.livejournal.com]

Laten we het hopen! Ik ben alweer halverwege het been, morgen ga ik weer werken want de griep is wel voorbij, en daarna is het weekend :-)