I recently finished my first knitting project after my return to knitting: a pair of ankle socks in a medium (for socks) weight yarn. The socks are plain and I'm pleased with the result, but there were some unexpected parts of the project, and some useful lessons:
For the most part I'm interested in knitting pretty plain socks in plain (solid) yarn: probably even undated yarn that I can soak in tea or henna post-knitting. So the fact that this is one of those patterned, superwash sock yarn is something of a misnomer.
I also intended to get 7 inch cuffs out of the yarn (in a 50 gram ball and I even knit most of a sock: but I ran out of yarn. My assumption that I could knit a 64 stitch sock with sport weight yarn was a touch over the mark, but it was close.
So having failed that project I took a break from the yarn and ripped it all back, and attempted to do a 60 stitch sock (right choice!) and knit a 2 inch cuff.
I could have gotten away with a slightly longer cuff, but I've been wanting to have a couple of short pairs of socks to wear while dancing, and to be honest the yarn looked better on the ball than knitted up.
The first moral: Given enough time, I figured it out.
The second moral: It's ok to rip something out if it doesn't work out. It's also ok to not rip it out immediately after you realize it doesn't work out.
I've never really been successful at kitchnering anything. I find every instruction to be incomprehensible, and every attempt to kitchner something has ended in disaster. My solution for the past couple of years has been to send the occasional sock off to my mother for her to do the honors.
The thing is, I understand the concept of what's happening, which makes the fact that I couldn't do it so frustrating. While I was knitting the first sock, I decided that I could probably think my way through the problem, and after a bit of fussing, I was ale to actually complete the sock toe.
I had to turn the sock inside out, and the ends weren't perfect, but it was close.
I wore these socks to a big Balkan Dance festival, and they worked! I thought the cuffs were a bit too short, but the sizing was correct in every other regard. Next pair will have slightly longer cuffs.
Huzzah!