A sock, not for Fox. The First.

Sunday night, a few weeks ago:
Was ready to graft the toe closed of the sock [YAY!!!] Looked up and practised the Kitchener. Kitchener fail. Not only was there a hole in the middle of the toe of my perfect sock, but the ends were all pointy. Eww. And when I tried to carefully take it apart, the whole toe unraveled about five rows. Decided that I wasn't about to try it again unarmed and unaided, so I reknit the toe of the sock up to the graft point and packed it in my bag for Monday, with the intention of making a detour at the yarn shop on the way home for instructions at avoiding destruction from a trained professional. I know when I'm out of my league.

Mentioned my knitting woes to Miss Honey. She said this is why she doesn't knit. But oohs and awws and thinks the sock is lovely just the same, concurring that seeking professional help is best course of action. [she doesn't knit. would love to, but has never had the patience. or something. I'm not yet convinced that she just needed thicker yarn and bigger needles - the Frankenstein approach to knitting... make it big so you can see everything. Also, pretty instant gratification.]

Monday, the day after the aforementioned Sunday:

Stopped at the yarn shop on the way home from school. Handed them the sock and said "Kitchener, please?" and learned that I should have knit a little more foot, decreased without a knit round in between each decrease and left more stitches to Kitchener with. Also, I should have left a ridiculous amount of yarn tail. Also learned that I should have cast on less stitches and used smaller needles. Or just used smaller needles. But what's done is done. Will just make sure the recipient knows where to find me so I can darn any holes that appear from my ][apparently] loose knitting.

[that's my hand inside the sock.] 

sock 1 and the start of number 2. slow going.

These socks are super stretchy. They're just long enough for person with a size 8 wide foot [le moi] but would give a little longer if necessary. [actually, I have no idea what size my foot is... rumor has it I could wear a 71/2 if it were wide enough.] Here's hoping they fit the intended recipient. Better still, I get the second one done in a timely fashion, since it took a month of on again/off again knitting to get the first one done.

knitting for other people is hard, especially if you want the gift to be a surprise. Will they like it? Will it fit? How do you go about finding out what size they are without it being obvious what you're trying to figure out? What if they hate it? What if it's too big? How do you deal with that? Here, let me trace your foot on a piece of paper, tell me your favorite color, and I'll get back to you in a few weeks? Hrm, right.