I love knitting socks. I’ve made so many pairs that I have my favorite pattern memorized. At the same time, doing the same thing over and over can be a little tedious. New approaches to a familiar activity can liven things up. Unfortunately, working with a new pattern also has it’s challenges.

I found Knitting From the Center Out by Daniel Yuhas at the library, and I was intrigued by the heel-up sock pattern included. I’ve done top-down and toe-up socks but had never heard of heel-up, so of course, I had to try it. I found some yarn exactly the right weight (though not the same brand) and got to work.

While I knew I would need to adjust the pattern to fit my small feet, I didn’t adjust enough. The first sock came out quite large… too large to live with, really. I had almost an inch of empty sock beyond the end of my toes. Also, I had missed a step in the instructions and while I didn’t think it was going to make a big difference to the finished sock, I was looking forward to “doing it right.”

Sock two definitely fits better, though it’s still a little large. I’m not sure how to adjust the pattern further since all the upper stuff seems to be determined by the size of sole you make, and I’m not sure I can make the sole any smaller. But it fits well enough to wear.

The bummer is that the missed step, which I did this time, is a pain-in-the-you-know-what. It’s picking up a bunch of yarn loops around the edge of the sole and I found it tricky to do. Fighting to get the needle into tight loops is the kind of thing I do not enjoy, something that frequently happens when decreasing (knitting two stitches together). I like my knitting fuss-free. I realize you can’t make socks without increasing and decreasing some, but this was beyond my limit.

So I have a choice: suffer through the fussy step to make this sock one more time so I have a pair, or frog (unravel) the sock I made and give up on this pattern.

Unfortunately, my yarn (Wisdom Yarns Poems Socks) sticks to itself. A lot. When I frogged the sock that was too big, the yarn broke more than once. So I guess I’m stuck making the second sock. But I will never make another pair of socks from this pattern. Too annoying!

Have you tried something new only to find out it was harder than you expected?