Sooo Smooth!

Smooth Operator Socks FO 7 web

Woohooo!! I finished my Smooth Operator Socks this morning, and I love them!

I learned about the pattern from Alex, and because I’m a sucker for stripey socks and I absolutely cannot resist a good knit along, I joined in the Itty Bitty Knits Group KAL for these.

The main thing the pattern does is show you how to preserve the stripe pattern through the heel– something that brings me no end of happiness. That’s not all, though. It also has some super helpful tips about sock knitting in general. I’d have paid for the pattern seventeen times over just to read what Susan B. Anderson has to say about the Kitchener stitch. Pure knitting gold.

So I had fun knitting along with the group, got a cool pair of socks, learned a few things that will improve my sock knitting forever and ever, AAAAND I tried a new technique.

I knit these two at a time!

Smooth Operator Socks Progress web

Back when I knit socks one at a time exclusively on DPNs, I thought I’d never want to do it any other way. Then I became a two circs convert, and I kept knitting one sock at a time because I didn’t really see any reason not to. I don’t have second sock syndrome, and there is something I really like about the tidy little motions involved in knitting one sock.

If I were ever pinned in somewhere and couldn’t move my elbows or even my wrists, I could probably still manage to keep on knitting one sock pretty easily just by moving my fingers. You know, like if I were in a plane crash, and we were all crunched into a teensy ball of wreckage waiting for rescue, and no one could move anything but their fingers. You understand what I’m saying, right?

Well something about this project made me decide to throw caution to the wind and take up a little more space. So I knit these two at a time. And you know what? I LIKED it!

Smooth Operator Socks FO 5 web

For one thing it made it feel like the socks were finished in an instant. Surely, knitting these socks took the same amount of time it would have taken to knit two socks individually, but it didn’t feel like that. It felt like magic. Poof! Two socks!

The other thing I did with these was use magic loop. I usually find magic loop kind of fiddly, but something about having two socks on the needles actually made the two circulars feel awkward. I decided to give magic loop a try instead, and I got into a groove right away.

I think I may be hooked!

Smooth Operator Socks FO web

17 Comments

  3. Paula @ Spin a Yarn
    Reply

    OMG! Those are awesome!!!! I can’t wait to finish this baby sweater I’m working on so I can devote more time to mine. I’m so glad you tried Magic Loop…I like that method and using two circulars at the same time. And TAAT too? Be still my heart! Your pictures are adorable. I really need lessons in how to get the perfect pictures for my blog 🙂

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    • melinda
      Reply

      I’d be interested in knowing how you like it if you do. I’m going to do the next pair that way and see if it was just the fun of something new that made it so enjoyable this time or if it’s really going to become my go-to method for socks. I forgot to say in my comment on your post that I wish your boyfriend lots of luck tomorrow!! What an exciting day! 🙂

  8. IamDWJ
    Reply

    Okay, my work knitting BFF has tried to convince me to do two at a time socks so perhaps I’ll give it a try. Those socks look absolutely fantastic! I swear you knitters are going to make me a sock knitter after all.

  9. melinda
    Reply

    Hahaha! It’s addictive, for sure. Kind of like eating potato chips – they’re so satisfying and convenient, and you always just want to do one more pair. And OHHHHHH, the sock yarn!!! That’s an addiction in itself. Lol!

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