Socks: Two Down, Two to Go!

My brilliant plan to trade off socks has reached its midpoint. The left foot is wearing My Cup of Tea. Unfortunately I've lost the label of the yarn, which I bought to take on our honeymoon - amazingly, I didn't actually get any knitting done! I used size 2 needles, so the sock came out larger than anticipated (the pattern only comes in one size.) Luckily, I happen to have a sister with much larger feet than me! I really like this pattern - it reminds me of Johnson's Wave, which I've knit before, but with a written-out pattern as opposed to a chart. I find it harder to keep my place on a chart, though I'm trying to get better! Also, the wave pattern is combined to the front of the sock, which makes it a faster knit. 

The right foot is wearing Jaywalker. I really enjoyed knitting this pattern, more than any other sock I've done, but the final product isn't actually my favorite! As pointed out in the notes at the beginning of the pattern, this sock has almost no stretch - a side effect of the stitch pattern. Every time I pull it on, I feel like I'm yanking it to death! Once on, however, it's very snug and comfy. My only other complaint is that because of the zigzag pattern, the top cuff of the sock is sort of bubbly and wavy and doesn't sit snug with my leg. There must be a way to remedy that! This is the first sock I've knit on #1 needles, and it fits much better than the socks I've made before! 

I think I'm slowly figuring out some general sock know-how. These socks had very different toes - one had me grafting the toe stitches with 14 stitches on the needle, the other just 7. I still have to use KnitWitch's kitchener stitch tutorial every time - eventually I'll have it memorized! I'm not sure which toe I prefer, but once I figure it out it's fun to know that I'll be able to customize my socks to my preference! I also found both of these socks a little long to me - I mean, they go up my legs a bit too far. If I can figure out how to lose a few inches of pattern, I wouldn't mind saving the yarn and having more low-rise socks. This will be easier on more vanilla patterns. I've actually never tried a straightforward vanilla sock - maybe that should be my next project!

But first, off to cast on socks #2...