The Unexpected Minecraft Socks

When I received this yarn I just thought it was a pretty blue.  Being blue, it was no surprise it ended up being slated to knit a pair of socks for my Little Bear before anyone else got a stab at it.  I'd looked at how the yarn knit up in general on Ravelry, and it seemed like a pretty basic self-striping kind of deal.  I figured it would work out just fine.

It took me a while to figure out what I would knit, but I decided on doing a smaller version of my Dunharrow Socks.  I love the pattern, and I think it's seriously not getting the attention it deserves.  It's perfect for my needs, simple enough to modify, yet complex enough to keep me occupied.  I'm not a vanilla sock kind of girl, though I may find that I need to be when I go back to school.  The best feature for me is how adaptable it is.  I can easily make it into socks for the whole family with just a bit of guess work instead of a lot of effort.  It also serves my obsessive need to have the socks match in length to the very row, since I can easily count the pattern repeats.  These have quickly become my favorite socks, but I digress...

When I started working the pattern up, I wasn't far beyond the ribbing before I noticed something, the dark splotches in the fabric had come out to make a perfect association in my mind.  It looked like a pixilated blue.  Just to be sure, I asked the rest of the family what they thought of when they saw the socks.  For an accurate study (to satisfy my scientific mind), I asked each one independently what they thought of the sock.  Each one of them, even Little Bear (at only 3) said the same thing.  "It looks like Minecraft."

After that they were named "The Minecraft Socks".  Little Bear was super excited that they were for him, but I had a growing problem.  Everyone now wants a pair of Minecraft socks!  I may just have to get creative on future pairs.  The yarn is discontinued, and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to work out buying up every last ball for sale on Ravelry.  It's a wonderful idea, and I really do love the yarn.  I'm just trying to be realistic.  Helping people destash right now just isn't in my budget, and I'm not sure how long that yarn will continue to sit around.

As I got to the heel on the pattern the great debate began again.  Did I want to spend the time and energy crafting the same kind of heel as I had last time?  That would undoubtedly involve some level of math, and I'm not sure it's really worth the effort to spend that much time on a special heel turn for a sock that a three year old will wear for a year, maybe two, before his feet are too large for them.  If the fit wasn't right I'd have to rework it a few times, and I really wasn't feeling that kind of effort.  Instead I just went with a simple short row heel, which was probably for the best anyway.  Simple is better, and it just looked so pretty!  Surprisingly I was able to throw on a short row heel from memory!  I really impressed myself there!

From that point on it was the race into the toe.  As much as I want to knit these socks for a Christmas present for Little Bear (and the surprise was kind of defeated anyway by letting him see me knitting it), I needed to be sure they would fit.  What was the point in putting together a fancy sock if I knit the toe too long or too short.  I didn't expect his little foot to be anywhere near as long as it was, so the toe was a much longer slog than I thought.  What is it with kids and their fast growing feet?  I honestly can't keep up with them!  I really miss Little Bear having his tiny baby toes, in part because I could whip out a bunch of socks for him like they were nothing!

I've got to admit, I'm getting better about the dreaded second sock syndrome.  As soon as I finish the first sock, I start up the second sock right away.  That way the sock is taking up my needles, which means they can't be used for anything else.  I've learned this about myself.  If I'm allowed to slack off and not get the other sock started right away, I'll leave it for pretty much eternity.  When I come back I won't remember any of the notes I've made along the way.  If I'm wise (which generally I'm not), I'll make notations on my Ravelry project page.  Generally I'm not.  Of course, that trend is changing as I've got all the changes listed for my Minecraft Socks right there on the page.  I'm learning!

The second sock knit up like a dream!  I found myself thinking, Oh, wow!  Another pattern repeat down already?  How did that happen so fast?  It seemed like they were finished and done before I realized it.  Given how busy and chaotic my week has been, I was surprised I'd managed to get it done so fast, especially with realizing my Little Bear's feet aren't as little as I'd thought them to be!  I had a lot of errands to run this week.

Now that they're done (and I mean really done, ends woven and everything), I'm having one of those moments of not knowing what to knit next.  I have plenty of socks to knit.  I need to make a plain yellow hat before Halloween (we've got a minion in the house!)  I've got a lot waiting to be knit up, but I'm finding I really just want to sit down and knit another pair of these truly awesome socks.  They've become meditative, in a way.  They're stretchy, so I don't have to worry about getting the gauge just right.  I can just sit there, knitting away.

At the same time, I'm kind of proud of myself.  I have another item down to be tucked into the box of goodies for Christmas.  That's one more thing I can check off my list.  If I keep up at this rate, I'll have plenty of gifts for my family come Christmas.  It may not be as much as I'd like (my mom and my sister probably aren't getting knitted gifts this year, though that may change).  I started a bit late in the year.  My stash was too small to be ready for holiday knitting.  Still, it's a start, and next year I can start sooner (especially for the people who won't have changing sizes!)  I'm pretty proud of myself for even doing as much as I have this year.  Progress has definitely been made!