Wedding Socks: Hers

Over Labor Day weekend, my friend Gardenia got married. I had intended to give her and her lovely fiance-now-husband knitted socks for their wedding present. Little did I know, though, that my new job would take over my life in a major way, thwarting the very best of intentions to have the socks ready by their wedding day. Luckily, I think that wedding etiquette allows you up to a year after the wedding to give presents to the newlyweds. I hope. (If this is not the case, please don't tell me. Let me remain blissfully ignorant of the ins-and-outs of wedding etiquette.)

I've finished Gardenia's socks:


They're the tried-and-true Retro Rib Socks from Interweave, lately of Favorite Socks. Gardenia said she wanted turquoise socks, and Lorna's Laces provided the best turquoise color I could find, so I wanted an easy but interesting pattern that would work well with a solid yarn. The pattern also couldn't be too feminine because Gardenia's feet are about the same size as her husband's, and she suggested that they'd wear each other's socks. So the Retro Ribs were an ideal pattern.

Here's my and GPG's interpretation of the Caitlyn sock-modeling pose:


You can't really tell, but the socks are a bit big on me. But they are up to spec for Gardenia and her husband, so a nice wash in Eucalan and a ribbon around them will do the trick.

Pattern: Retro Rib
Needles: US2 Clover bamboo DPNs
Yarn: Lorna's Laces in Island Blue
Recipient: Gardenia


Unfortunately, there's still a ways to go on the socks for Mr. Gardenia. They are technically finished, in that you can wear them on your feet and the toes have been Kitchener-stitched together, but . . . in their current state one has a longer leg than the other. I want them both to have longer legs, so I have to rip back the short one (because I knit them toe-down) and knit it up again with a longer length.

I could have knit both socks with short legs and been done with it, but I realized after I finished the first sock that the leg was ridiculously short. So I knit up the second sock with a longer leg, knowing that I'd have to rip the first sock to make them match. These are the silly things I do in my relentless pursuit for perfection.

(On an unrelated note, the Lexus tagline used to be "The relentless pursuit for perfection." Now it's "The passionate pursuit of perfection." I think the former is much more compelling, don't you?)

Anyway, Mr. Gardenia's socks have gotten put on hold in favor of some big-gauge Christmas knitting (this prioritization is all based on my wedding-etiquette one-year grace period assumption). GPG's mom's scarf is done and I've moved on to another Brooklyn Tweed scarf, You're My Iro. Fortunately for me, Mr. Gardenia is a pretty patient guy.