New socks for a Sunday night:



These are the Undulating Rib socks, knit of ShibuiKnits sock yarn. The color is 3001, also known as "pebble."

The main change I made was to use MUCH smaller needles than called for (the pattern called for a U.S. size 4 - 4! with sock weight yarn. I used a 1 and got the right gauge and a sock that fit well (and hopefully will wear well)).



This is a less true-color shot (taken without flash and using the "extreme night setting" - the light was ambient light, which in my living room is the compact fluorescents, which make everything look yellow on non-flash photos). However, I think it shows off the stitch pattern better.

Would I knit the pattern again? Yes. It makes a nice sock that fits well, and it's a fun pattern to do (and is easily memorized). I'm actually contemplating some of the solid/semi-solid color sock yarn I have in my stash for another pair sometime.

But for the next socks I start, I want a different pattern.

I'm going to start the "Go with the Flow" socks from Interweave. These have been in my Ravelry queue almost since the beginning, but I was dragging my feet on them, because they were knit over 60 sts and a number of people who made them commented that that was tight. And given the fact that I have - ahem - "healthy" calves (and my feet, while not large, are not tiny either), I was debating whether to:

a. just try them as-is and maybe have to rip back and restart if they were too small (and I HATE ripping back and restarting)

b. do them on size 2 needles instead of size 1. (But the gauge would be looser and the socks might not wear as well...I like to do socks on a very tight gauge to make them last longer)

c. resize the pattern for more stitch repeats. Which I did this afternoon. I won't aggrandize myself by saying I "redrafted" it because the math was actually very simple - add two repeats to take it up to 72 sts (which will work nicely on size 1 needles), and alter the heel turn slightly (consulting my Heels By Number chart that I printed off of a long-gone website). And the toe decreases are just slightly altered.

I think it will work so probably tomorrow I will cast on for the socks. I often delay starting a project if I think there is going to be some potential hangup, and then feel relieved when I've figured out a solution.

Incidentally, I finished tonight's socks while watching the first of the Poirot movies I bought a while back. I had forgotten how much I loved these - how detailed everything is, the trains and the clothing and the china...everything. From the Art Deco inspired opening credits (with the signature tune that recalls some of Shostakovitch's work [mainly because of the use of saxophone]) to the end...so perfectly capturing the era. (Or at least how I imagine the era to have been.

And I really do love David Suchet's portrayal of Poirot; I think he's the best one of the ones I've seen, or certainly is the closest to how I imagine the character when I read the stories.

(And I noticed in this episode - the ABC Murders - I wonder if perhaps, consciously or unconsciously, Tony Shalhoub [or the writers of "Monk"] took a bit of inspiration from Poirot. There are similarities in the facial expressions and in some of the gestures. And in the episode of Poirot I watched tonight, it is revealed that he organizes all the china in his apartment by size...so the cups and saucers, rather than being stored together, are in separate cabinets quite far apart because they differ in size. And Poirot is seen straightening copies of the ABC Railway Guide on a newsstand, and other little tics like that.)

Incidentally, I started out watching "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" which was being shown on one of the cable networks but I could not get past Johnny Depp's portrayal of Willie Wonka and had to turn it off. (I like Depp as an actor, really I do, but his Willie Wonka simultaneously creeped the heck out of me and annoyed me. However, I love Gene Wilder's portrayal of Wonka in the 1970s version of the movie...)