I encourage you to give yourself some grace. By all intents and purposes, you are still new at the craft and it will take more time than you think to feel comfortable. You've tackled so many different patterns and project in a relatively short amount of time with gusto. It's truly inspiring! And as much as we all love our finished objects, I encourage you to embrace the process, as frustrating as it may be, because it encompasses most of the journey. I so admire your tenacity and stick-to-itiveness. Keep swimming Dori! I've been really loving your knitting content! Thank you for taking the rest of us along for the ride!

I just want to give you a big squishy knitters hug! I completely understand what you’re saying about double pointed needles versus circular needles especially for socks. The individual needles allow you to picture the segment and the pieces specifically of the sock that you’re working on so you don’t get mixed up with where you are and have to think, okay, do I have to increase or decrease here or is this where my gusset stitches are. It has taken me years but I have gotten to the point where I have figured for a regular fingering weight yarn, my preferred sock method is (because I’m a loose knitter) size 0, 5 inch double point wood needles either bamboo or hardwood. The one cool thing that also took me a while to sort of figure out as I began my knitting journey is that the more techniques that I learned the different methods for making toes and heels that I learned I was able to figure out what worked best for me and to use those within any pattern that I selected. Don’t force yourself to finish a project you don’t love, life is too short for knitting you’re not happy with! Mix and match what works for you, heels and toes are a very personal preference. Frankensocks 😊are about as custom as you can get! Make it yours and only yours. If your brain insists on powering through even if you know you’re not going to be happy with something color wise, you could always dye it black! Watching your journey is always a delight Alicia! Warm woolly hugs from Minnesota!

Welcome to the wonderful world of knitting ADD! 😂 I have 4? (I think) projects, all unfinished, and yet watching content like yours tempts me to cast on another. 🧶 Seriously though, once I've finished up my current "work work" project I'll start taking these up again. Your socks are looking great, and yes, sadly that 0.5 difference in needle size will impact gauge as well as the overall density of your knit. I know it's a total PITA to frog mohair or suri, but that's something to consider if you really want to love the fit. 🙏

I’m sorry you and Bryon have been sick. Glad to hear you’re feeling better and Bryon is on the mend. I enjoy seeing what you’re working on. I really love those scrappy socks!

One way you can ‘disrupt’ a pattern that emerges from a hand dyed variegated yarn, is by cutting it and re-joining it a few inches on in the ball (cutting out a piece of the repetition). This will disrupt what is called ‘pooling’ and will give you a more chaotic effect. Whenever a yarn doesn’t behave or isn’t perfect when I knit socks, I usually think of them as more functional pieces of clothing and I can live with it. I have Bluntstones and the Birkenstock clogs (like you) and some socks are more for hiding in the Bluntstones, others more for showing off in the clogs….

I’m SO glad you figured out the Emily’s Favorite Sock issue. I love seeing all your projects and I totally get what you mean when you just need a win. 😊

'Tessellated Socks' - what a band they were...

I think you're absolutely right: socks make more sense when you knit them on DPNs. I didn't move from DPNs to magic loop on a circular needle until I had already finished a bunch of socks. I think traditionally they were made with 4 DPNs rather than 5 - so the sock itself would be on 3 needles with one used for knitting. That never made sense to me either, so I used 5 DPNs like you're doing. The only reason I switched to magic loop is because it makes a project more portable, at least for me. I had a problem with stitches falling off needles, or a whole needle coming completely out of the project while I transported it (in a project bag) to wherever I was going.

I miss the fountain pen content :( ....but its still a cozy channel and nice to see sometimes

The second sock looks beautiful.

Have you thought about making clothes for your dolls?

Your projects are all so cool! I love the sweater you are wearing, the texture is amazing! Would you mind sharing the names of the pattern and yarns you used? I thought that you made a video about this sweater, but I can’t find it. Have a wonderful December!

What is the name of your calendar book???