Do I have some kind of disorder?

I think there's something wrong with me.

See that sock on the left? That's the new Socks That Rock sock (Marble Arches) in the Pink Granite colorway. One's done. I did cast on the second yesterday, worked on it while waiting for the bus.

See that sock on the right (I know it's dim, my house is always dim)? That's Cascade Fixation in purple. The pattern is Friday Harbor from Nancy Bushes Knitting On the Road (more on this later).

What is wrong with me? Why do I have two finished socks that don't match? Why is it impossible for me to complete one project at a time? Intellectually, I know that it's because I get bored easily, and when I tried to finish one thing before I started another, I never finished the first thing, I got so disgusted with it, and I started something else anyway. This way, I rapidly switch back and forth between projects, and am much happier.

Of course, also next to my desk is this:

This is Cat Bordhi's Flow Motion sock from last month's VK. This is Take 2; the first time, I don't know if I misread or misunderstood the pattern, but the instructions read "knit until piece is 5.5" long, or desired length to heel." Well, I have giant feet, so I knit until I was ready to do the heel shaping. Apparently, there were then 26 more rows UNTIL the heel shaping. I wish the pattern had said what it usually says for the toe shaping -- knit until 2" from the end of foot or whatever. So I had to rip back and reknit, but I got to practice the happy technique of picking up stitches BEFORE I actually did my ripping. Got them all on backwards this time, but no biggie.

I love Trekking XXL. This is going to become one of my standard yarns, I can tell. It's so soft and comfy. Totally in love.

What's really scary about all of this is that I didn't even take pictures of all the OTHER knitting that graces my desk. Robb's Cherry Tree Hill socks (one done, the other on the heel flap) that I haven't touched in weeks. The Traveler sock, in Lorna's Laces Jeans that I haven't picked up (also at the heel flap -- what can I say, they bore me, but not enough to make me do short row heels, which I don't really like). The Angel Pearls scarf -- that white beaded confection that I just don't have the attention span for right now.

It's all about the socks apparently.

Now, I have something to say about the Friday Harbor pattern in Knitting on the Road. I am a huge fan of Nancy Bush. I own Folks Socks and Knitting on the Road and Knitting Vintage Socks. I just ordered Folk Knitting in Estonia at work, having found out that it is actually out of print (no! Who decides these things??). I find her patterns to be clear, concise, and mostly right.

Except for this one. God, what a headache. There are two charts that go along with the pattern, and it's never really made clear when you're supposed to switch from one to the other. That made me crazy. Then, on the foot shaping, you're supposed to knit "7 repeats of the 20-row lace pattern" (again, which frelling chart would that be, my friends?), and then 2 more small diamond patterns. I eventually figured out from staring at the picture that I should keep working on chart 1, and that chart two was only to isolate the small diamond pattern for me.

But after 3 repeats, it occurred to me that the sock was getting longish. So I tried it on. And it was up to the ball of my foot. Oops! Time for toe shaping. I fudged the pattern, worked the last diamond into the toe shaping (it's a star toe, so not all that hard) and I think it looks pretty good. But it irritates me when a pattern that already has published errata (and this edition has been modified to meet that errata, so that's not my problem) STILL has mistakes. I mean, come on. Let's get ourselves together now, huh? I'm glad I know enough to try the stupid sock on; I can imagine being a beginner and knitting the seven repeats, the two repeats, and then trying to figure out how to negatively knit stockinette stitch so that the pattern will actually fit my foot. I imagine hurling of yarn and weeping. Perhaps my imaginary knitter is over dramatic, but still.

At least the modifications were easy. Grumble, grumble. :)

And at least my feet are warm, even if matching is in short supply.