It’s Fibre Friday and today’s post could have been called Second Sock Syndrome. Second sock syndrome refers to the a knitter’s tendency to make the first sock then not quite get around to making the other. It’s a lot like Second Book Syndrome, which writers are said to experience – the first book is written in a glorious rush, making the process look so easy, then the second one is fraught with problems, and sometimes doesn’t get completed.

I’m having an issue with a pair of socks.

They’re knee socks, or they will be when they’re done. I’m not sure why I’m fascinated by knee socks and always want to knit them. I don’t ever wear them when they’re finished. I just like the idea of knee socks, the funkier the better. Here’s a pair I knit in Noro Kureyon a few years ago.

Ha! I just looked at my Ravelry project page. I finished these in 2009!!! And they’ve yet to be worn. They sleep, neatly folded, in my sock drawer. This isn’t because I don’t like them. I love them! I just never wear them. And I loved knitting them, too, which maybe is why I cast on another pair.

This newest pair of knee socks are knit from handpainted yarn, so they’re making a kind of a spiral stripe on their own. It’s actually the pooling of the colourway, not a stripe, per se. The yarn is Fleece Artist Trail Socks, a yummy scrummy yarn in beautiful colors, and the colorway is Hercules. I bought two skeins, because well, knee socks. One skein contains 305 yards, which is enough for a pair of regular socks but not enough for knee socks.

My Ravelry project page says I started these in 2015. The first one was knit quickly, then things went awry. Here’s why:

It doesn’t even look like I’ve used the same colourway for the second sock, does it? I thought the issue was where I started in the cast-on, but I’ve done it again and it’s still not right. The second sock has languished, because I’ve been perplexed. Then last week, I wondered if the YARN was different between the skeins. I know that Fleece Artist doesn’t have dye lots and that each skein is unique, but I’ve never had two that were so very different.

I decided to have a closer look. Here, I’ve laid out a single colour repeat from one skein beside that of the second skein.

So, there’s a little bit of difference but not that much. It must be where I cast on.

I was thinking I would live with this and had kept knitting, but it’s driving me crazy. I’m going to frog both socks and make two pairs of regular socks instead, one pair from each skein. Then, they’ll match each other and I’ll be happier.

Have you had any projects you needed to restart lately?