Getting started, with you, lakeside...

Even though I've never been an ambitious sock knitter (ribbed and stockinette stitch self-striping is as far as I really go so I don't have to think about repeats and rounds so much), the Lakeside lace socks by Julia Vaconsin (published in Vol. 2, Winter, 2008 of Knotions Magazine) recently caught my eye and I just had to make these knee socks for myself.So about a week ago I did just that with some light-weight fisherman's unprocessed wool in an oatmeal color I had lying around. After completing the provisional cast on (with crochet chain) and finishing the first 12 rounds of stockinette stitch, I realized I should have swatched (ugh! I hate hate hate swatching so I avoid it, which never really ends up helping all the much) and had to rip the whole thing back because the sock was going to be way too gargantuan for my smallish calf.While sometimes I'll keep knitting and figure, "Achhk, I can gift them at Christmas", I really wanted to try and successfully make these socks to my specifications, and if in the end, I didn't like them so swell, I could ultimately head back to my oft plan of sending them to a new owner. So, I went out and procured new sock yarn to the appropriately perfect gauge in a slightly darker barley colorway, which pleased me nonetheless.Unfortunately, I tend to have quite short legs, and skinny, petite calf, so this pattern needed me to flex my mathematical muscle and pull off a few alterations. While the pattern calls for 15 repeats of a lace pattern over 4 rounds, I shortened that substantially to 10 before beginning the calf decreases. So far, it looks like this was a smart plan (from eyeballing) and I'm now continuing onto the calf decreases.The provisional cast on using waste yarn and a crocheted chain, which is eventually folded under and removed to create a pocket to hold elastic (which will apparently actually keep the socks from falling down!!), was easy but a bit of a pain to rip out at the specified joining spot, so I was sweating a bit, but it was pretty much worth it because I think it will look splendid when finished and off the needles despite a bit of odd bunching right now.With just about a little over a quarter of the first sock complete and a lengthy chart to read, I'm hoping someday, I'll actually finish these. It's so hard for me to just keep to one project constantly, so they've now sat for about 2 days without work. Ooof.You can check out even more snaps of the socks and close up detail shots over at my Flickr set.And if you find yourself knitting up a pair of equally exquisite lace knee socks, or are just looking for inspiration of any kind, I've found it for these babies courtesy of Billie Holiday's version of "I Can't Get Started" (though the Ella Fitzgerald version is also tops!). You're welcome in advance...File Under: Finding inspiration in these socks by knitting them up lakeside at my Mum's place...