Punkinhead and the Three Socks

Once upon a time, deep in the forests of suburban Long Island, lived a little knitter. Her name was Punkinhead. Now, one day, she wanted to knit a pair of red socks. Her pal, Elizzabetty, who spent a lot of time in the far reaches of the northlands, got her some nice sock yarn from Webs. It was magic sock yarn, as it had been dyed by a lady who also dyes kangaroos. This magic allowed the sock yarn to possess strange powers. It was Valley Yarns Franklin and the color was Cherries. Click here for illustration.



This being special sock yarn, Punkinhead decided to do something special with it. She decided to do a picot hem. Now the kangaroo lady didn't have enough time to recommend a needle size or give a hint as to the gauge on this sock yarn, so, Punkin knitted a small swatch. 8 sts per inch. She decided to try a picot hem and casted on 72 sts for a sock. A nice knitted cast-on to start.








That looked about right. And she set on her way..It was a nice sunny day and everyone was out of the house. A good time to knit and enjoy the beautiful natural light streaming from the windows.




By and by, the sock was joined to knit in the round and 4 rows were knit and the picots were made and all was well in Punkin's World. However, this sock looked MUCH TOO BIG. So, she continued on her way to see if she liked the picot hem top and knit some more. After all, this was a 450 yard batch of yarn and a Christmas Stocking it could be...



The bottom stitches were picked up onto a DPN and then the cast on edge was knit together with the live sts and voila, a gorgeous, albeit large picot hem cast on. "Lovely", she exclaimed.



Just then, the knitting fairy appeared. The knitting fairy told her that this sock wasn't ever going to be loved. It would live its life at the bottom of the sock draw. Destined for a life of slouching and bunching up in her arch. So, she ripped it out....



She decided that she still wanted 72 sts cast-on sock so she casted on using her size 0 needle instead of the 1.5 one. "That should be just right!".



Well on her way, the size zero seemed to be making a sock that was also too big but less big then the first one. She decided to continue. Then, two inches into the sock, magic looping along, she tugged on the cable to start the next row and lo and behold, only the cable was in her hand. "It is an omen", she thought, "this sock is just not meant to be. So, she ripped it out.... The next day will be better...



The very next day, she cast on using the 1.5 needle and only 56 sts and started a new sock. Thinking that this was going to be the exact size she needed, she used the magic yarn. The knitting fairy had cast a spell on this yarn and gave it the strange powers to magically change gauge. This was unbenknownst to Punkin.

She knit and knit and knit. Soon the sock looked like this, a little tight.

The sky looked like this and it was getting to be bedtime.

So she went to bed and soon she was fast asleep. That night, the knitting fairy returned. She saw how Punkin had worked so hard on this sock and felt sorry for her. She whipped out her fairy dust and sprinkled it on the sock and the yarn. The gauge changed back to 8 sts per inch.

The next morning, Punkin awoke and tried on the sock. "It fits, it fits", she exclaimed, "although a little snug, this sock will work". "I'll block it on sock blockers and love it just as I would had it been a 72 inch sock". And she was very happy. And the sun shone brightly in the forest that day and all the knitters were very, very happy.

Sock stats: Valley Yarns Franklin in "Cherries". Stansfield #12 from More Sensational Knitted Socks, 56 sts cast on.

Editor's Note: Knitpicks Options needle size 0 is a very small needle indeed yet the cable is joined well. After a phone call to customer service, Knitpicks has sent off a new needle, not a problem and free of charge. Excellent needle and excellent customer service. These needles are highly recommended for their price, durability and performance.