Three times a charm?

I decided to participate in all six months of the Trekking knit along sponsored by Skacel. January and February went very well, and were completed without a hitch before month end. The challenge was to finish each by the 15th of the following month. No problem, I thought.

I may have changed my mind.

I started a complex Lucy Neatby sock pattern in late February (a Stitches purchase from Shelridge Farm) as I waited for March to be posted. I was flying through this sock so the knit along would be a snap. No problem.

I cast on for March with the suggested needle size (3 mm), even though that seemed awfully big. The designer said this particular chevron pattern knitted up tightly. My sock cuff was 9 1/2" around without any stretching, so I decided some serious needle reduction was needed. I went down to 2 mm. It looked good, was about 7 1/2" around (smaller than I expected), so I knitted through the heel and started the foot.

I finally got the brains to try it on.

I couldn't. There was zero stretch in this chevron pattern.

I ripped out (AGAIN) and tried with 2 1/2 mm needles. This time the cuff fits (barely) and it isn't as sloppy as the first time.

Wish me luck.

PS: I finished the sock monkey (it is WAY cute), got most of the way through sock number one of the Neatby project, and got several inches below the armpits on a top down cardigan in Noro Retro (another Stitches purchase). All three of those are more complex than these socks, but all have gone much more smoothly. Go figure.