You come here to read about knitting?

Sec·ond Sock Syn·drome [sek-uhnd] [sok] [sin-drohm, -druhm]
-noun

1. The overwhelming awareness that one must now knit the same item in the same pattern with the same yarn again.

2. The rabid need to complete a pair of socks so that your only pair of size two circular needles are available to begin on a new pair of socks.

It's finally arrived. I've got a case the worst case of SSS ever. Will this seconde sock already end?! Love the pattern. Love the parn. The sock(s) fit great. But you see there's another yarn, and another pattern. I could be knitting a different pair of socks. Coulda, shoulda, woulda.

For my first pair of socks, I'm rather pleased how these are turning out. The resizing worked perfectly. My joins aren't too bad. My toe grafting coulda been better, but I really don't mind the pointy bits. Even though, I did use Lucy Neatby's suggestion to slip the outside stitches over the next stitch to avoid donkey ears and I still have donkey ears. Elizabeth Zimmermann also covered this 'decrease neatener' while dealing with shoulder shaping in her book, Knitting Without Tears. Funny how I had to read it elsewhere in order to apply it to socks and not just sweaters. You would never had guessed that I was an applied science major in college (all Ag Science students are really). Doh!

A few more rows knitted here and there, at lunch, before bed, while waiting for dinner to cook, waiting while blogger loads up pictures, and they will be all done. Don't get me wrong I still love these socks. I just want them finished.

Why the need you ask? I'll post something I've been sitting on: 510 yards of yarn from La's Oma Contest arrived last Friday and with it came a few unexpected surprises. A chic mug in brown and pink, some STASH brand black teas, a cute sproingy sheep clip and five stitch markers in a wine motif.

The yarn, as you can tell, is a blend of maroons, pinks, blues, and violets. As I was winding it I noticed that it was made of longer color repeats, so I'm hoping that it'll pair good with Monkey, another pattern by Cookie A. After one pair I'm already addicted to her patterns. I love that she has designed some patterns with variegated yarns in mind and they still look good in solid colors. I love cables, even though they are a pain in the neck and reduce my total knitting speed by about 75%. I've already decided that I must knit Twisted Flower and Rhiannon after Monkey of course. I can't wait to start my next pair of socks.