Arrgyles HO!

Yeah, I've been MIA lately. Between going up to the in-law's for Christmas and catching Hubby's cold (it was inevitable, I just can't remember not to kiss him), I've been down for the count.
Actually, I came down with the cold full blown on Christmas Day, so I spent most of it sleeping. I'm feeling much better now.
But I haven't been feeling so poorly that I couldn't knit!
In fact, I have two completed projects to share with you.
Um, no, not Nell. Um, no, not Sundae either.

Arrgyles Have Arrived
As you can see from the picture on the left, I've finally finished my Arrgyle Pirate Socks!
To recap. The pattern is based on the idea from the Moth Heaven blog. She has a PDF of the chart of just the skull portion. So I had to trot off and chart the rest of the sock myself. Oh, and the chart she provides is for one skull on the front, but I did a skull on each side (which she discusses).
Needles US1.
Yarn: Baby Ull from Dalegarn. One skien each purple, pink, green, and yellow. Used almost all the purple, but have a lot of the other colors left over.
Let's see, what would I change?
Or, better to ask, "What did I learn?"
First off, my chart is off. The diagonal line don't always meet correctly. Sometimes they just cross, sometimes they come together as a box, a little consistency would be nice. (You might remember, I'm all about consistency.) Also, these crossing don't always occur on the same row when the diamonds come together, which, I believe, is how argyles are supposed to be.
This issue might be remedied with a higher stitch count. I whined in a previous post about not liking the way the stitches open up, so increasing the stitch count is not out of the question.
Before I take that step however, I want to wear them a couple times to check the fit.
All of this information will come into play when I attempt the Tartan Argyles. (and I just realized I never put that yarn in my Ravelry stash, huh.)

Sewing Workarounds
Also, I would not suggest you make argyles if you are terribly adverse to the mattress stitch. I had to sew up the back of the leg (which wasn't too bad) and both sides of the foot (which was torture. It took at least three tries to get both sides to come out even). And don't get me started on weaving in the ends. That was the longest part. I thought it would never end. I suspect a normal pair of argyles wouldn't be so bad; it was all the ends for the skulls that did me in. There just wasn't anywhere to put them all! You will not be surprised to hear I won't be making skull socks again any time soon.
I'm thinking, when I do make the Tartan Socks, I might try to be very clever and work the foot based on Elizabeth Zimmerman's moccasin socks. As I understand it (I have her Knitter's Almanac which includes the pattern), the structure is awfully similar. You knit the instep first, then pick up around the edge and knit the sole down with funky decreases. As opposed to the argyle construction I just used of knitting both pieces flat separately and then sewing them together.
Ok, I think I've beaten the poor Arrygles to death.

Bed Socks
I finished Mom's bed socks back on Dec. 22, but that was right before we went out of town and such, so I didn't have a chance to blog about them.
As you might be able to tell, they are two different sizes.
Ack!
The smaller one is actually the second one. I swear I wrote down row counts and such when I made the first one, so they should match.
I suspect gauge is the culprit here. I did a lot of work on the second one when I was stuck in traffic in the snow storm the Friday before I finished these. I think it would be safe to say I was a little tense and I guess that came out in my knitting.
Well, I'm going to send them to her anyway. It would be a shame to rework the smaller one to be bigger and have her say they are too big. I figure this way she'll be able to check the fit and I can adjust from there. It is also entirely possible she'll like them this way as she can be a little quirky.
(Hi, Mom! yes, I did just call you quirky for all the world to see. And, hey, when you leave comments, sign them, ok? Otherwise you just show up as anonymous.)
I should get these in the mail before she gets it in her head to drive up and get them.

Vacation, vacation
Ok, I think that's quite enough for one post.
I'm on vacation this week. My company closes between Christmas and New Years, it's very nice. Plenty of time to pester Hubby and the pups, and get some knitting done. Speaking of which, time to scrounge for lunch and move on to my next project!