Learning Curve

So above is the first pair of socks I knitted.  Not perfect, but not bad, just basic little socks.  They fit well and I used an alright yarn I guess.  It's a mystery yarn, not sure of the weight, but it worked fine.  They seem to lack some shape, but I did want something simple for my first time, and that's exactly what I got.

After making my socks, I decided to make a pair for my grown son.  I used the same pattern, same math and got that monstrosity of a sock.  It is too lose at the top, fits all right at the foot, but it's so misshapen.  I was disappointed and frustrated the whole time I was knitting it.  I could see it was not doing what it should even though the bag of wool said that this was sport weight... yeah right, it was not sock weight, more worsted and it looks terrible.  I also used the wrong needles.  With the socks for me I guess I lucked out.  For both socks I used DPNs 3.5mm my favorites for knitting up a hat on the fly.  Yeah socks are not a knit on the fly type thing.  

  Now I'm working on a sock with a pattern, Skyp socks to be exact.  I have some very lightweight fluffy wool in a color I like.  I also have some DPNs 2mm this time around.  So far this looks much more like a sock and I'm feeling better about the thickness.  I'm going to find some grey or another dark colour (anything but black) so I can make my son some socks, and I'll see from there.  

Things I've learned:  *make sure you have the correct yarn and gauge

                               *make sure you have the correct needles to get the gauge correct.

                               *with socks size matters, triple check the gauge.

                               *when starting with socks, math is for mathematicians, use a pattern.

I'll be posting when the socks are done.