Reunited -- and it feels so good!

My poor, lonely Pomatomus is lonely no more!

Pattern: Pomatomus (winter '05 Knitty) by Cookie
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon), colorway Georgetown, two skeins, purchased in old town Alexandria during our trip to D.C. in April
Needles: US 2 dpns (first sock) and two circulars (second sock)
Mods: at toe, decreased to 20 sts (rather than 12) and grafted
Started/Completed: April 24/December 29

Although these were officially the first pair of Pomatomi I started, they became the third pair completed. After finishing the first sock, you may recall that I became a tad bit obsessed with reversing the pattern so that the lace pattern would be mirrored on each foot relative to the other. I completed two test socks, both reversed, and then finished a pair for my mother with one reversed and one normal. By the time I got around to making the mate for the very first sock, I was so anxious to be done that I just followed the pattern as written. I think I've now had enough of this pattern and will be putting it away for a while.

The curious thing that happened is that the two socks on this pair look dramatically different. The first sock was knit on dpns (it's the one on left above), while the second was knit on two circs. You can't really tell the difference on the foot, but off the foot it's a different story all together:

Here you see first/dpn sock on the left and second/circs sock on the right. See how much more open the second sock is, and how the individual stitches are easier to see from afar? I can't imagine my tension differed that drastically from one sock to the next, but who knows. Then there's the way the stitch pattern worked out, even though I followed the same charts both times.

Specifically, take a look at the right border of the pattern on both feet. The first sock (at left) had normal looking scallops, while the second sock (at right) had these weird things that seemed to be half the width but twice the length of the normal scallop. If I weren't so ready to be done with this pair of socks, I would have frogged and started the foot over; to be honest, it bugs me a little, but really, who's going to see that part of the sock when I wear these?

The most important part here is that I've officially matched up all the single socks with completed mates, thereby completing all sock WIPs for 2006 -- or should I say 200-sox. Huzzah!

A preview of coming attractions ...

Tomorrow: A review of 2006 in knitting

Monday: A preview of knitting to come in 2007, or "A Journey into the Stash"