2 in 1 socks - Take 3

The socks hit a snag. I was blissfully knitting along this afternoon . . . well, not so blissfully, if you knew how my weekend was going.

It has been a bad day, a very, very bad day. DS#1 had been up most of the night with his version of the flu. No vomiting but lots of throat pain and congestion, with much wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth because we are in the midst of hockey try outs and it is the WORST time to get sick if you are nearly 14 and trying to get to a higher level Bantam hockey team. So, after getting up, dosing DS with cold meds and watching him try to suffer through the last day of try-outs, DS takes a check and gets a head injury. Not a serious one, just enough to ring his bell and end his try out hopes this weekend. He wasn't doing well to begin with but to leave in the middle doesn't bode well for his team placement. So, we came home early, and crashed in front of the t.v. and tried to relax and just forget about our troubles.

So, out came the 2 in 1 socks. Things seemed to be going well but I stopped to do a quick check, as I frequently do, and - OH NO - I've crossed my threads! Not recently but several rows back. Now, when I'm normal and sane, I think nothing of tinking back a few rows. It's much easier than frogging. But I was frustrated. So, without thinking, analyzing or even taking a breath, I popped all the stitches off the needles and start frogging. ARRRRGGH! When I looked down at what I'd done, I realized I'd never get those stitches back onto the needles in the right order without dropping stitches and getting runs. This is a 1x1 ribbing, with the stitches flipping back and forth on two socks at the same time. It looked impossible to get back onto the needles as it was.

What's a girl to do? Well, I carefully set the socks aside, checked my son's pupils and fever, asked him if he wanted anything while I was in the kitchen, then dished myself up a monstrous dish of chocolate ice cream. I calmly, while slowly savoring every bite of that delicious ice cream, meditated on the sock dilemma. By the bottom of the bowl, I'd devised a plan.

First, I separated the socks. Then I pulled out smaller dpns and started picking up stitches. Using 2 needles, I carefully counted stitches, making sure each stitch was oriented the right way and that I had an equal number on each needle. I picked up and knitted or purled any dropped stitches and made sure everything was perfect on each sock before setting up for the recreation of the 2 in 1 set up.

Then I carefully started picking up stitches from each dpn onto my Addi turbos, being extra careful when I started the second needle of the Addi to make sure that the other side began with the correct stitch.

By the time I'd finished, it took me 2 hours to fix what should have taken me 1/2 hour to tink back. Moral of the story: "Think before you frog." Actually, that might sound better as "Think before you tink" but I didn't tink, so, oh well. Or maybe I should say, "Think, then tink." Or perhaps, "Frogging is only for singles." Or better yet, "Don't take your hockey mom frustrations out on innocent socks, especially when it's not their fault that you got your yarns crossed, you silly goose."