FO: Globetrotter Jaywalkers

i generally resist knitting extremely popular patterns... but i am glad i gave in and knit these Jaywalker socks. I can totally see why everyone loves the pattern so much. Its simple, its gorgeous, it makes great socks. i love them.

Carol left a comment saying that she is knitting jaywalkers from the very same yarn right now, but has run out of yarn and will need another skein. oh no! I weighed mine on the lab scale and it seemed like i was going to be VERY close. Strangely, i had more yarn left over than i thought i would. After grafting up the toe and holding the socks up to each other, i realized that my fear of runnig out of yarn made me hastily start the decreases on the second toe... the second sock is about 1" shorter than the first! whoopsie. But they both fit, and that's all i care about.

on a related note, I'm sure some readers will note instantly that the stripes don't match up at all. that's because I Don't Care. I know there are many knitters out there who painstakingly match stripes, and that's fine. that's their thing. I am not one of them, because i find slightly mismatching socks charming. It reminds me of the hours of labor that was put into them. I do like things to be "done right", but i do not strive to have things "done perfect". that's my thing.

oh - Big thanks to Shelina and Cape Cod Mary who commented about the feed dogs on my sewing machine. Shelina suggested covering them with an index card, and Mary suggested buying a plastic thingy to cover them. I was thinking of fancier machines where you can lower the feed dogs and it didn't occur to me to just cover them. Then, the combination of comments reminded me to look in the box of accessories that came with my sewing machine... and behold - there is that exact plastic piece that covers the feed dogs! I never knew what it was for, so it didn't even occur to me that i already had that thing.