Instant Gratification Socks

I worked ten or twelve more rows on the vest yesterday. Even though I'm so close to having the back finished, it's beginning to feel like the never-ending project; a garment of epic proportions. I needed an instant gratification project.

I turned to Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch for inspiration. This book, by the way, is the best sock design book I've ever seen. If you need step by step, hold-my-hand instructions, you might be disappointed. If you want a book that helps you think like a sock designer, this is the book for you. As a nice bonus I was able to teach myself how to knit a sock on two circular needles in about an hour with the instructions from this book and the excellent tutorial at Knitpicks.

In my opinion, knitting in the round with two circular needles is far superior to working with DPNs. I always felt like I was wrestling with an urchin or trying to knit with a sack full of angry cats when I used DPNs. Knitting with 2 circulars is, by contrast, a very relaxing process.

I am making a simple top down sock with a garter rib pattern.

Software: Knitpicks Essential in Meadow Multi - 24043 (the purple is actually more pinkish and the dark chocolate brown is more milk chocolate brown than shown on the site, a minor disappointment)

Hardware: Knitpicks Nickel-Plated Fixed Circular Knitting Needles in US Sizes 3/Metric 3.25mm

Here is my progress so far: