A Happy Compromise
Sometimes I think a compromise can leave you feeling a little like you gave too much up, that you settled for less than you should have. I feared I may feel like this when I decided to knit a plain foot on my Poms. I'd been wanting to knit this pattern for so long could I really make do with just a patterned leg? Would it look like I couldn't stand the heat in the Pomatomus kitchen? Would it lose the joy of the original pattern to cut it off at the ankle?
Happily I love the way this looks; sure I could take the all over patterning if someone else was doing the knitting - one of the great features of many Cookie A patterns is the seamless flow of the patterning across the sock. However, for me, given where the foot of a sock normally ends up I can feel content with taking the easy way on these.
I'd got stuck at the end of the leg on this first of the pair and was not feeling inspired to press on even with the deliciousness of the heel to come. I liked the look of the pattern as it emerged from the needles but I never clicked with the rhythm of knitting it and a patterned 1x1 rib is a slow plod if you're not in the swing of it. I knew I wanted to make the socks, I knew ripping out all that work would hurt more than knitting on but I also need to enjoy my knits. There's enough in life that is not all fun and frolics without bringing plodding to the knits.
Eventually I had to get on with the heel as my mitts were knit and I'd deliberately only taken the Poms with me on my trip home. Aren't I cruel to my inner knitter sometimes? I kept hoping that once I picked them up again there would be a spring in the stitches but I still wasn't feeling it as I knit the heel flap. In the end inspiration came from my Mama who suggested the rather obvious idea of just not patterning the foot. Suddenly I had some simple knit, knit, knitting to swing along on and then just the much more manageable prospect of one leg more of the pattern to go. Half-Poms, sock one completed and sock two cast on. A happy compromise as this way I should actually get some of the great Pom patterning on an FO. Sometimes less really is more.
Comments
But yours look really lovely and I think you made a good decision.
I agree with RoseRed, if you're not feeling the love it's hard to keep going when it's for one's self - perhaps that's why I would be up to Version 5 [or is it 6?] of Supersocke - if only I could find the desire to cast-on, again!
btw--I've seen the ravelry progress bars but don't have a clue how to get them into the blog. Could you point me to directions or something similar? :)