it's a multiple of 36, what's not to like?

Okay, knitters, what's our stance on knots in skeins? I mean, I know we hate them - but are they morally wrong? False advertising? Do they pose an ethical quandary? Or do I just hate weaving in ends an abnormal amount and need to suck it up?

I have cast on for the Montego Bay Scarf from Interweave Knits Summer 2007. And while in a lot of ways I love it (e.g. "shiny"), in a lot of other ways it's sucking out my soul, canning it in its own juices, and selling it three for a dollar at the corner grocery as part of their biannual sale on exotic pizza toppings. I finish, without exaggerating, about one in three rows with the wrong number of stitches. Somehow.

Oh, but wait - that's not even the full story. The full story is that I initially cast on the wrong number of stitches, but my gross misreading of the stitch pattern - a pattern that could literally be typed out in its entirety on the back of my hand in 14-point font (and maybe should be, I guess) - caused my mistaken cast-on to go unnoticed until I could no longer escape the fact that this was not looking like the picture.

So the simplest, boringest non-stockinette pattern in the known universe has me concentrating painfully and counting. Every row. Out loud.

Also! I finished the flutter-bys:



And would do a number of things differently if I were starting over again (which I am so not.)

1) I normally lengthen the heel flap by 3-4 repeats, because I must have high arches or something because normal patterns seem to stretch unappealingly over the first few gusset rounds. So I did that with these, and they DID NOT LIKE. They stretch kind of weirdly horizontally. Which will be hidden in my shoes, but still.

2) Non-stretchy pattern + non-stretchy yarn = non-stretchy sock. Go figure.

3) What is with the toes? They are weird. Must find a new toe.

4) The pattern calls for purling back three on the first purling row of the heel turn. That struck me as being too pointy, which: guess what? It was! But I did it anyway and regret it. Note to self: follow gut. Purl back 5-6 stitches.

This is not to say that I'm unhappy with them. I happen to think that the 2.5 inches of sock that peek out from my mary janes are smashing-looking. I really like the colorway with the pattern.