Part One of the "Should'a" Series

I should'a learned how a sock is engineered before I set to stitchin'. The ankle gussets are all wrong, on both socks. There's no point in pointing each error out, because the mistakes don't stop there. No, I bungled the toe shaping portion as well. Toe grafts....yet another talent I was born without. While you probably wouldn't have to strain your eyes to hard to find the problem areas, don't hurt yourself trying. Just know that they're kids' socks and kids don't care.

My son totally dug em'.

Another notable "should'a", it's probably wise to pick a yarn you *love* for such a task. I didn't. I totally settled, just because I wanted to see what all this sock knittin' hoopla was about. While I can't say didn't like the feel or look of the hand-dyed yarn (it really is charming), I was disappointed when I realized that I would never wear a pair of socks that looked like these, myself. Maybe it was something about the green that just left me flat. Or maybe it was thought of woolen foot coverage in a tropical climate that turned me off. Whatever the case, it left me no choice but to make a pair for my daughter, *ahem* kids, which became more a task than a longing. So I rushed and I ignored the huge mistakes I knew I was making, hands cramping the whole time because I knew that if I allowed myself to slow down one iota I'd just throw the whole project out of the window and never give it a second thought. But this is high quality ho-hum yarn and, well, I'm far to guilt-ridden a knitter to do that. It'd be like settling for a Picasso, when you really want a Lucian Freud, and then storing it in the garage till you could give it away. I'd at least hang the so-so Picasso in the bathroom, that nobody ever uses. I'm just sayin'.