Frog it or finish it, part 4: Socks are small, slow projects

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Last August I started a pair of white beaded socks that had a rather complicated-looking lace pattern on them.
Now, at the end of “Frog it or Finish it” month, I’m still plugging away.

I feel like sock projects deceive me. Socks are so small, but you don’t realize how big the project is until you’re finished with the first sock and start to dread starting the second sock.
Socks are between 68 and 72 stitches around. It’s a lot of stitches, especially when you look at baby-sweater patterns and they start with 30 to 40 stitches. But they’re not a big deal when you think of a laceweight shawl that might end with more than 600 stitches.
The tedium arrives when you’re working on double-pointed needles and you keep going around and around on them for what seems like hours and you don’t have much to show for it.

I started both of the socks at the same time on two different sets of double-pointed needles.

The pattern was a mystery pattern (you can see it on Ravelry, here). The designer created the whole pattern, then released it in four separate parts, or “clues,” one for each week of the month. Ideally, the knitter knits a mystery pattern without knowing what is coming next. It’s a lot of fun to wonder what sorts of fun techniques the designer has planned for the pattern.
The pattern in its entirety has been out for some time now. When the third part of the pattern was released, I put the project down and didn’t look at it for several months. Now that I’ve picked it back up, I’m determined to finish it.

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