This is my first time knitting Cookie A’s classic Monkey Socks. I got the yarn during a Knit Picks holiday sale. I cast on before Christmas and didn’t finish until mid-February, but the actual knitting felt like it went fast! The pattern repeats are easy to remember and the charts are a good length such that an entire repeat can be done in one sitting which I think helps keep the project going.

The problem with socks is that they are so small that you might as well knit half the sock rather than a gauge swatch, and I had some sizing setbacks. I cast on and knit several inches with 2.5mm (US 1.5) needles, but I was afraid the measured gauge was not going to result in enough negative ease for the intended recipient. So I started over with 2.25mm (US 1) needles and knit all the way past the heel so she could try it on. It was too small to get on!

So I started over again with 2.5mm needles, and I also knit the heel flap longer: 32 rows (2.75”) instead of 26 rows (2.25”). After getting past the heel again, this time it fit. (In retrospect I think the main issue with the first sock was the short heel flap and I probably could have stayed with the smaller needles.) I did not rip back the mostly-completed too-small first sock, so I will try to find someone it fits and make them a pair.