First off, this is my first time using yarn that was not mostly wool. Forty-six percent bamboo. Which, I have learned, has very little sproing-factor to it. I'm used to mostly wool yarns for sock knitting and wool is a lot stretchier than bamboo. This yarn, though, reminded me a tad of cotton yarn. (Though there is a decent bit of wool in it. Just not quite enough to save me.)
Second, I took a non-elastic yarn and knit a pattern (with frequent increases & decreases) that is inherently not the most elastic pattern. And then I made it even less elastic by replacing some yarn over increases with lifted increases (a less giving increase). Which, yeah, now I don't have random holes in my socks but I also have less stretchy socks.
Then, to top it all off, I somehow managed to be very tense when knitting the heel and leg of the socks. I knew when I was knitting it that my gauge was a bit tight - the stitches weren't flowing as smoothly and I was having trouble working the increases - but I just couldn't fix it. I do tend to unconsciously tighten up my gauge when I work with a yarn with less give so I'm sure that was part of it, but I think maybe the fact that so much of the knitting took place in the car might have made a difference, too. So yeah, tighter than normal gauge.
All those things combined mean these socks aren't too flexible and as such are rather difficult to pull on. Like, really difficult to get over my heel. But once they are on they fit really nicely.
I'm a bit disappointed that I messed these up to the extent I did, but they are wearable (with some effort) so I'm still going to wear them. And my next pair of socks will be wool!
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