vanilla sox with a touch of tiger

i hate knitting vanilla sox with a passion! however, this skein of opal rainforest tiger has forced my hand! i tried knitting the leg in a textured rib and got all the way to the heel flap; stopping every inch or so, trying to decide if i liked it or not. finally, it got to "i don't like it." my hubby, who rarely comments on my knitting, said he thought the sox looked too busy; so you know it had to be BAD. here is my second attempt at taming the tiger...

opal rainforest tiger

original opal tiger

i have been trying to decide whether i like the original tiger or the rainforest tiger better. i thought i remembered the original tiger as knitting up in a more random pattern but obviously, i remembered wrong. as you can see, i got stripes of colors with both skeins. i know some people did get more tiger shaped stripes than i did. i guess i still don't know which i i prefer.

i won a prize from the 200sox knitalong hosted by the purling p's . i finished 22 pairs of socks last year. i knitted more than that but this is the number of MATCHING pairs. i still don't understand why the pairs had to match. ;op i think i must have frogged at least 2 more pairs.

my prize is a gorgeous skein of regia surf color in something appropriate for guys (which i am sorely lacking in my stash) and a cute little stitch marker commemorating the kal. thank you, petra and p'la for a fun year!

and i've finished writing up the pattern for theknitter's sotm club. wanna see a picture?! here's the toe! hey, you know i can't show you the sock. if i did, i'd have to kill you! and i need all the readers i can get!

the colors are gorgeous, aren't they?
check back in march when i can unveil the entire sock