Flying Geese Socks

I saw this pattern almost two years ago. I love quilting and knitting. I had to make them.

Sample from Knitty.com

But "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again", has become my motto while working this Flying Geese sock pattern.

I chose these colors, stunning. The pattern is worked on size 3 needles. My main color is black. I couldn't see what I was doing! I learned not to work on it after five pm or when I was tired. Working on it outside in full sunlight helped a lot.

I knit and frogged dozens of times, as I tried to figure out the inventive short-row color shaping of the triangles. I visited Ravelry's project page and saw several knitters had completed these socks. I had an encouraging exchange of emails with a Rav member who had already made them twice. They must be do-able!

I went to the LYS for help, several times. I was not going to be defeated by this method! The clerks there said the pattern wasn't written very well and suggested I find another sock pattern. (!) That made me even more determined than ever.
 

 
Time has passed, other projects have been started and finished. But the socks still called to me. Then I had a light bulb. Why not knit a sample using DK in a lighter color on size 6 needles? When I couldn't figure out the lace on my shawl (fingering wt., size three needles), practicing the pattern on a larger scale had helped a great deal.

It worked! I didn't struggle and I didn't have to rip back! It looked like the picture.

They're still not finished, or even cast on. Other projects are still on the needles ahead of them. But I'm learning all the time, and that after all, seems to be why I knit.