For any given pair, only one sock really needs to be marked--but in fact it's pretty easy to tell by where the (very visible) toe decreases start. The medial side runs straight longer than the lateral side. I had considered that, or making a knitted mark (even an L--easy to do by purling the right stitched in stockinette--my mother used it to put my initials on my sweaters.)

But it's just not that hard to see (and the one time I hastily pulled on the blue pair, the first sock "told" me by not feeling right.) I will probably mark a pair with a knit-pattern just for the fun of it and to see if it's easier. And when I start doing multiple pairs in the same color, I'm planning to put a narrow, one or two row stripe in a contrasting color near the top, where it'll be hidden by jeans or slacks, but visible in the sock drawer. (Red One and Red Two will be easy to distinguish, since they won't look anything alike except in color.)

wash them all together and they'll all turn white :)

(In rgb colorfield, equal amounts of red, green and blue light produce white.)

You made me realize that my clever plan to use the leftover yarn from each sock, in all the varied colors, to make striped sock, might lead not to white socks (alas--pigment and light refuse to do the same thing with colors) but to a sort of variegated mud color when I wash them. I suppose I could just not wash them, but...no.

Go you!

I was actually able to knit on the long leg of my plane flight on Monday, since tha plane wasn't full and there was no one sitting next to me. Usually I don't feel like I have enough elbow room to knit in Economy class ;)

Fortunately trains have more legroom!

What kind of needles do you use? There doesn't seem to be any consistent clera statement of what's allowable on flights (either domestic or international.) Back in the day, my mother knitted on flights between Texas and Washington, D.C. (when she came to visit me) but knitting wasn't considered a hazard. (And my mother could do dotty old lady amazingly well when it suited her. She had snowy silver-white hair, long and piled up, and amazing eyebrows.)

No, the rules aren't at all clear.

To the best of my understanding, knitting needles are OK on US domestic flights. BUT... It is up to the discretion of the TSA personnel that you happen to encounter. So most of the time you can expect them to "pass" with no problems... But if they think your needles look dangerous or weaponlike, they can still insist that you hand them over. I find this annoying, but I can kind of understand it.

So far I've never had a problem, but I take some precautions. I never put needles that I can't easily replace in my carryon (for instance some difficult-to-find types of circulars). If anyone has heirloom needles from their grandmother, or custom-made fancy wood needles, I'd advise the same to be on the safe side. I also try to arrange things so that I'm not trying to fly with a project on teeny tiny metal needles (which look sharper than bigger needles). I think circular needles look less "scary" than straights and wood or plastic looks less "scary" than metal.

I think I'm being unnecessarily paranoid to take these precautions, but this reduces my worries to a minimum. I've really only heard a handful of stories of people having any sort of problem and they seem to be very rare and usually a matter of encountering just one jittery airline person on a bad day.

Frankly, I can't "kind of understand it." They let people bring aboard items that various covert nasties have used as weapons in the past...such as ballpoint pens. In fact, I've read that, in the hands of a trained assassin, almost anything the normal non-criminal person has with them for a trip can be lethal. Pens, pencils, belts, ties, etc.

So what is this paranoia about knitting needles, which--yes--could be used to poke someone, but not to terrorize a planeload of passengers so they're afraid to confront and subdue the knitter? Even sharper needles--embroidery needles, say--are useless if the goal is to hold a planeload of passengers quiet and non-resisting. At worst, someone's going to get poked. What is this paranoia about grooming tools and makeup? (I have a pair of hangnail nippers with teeny-tiny blades and weak handles--yes, I suppose a trained assassin could hurt someone with them, but it's just as likely the handles would break off in his/her hands while delivering a scratch that barely penetrated the skin.) For the business woman traveling, changing cities every day or so, the need to have both carry-on (because luggage does get lost and delayed) and checked baggage (because things that will be needed in order to maintain a professional appearance can't be carried on) is very annoying (and now the airlines are charging for both checked and in some cases carry-on. They seem to be in league with the security people to make air travel as unpleasant as possible.)

The weapons they should forbid are those that can actually damage the airplane (firearms) and/or easily injure or terrorize an entire cabin-load of people (big knives.) Or, if they're going to forbid knitting needles and makeup, let's take those pens and briefcases (sharp corners, could be heavy) away from the male travelers, too.

No, I don't feel safer with the TSA in charge. Or appreciated as a customer by the airlines, either. So I quit flying. It's no fun anymore; it's stressful, it's unhealthy (restrictions on using the toilets, for instance, along with the crowding, the lack of appropriate food and drink--I was coming home sick every time), it's not worth it. I miss travel; I miss being able to meet people all over the place, but...enough was more than enough. I'd like to make one more trip to Europe before I die, but...maybe, maybe not.

Having hand-knit socks through the whole convention was wonderful. I just need more of them. Knitting at the convention was fun and I saw others knitting while waiting, too. Red Two progressed all the way through the heel flaps (both socks) and the Denim One that was cast on (I didn't get the second Denim cast on, and didn't want to try that at the convention) is now into the stockinette below the 5 inches of ribbing. If I'd had both Denim One socks cast on, I could probably have finished the ribbing on the second, as well.

Having my own towel in which to roll the socks (instead of taking the chance of "coloring" a white hotel towel) was definitely the way to go. The hotel towels aren't as thick and don't absorb as much--and even using my towel, the socks took the two full days to dry.