2 Alert Cats Socks

I haven't figured out how to do the duplicate stitch yet (actually, I haven't really tried to figure it out yet). I don't really like how the socks look. The top looks all messed up and I need to be more careful when I weave in ends. It just looks sloppy in some places and the stockinette stitch isn't that great. Plus, I've lost interest. It's hard to keep up the stamina for some of these things. Sock #2 is always a struggle to get motivated for. This is the first PAIR of socks I've sort of finished (I can't really say they're finished since the Alert Cats aren't on them yet). I washed them, but I didn't really block them. I wonder how important that is.
Now I'm back to working on the Retro Rib Socks. I'm not ktb like they say, but I think I will with the second one and see if they look that much different. I suck at knitting, that's all there is to it.