A Wandering Knitter

I can’t believe it’s October already. One of my favourite months. The trees are all starting to turn here. I’m excited because it is my first October in New Jersey for a long time. The leaves don’t turn in Florida, and not much on Crete either. Every day the view from my windows gets a little more colourful.

To celebrate, I joined the Socktoberfest KAL. For my official Socktoberfest project, I chose the Bootiful Socks pattern from The Knitting Zone. Isn’t this cute? My preschool kids will love them!

I am doing mine in Halloween orange rather than the lime green the Knitting Zone used. I ordered some of the Palette Peruvian wool sockweight yarn from Knit Picks. I think they are going to be so fun to make

Lolly has given us our first Socktoberfest assignment. She asked us to share a bit about our sock knitting history.

When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class?

Although my grandmother taught me to knit when I was a teenager, I didn’t discover the joy of knitting socks until last January when my sister kindly gave me some brown sock wool and a set of size 1 dpns to make socks for my sweetie. Since I was a fairly experienced knitter, I found a pattern online and taught myself as I went along. The dpns frustrated me completely, but I loved the idea of knitting socks.

What was your first pair? How have they “held up” over time?

My first sock was the one I tried to knit for my fiance. I never finished it. It was the finest gauge yarn I had ever knit with, and I think I was defeated by the size of his feet (14US). I got some bulky Rowan Tweed yarn, switched from dpns to two circulars,and made him some slipper-socks. It was just a basic sock pattern and it took me only three days. The (almost) instant gratification really helped me get into sock knitting. He wears them all the time, and they are holding up fine so far.

What would you have done differently?

The plain brown yarn just didn’t hold my interest enough to get through two huge socks. For new sock knitters I recommend picking something fun to start,maybe a self striping yarn, because it is so satisfying to watch the pattern emerge.

What yarns have you particularly enjoyed?

Self-striping ones are great. My favourite so far though has been the SWTC Bamboo that I made into a pair of Thuja socks for my honey.

They are sooooo soft! It was a pleasure to have the yarn running through my fingers as I knit. They have just continued to improve every time they are washed. I also love the Regia bamboo, they get softer every time I wear them. And the Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock that I used for my Baudelaires is divine. I could go on and on…

Do you like to crochet your socks? or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method?

After 4 pairs of socks on two circulars, my LYSO taught me Magic Loop. It is way better! I use only that now.

Which kind of heel do you prefer? (flap? or short-row?)

I guess flap because I have done so many of those now, and I can do them well. I am still a novice on short row. I only learned it this summer and have only done two pairs that way. Now that I have more or less mastered it though, I will use it more often.

How many pairs have you made?

Since January I have knit 14 2/3 pairs of socks. The 2/3 is because I was partway through the second sock for Sock Wars when Lia knocked on the door with her Socks of Death That means she had to finish the ones I was making. I hear that she has done so and mailed them off to her next victim

Before I will allow myself to start working on the Bootiful socks though, I have to finish my Rhinebeck project. The Malabrigo is knitting up beautifully! It is such a pleasure to work with, so soft and it knits so fast. One of those projects that I can knit without looking at while I watch TV or play Everquest. Here is my progress so far. The Hot Lava cardi pattern is interesting. You make a shrug first, then pick up stitches all around the open part and knit down with short rows to shape the bust. So far, I think it looks a lot like a sweater for some weird Dr. Suess character

As you my loyal readers know, I have been looking forward to Sock Wars for the last several weeks. Friday was the big day, the start of hostilities. It was the day that I was due to receive the dossier of my intended victim. It was my job to assassinate via sock, all the while knowing that someone out there was madly knitting in a fiendish plot to assassinate me. The start of the war was a bit chaotic, as wars often are. This chaos, though, was caused not by bombs but by a hurricane named Gordon who chose the worst possible day to hit Belfast, the home of Yarn Monkey, the lovely lady who is throwing this little war. But Yarn Monkey was not to be daunted, and managed to post first the Pattern of Doom, and later a list of assassins and victims so that we could all get started.

Believing that all is fair in love and war, but that in knitting we all have to stick together, I immediately emailed my assassin to provide her with the additional information she needed to carry out her assignment. I didn’t receive any reply, and wondered if perhaps she was not as on top of things as yours truly. Perhaps she hadn’t been by the blog or forums and realized that the rules of engagement had changed? I was desperately praying that my assassin was a new knitter who was making her first attempt at socks which would have to be frogged and attempted multiple times. Maybe she was a new doctor doing her residency, and only had time to knit on alternate Thursdays from 3:00 to 5:00 AM. Hoping for the best, I knitted madly away on my Socks of Doom, finishing the first one and getting partway through the second by Monday afternoon. Feeling productive, albeit a bit deflated by all the forum posts from people who knit all Friday night and were standing in line when the post office opened on Saturday, I was thinking that I should be able to finish them in time to mail them on Tuesday afternoon.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. I am awaiting a package from the lovely people at handpaintedyarn.com, so my heart leaped in my chest, thinking that my beautiful Malabrigo had arrived earlier than expected. Alas, it was not to be. There on the doorstep stood a stranger, holding a bag to which were tied two black balloons. In she came, and Bang! I was dead. I was so surprised! It was the last thing I expected. It turns out that Lia, my very quick knitting assassin, lives not too far from me and decided it would be fun to assassinate me in person.

There was much laughter as my family gathered around to admire the Bag of Doom. Here it is, with all the lovely goodies that were inside:

A closeup of the contents, beautiful soft Socks of Doom, appropriately coloured blood red (well, really a lovely claret), CHOCOLATE! , and a sympathy card.

The socks fit me perfectly, and are snuggly and wonderful.

Lia and I and my family had a wonderful visit. She is a lovely person, and we have lots in common. Not only a love of all things fibery, but we both live with red headed men. Lia and I have plans to get together to tour some of the local yarn shops, as well as some other fun adventures. Sock Wars has brought me a new friend

So far this week is shaping up to be a really great one. First, there was my very fun assassination yesterday. Then, today, I had a second interview at a local school where I had applied for a position as a preschool teacher. It went very well, and they offered me the job! So I am once again gainfully employed. I will be teaching in the 2 and 3 year old class. Can you believe I get paid to sit on the floor and play all day, and get cuddles?? What a great deal Teaching preschool is the best career ever. You don’t get rich doing it, but you make a big impact on the lives of the children. I bet all of you can remember your first teacher. I know I can. I think of her with great affection. I love to think that, long after I am gone, the little ones I teach will be adults applying the lessons that they learned from me about how to be good, productive, caring people.

I can’t believe that Saturday is the first day of Autumn! The summer went by so fast. But then they always do, and winter seems to drag on forever. This will actually be my first real autumn in fifteen years. I lived in South Florida for many years, where the only two seasons are Hurricane Season and Tourist Season. Then last Autumn was spent on Crete, where they swim into November and it has only snowed once in the last 100 years. Autumn is not marked there by brightly coloured foliage but by the absence of tourists and the closing of most of the shops and restaurants in the Old Town.

In honour of my first autumn in so many years, I have done two things. I have made a decision and purchased the yarn for my Hot Lava Cardigan project. The winner was Malabrigo, in the beautiful Whales Road colourway. It’s a colourway that is hard to find, but I was lucky enough to find it on Malabrigo’s ebay store. Look at this, isn’t it delicious? I can’t wait to get my hands on it! My fingers are itching and twitching to get started on Hot Lava.

I also joined Socktoberfest. I mean, really, how could I not? It’s a celebration of socks, my absolute favourite thing to knit. It’s going to be wild! There are almost 1000 sock knitting addicts signed up as of today. I can’t wait to see what they make, and it’s a great opportunity to find new and interesting blogs.

Tomorrow is a big day for another reason besides being the last day of Summer. It’s also the start of Sock Wars. Being the world-class procrastinator that I am (I mean really, if it was an Olympic sport I would have a gold medal) I only just yesterday got caught up on the Sock Wars forums and discovered that the pattern will call for DK weight yarn. I don’t have any DK weight yarn in my stash that isn’t destined for another project. I eyed my mother’s stash a bit but I think she might notice if I am seen knitting something of hers, and my sister who usually enhances my stash at the slightest provocation is too far a drive. I need to get started on this project as quickly as possible to avoid being assassinated in the first round. This will entail a trip to the LYS tomorrow (Awwww what a pity! ).

So you northern hemisphere dwellers enjoy your last day of summer and start getting out the bulky merinos. Cold weather is just around the corner and you really need a new sweater now don’t you? As for Ruth and those of you with Summer still ahead, time to start thinking about cottons and bamboo, my favourite hot weather yarn.