Socks, Socks, Socks

It's all that's on my mind these days, really. I'm going to bed at night thinking of socks. Socks I want to design. Socks I've yet to knit but have the stash designated for. Socks I'm working on. Socks I wish I was farther along on. Socks that are whistling on the wind and socks that are still becoming string on the wheel. It is safe to say I'm consumed with the sock.

It doesn't help that the most awesome sock event EVER is up and coming. Yes, I'm getting really jazzed about Sock Summit. I'm nervous as all get out and I'm also working like a madwoman to get ready for it - but I'm also oober excited about being there! So, I hope that ya'll will come by our booth and hang out for a while.

My sock fever is also being fueled by the fact that I've been spinning so much sock yarn and dyeing up some new colorways - like this 'Blue Ring Octopus' that just has me knitting as fast as I can to free up more needles for new sock projects. Seriously, I finished a pair the other day and was actually disappointed when I found the needles I'd used for them were 1 size up from the size I need to start my Blue Ring Octopus socks. Woe! I love blues and greens anyway but when I came up with this colorway a few weeks ago, I knew it had to be a tribute to this little gal. All small and pretty and vicious.....who could resist her? But, since in real life if you get to see her pretty rings, you are very nearly dead, I decided to make the colorway JUST the colors of her rings. You can knit it and it won't cost you your life...as far as I know.

Of course, this may mean to some that I have too many WIP's on the needles but I am not interested in such practicality at this juncture of my life. I'm far more intrigued and intoxicated at the thought of knitting socks day and night. I think it must be karma for the first few years I was a knitter when I turned my nose up at sock knitting and SWORE I'd never knit anything on teeny tiny needles. People cajoled me with sock yarn....promised me I'd love it, but I resisted. Now? Now I have two sweaters worth of handspun yarn and three hand-dyed sweater yarns (one is a 50/50 wool silk combo for goodness sakes) and I can't be bothered to touch them.....yet I foam at the mouth and elicit strange moans at the sight of sock yarns of all types. It has to be karma.

The thing is, this kind of karma is just fine with me. I'm particularly smitten with the last pair of socks I've finished. When I first got my Cat Bordhi book - I was totally excited. I wanted to do what every excited knitter does and just jump right into it. My first few jumps were a little rocky and I'm not so patient with frogging so I quickly fell into despair. I'm like this with knitting patterns/books, sometimes so I knew better than to give up on it entirely - and I'm so glad I didn't. I've now knit a few successful pairs of socks from the book and continue to be stunned, shocked, and energized by the genius that is Cat Bordhi. Once I got over the 'oh my god I have to do math?' shock and relaxed enough to wrap my mind around alternative shapes and gusset concepts, etc., it's been nothing but non-stop sock knitting bliss. If you've not had this kind of fun with Cat's patterns, yet, do! You won't regret it. It opens the sock knitting mind like some sort of magic portal and, instantly, you cannot imagine a sock you cannot knit. I blame this sock knitting drunken frenzy on my desire to knit the Blue Ring Octopus into the Ocean Toes socks in the book. I mean, how can I possibly imagine that I can knit these? I don't know, I just do.

But, these socks are on stage today - my handspun 'One Fish, Two Fish' yarn from the Happy Hooves batt club. You remember how much fun I had spinning these, don't you? Well, the knitting was only an extension of that bliss. I bet you didn't know that I love quirky? LOL. You did? (surprised). So, to continue quirky loving sock knitting and also to further investigate just what kind of socks I like to wear and which ones wear with the most stealth, these are slightly mismatched. The sock on the right is a Navajo Ply of one batt. The sock on the right, same gauge but a 2 ply. Since most sock spinners say that a 3 ply wears best, I've tended to trend toward standard 3 ply sock spinning. But, I guess the ever questioning and, thus, slightly annoying at times person within can't help but ask, "are you sure?". So, to be sure, I'm trying a bit of everything. This pair is about testing the stealth of a Navajo ply and a 2 ply. In the interest of testing and also because I never seem to do anything exactly the same including my socks - I put two different heels on these. The Navajo Ply got a plain stockinette heel and the 2 ply got the textured, longer wearing heel. Now, the fun part. I get to wear them just as much as I can and see how they do. Right now, they do pretty darn good because my feet are oh, so happy! I think we need a close up to capture some of those sparkles - don't you?

Wow. I can't believe I got through this whole post without complaining AT ALL about the fact that we've had 20 day of the last 23 that have had rain, high humidity, and a warm sort of sogginess to them that makes even the most treehugging person ever crabby and cranky....ooops, I think I just stumbled.....time to go! LOL.