It began last fall shortly before Stitches East. I was coming off of a nearly three-year knitting hiatus (two pregnancies, 4 children--triplets and a singleton 17 months apart), and, among other health issues, I had a kitchen accident in early October and lost part of my left ring finger. I was traumatized, anxious, stressed out, and my mother took me on a yarn crawl to Montclair, NJ, where we visited Stix-n-Stitches and Modern Yarn. The point of the yarn crawl was to get me out of the house. But then Mom bought me a project--a felted tote--that was knit on big needles (US 11? 13?) which we both thought was manageable despite the finger issue. The point of the project being, of course, to distract me and help me relax. Of course, it did and it reminded me how much I missed knitting and how much I enjoyed it.
We decided to go to Stitches East basically at the last minute, maybe a day or two before it began. Not the easiest trick, considering I had to get child care coverage and all hotels were booked, except for one that was one block away (where we're staying this year, too). It was fabulous. I loved the market and marveled at the changes (I think our first Stitches East was 1996 or so). I bought that Rosie's Poptop Mittens, figuring I'd need them because my finger would be very sensitive to cold, which it still is. I also got a yen to knit socks, which I hadn't done in about 8 years. I thought: only one skein of yarn, lots of different things (cuff, heel, gusset, instep, toe) to switch it up and keep it interesting. I saw the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth (I knew nothing of the passion for Socks That Rock because I wasn't yet aware of the online knitting explosion and knit blogging). I wasn't concerned about small needles--I figured that by the time the yarn arrived in January/February, the finger would be well enough to manage smaller needles, or at least, I wouldn't be wearing a ridiculously large bandage, soaking it in diluted Betadine several times a day, visiting the plastic surgeon every week, etc. So I signed up. And got a gorgeous package every other month, and have yet to knit a sock. But I'm still hooked.
Fast forward to now. I'm a member of the Woolgirl Sock Club; I've posted about the Waterfall socks. In fact, it's the first sock club sock I've started. Here's my progress on the first sock:
(Goodness, those are pretty unappealing pictures, aren't they. I better get to taking pictures outside in natural light soon).
I think the ribbing on the cuff is too loose, and will probably knit the ribbing on smaller needles on the second sock. But that's totally not worth ripping out the sock.
But back to sock clubs. Jennifer at Woolgirl also offered a Halloween Sock Kit: yarn, pattern, sock project bag, goodies. It had "me" written all over it! Except I was too late to sign up. I accept my fate in these situations--I've spent the last year making up for three years of no stash enhancement--and assume it was not meant to be. But then I received an email: there were two more openings, I was at the top of the wait list, and was I still interested? Of course! And look what came today:
The kit is called "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." The yarn is White Oak Studio tv yarn, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." The sock bag has Lucy dressed as a witch. There is a teeny tiny adorable pumpkin stitch marker that's too small to be captured in any detail by my camera with my inadequate skills. The orange pumpkin bag is one of those goody bags we used to put together for trick-or-treaters when I was little and is filled with lots of good candy. The pattern is awesome, too--the orange contrast yarn is for the toe! And everything was beautifully wrapped in orange tissue and tied with purple ribbon. What a fabulous treat! Now I definitely have to finish the Waterfall socks so I can justify casting on these socks!
1 comment:
The bag, the yarn--it is all fabu! I want, no I need to learn to knit adult size socks. Great clubs, great yarn-there is so much fun to be had.
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