2010 May Be the Year of the Sock

For me, 2009 was the year of the square.


I kind of wondered what I was going to do with all that sock yarn, after I was done with the blanket. (And by "done", I mean, done knitting the squares and putting them all in a big ziploc where they will sit for an indeterminate amount of time before I get the mojo to sew them together, after which it will be "really, finally, done.")

Well, what about socks. Those are a fun, small, portable project that uses sock yarn. I used to like to knit socks. I had kind of fallen off the sock bandwagon last year, probably because I signed up to do a knitalong where I was supposed to knit socks.

It would be good for a sock yarn dyer to knit socks. I think I'll try socks.

So, it started back in November when I decided to knit my mom a pair of socks for Christmas. I don't knit socks for just anybody, but if anyone is deserving, she is. I've said this before, she is my biggest cheerleader. And besides that, she wears the ones I gave her last year every time I see her, which is a lot, so I know she loves them.



I was going to knit her a pair of socks, plus something else. I asked her what she wanted, and she said "I want a pair of socks". I said "I'm already making you a pair of socks but I'll make you something else too, so what do you want?" She said "Just make me two pairs of socks." I groaned and rolled my eyes and said "ugh--no way!" but of course I knew that was just what I'd do, and the drama was an effort to throw her off my trail.


Here are the first ones I made. Sophie's Toes in Starry Night. I knew that she coveted this yarn because she was here when I dyed it, and she really liked it, and she's always liked blue and yellow together. I was really happy with the way they turned out. Starry.



For the next ones, I wanted to do something different, so she'd have a variety, and I pulled out this Sophie's Toes in Chelsea. I really got fancy with the picot edge!




She was happy--now the owner of 3 pairs of hand knit socks. I was happy she was happy. And I was fully engaged in sock-knitting mode now. I delved into stash and made a pair for myself:

Sophie's Toes in Man in Uniform. A very old skein that had aged quite nicely in my Sophie's Toes-super-secret-save-for-self stash.

By now, I'm officially on a sock bender. New socks are flying off the needles every couple of days! It was fun but something was nagging at me. It's the Trader Joe's bag. I could see it out of the corner of my eye and it was taunting me. The Trader Joe's bag sits in the corner of my studio and holds my sock WIPs.

It's a big grocery bag, and as you can see, it's full. All the single socks with their second skeins of yarn, all the in-progress socks abandoned but left there for the day when I would come back to them but I never do. Basically, it is the sock graveyard.

Wondering how long some of these orphan socks have been languishing in the bag, I found this post which features several that are still singles! Pathetic.

So, I decided that I would use my sock energy for good, not evil, and diligently work through the (give or take) 13 pairs that patiently awaited me in the bag.

Finished:

So far so good. Of the batch above, 4 of those are second socks! Here are the deets:

Black Koigu. There is a reason I put off knitting this second sock. Plain black 2 x 2 rib might be the ultimate boredom knitting. But I will probably wear these more than any other pair so I am happy they are done!

Deju vu: Plain olive green 2 x 2 rib might be the second most boring thing to knit. But I will wear these a lot too! Claudia's Handpaint yarn, very old and color number lost long ago.

Mountain Colors yarn, color number lost long ago. Deep purple with highlights of brown and blue. Not my favorite yarn to knit due to the mohair content making it fuzzier and splittier, but oh, so cozy to wear!

A big pair of husband birthday socks, finished a few hours before the birthday party. Regia Kaffe Fassett sock yarn, color 4255 Landscape Earth.

Whew! That was a lot of being a good girl. Then.....I might have fallen off a bit, and taken out some fresh and new yarn. Let's just call it a palette cleanser.

Pretty green stripey sock. Regia Design Line 4350. Full of Kaffe Fassett stripey goodness.

Fully refreshed, I tackled some more singles:

It's going to take me about another week or so but I'm going to keep on keepin on. When I am finished that will total 13 pairs since Christmas. But the best part is that the archaeological dig has unearthed some treasures at the bottom of the bag....

I'm getting down to the really good stuff! There's a skein of Just a Small Gathering of Friends and some Merino/Cashmere/Nylon. What am I going to do with myself when the bag is empty?! Cake? Confetti? Disneyland?

I get to buy more sock yarn.