Priorities

I started a pair of socks for hubby last night. He was walking around barefoot, saying how nice it would be to have a pair of hand knit socks for his cold feet, like everyone else in the family has. I had to drop my project I was working on and start something right away. I mean, how does it look? The man that buys me my sock yarn not wearing any hand knit socks. It's just not right.

I immediately pulled out my box of sock yarn so he could pick out his yarn.

This is what he picked out:

It's Berroco Sox number 1425 John Moores color. This is one of the reasons I love him. He bypassed a plain blue, a grey and a few other really boring colors and picked this one. He's always had a great sense of style and color. I don't like to go shopping without him because when he's with me, my clothes we pick out together are always my favorites. I will definitely have fun knitting these and I think they will go relatively fast (considering his feet are size 13). I'm going toe-up, probably with a short-row heel, then ribbing up the leg so they stay up nicely.

Totally Worth It

Today was the day my very first Rockin Sock Club shipment arrived. O Happy Day! I knew it was going to be here soon, I had been following their blog intensively. My first shipment did not disappoint. I got my binder, which includes the Dyer's Notes for the yarn I received, a couple of really cool charts and notes, and my first pattern. I also got a little keychain made out of the same yarn for the pattern and two buttons. They are so cute!
The beautiful yarn that arrived is called Dragon Dance and is part of the Chinese New Year Celebration. The theme of this yarn makes me feel connected to other parts of the world and has the most wonderful reds. The pattern, Serendipity, that was chosen to go with this yarn has a lace pattern that looks like candle flames. It's going to be wonderful!

I am usually a monogamous knitter, with only one pair of socks and a bigger project on the needles. I like to finish the thing I'm working on before starting another project that is the same kind of thing. I have not finished my Pomatomus socks yet but I just can't wait to cast these on and get started. I've already wound them into balls and made a working copy of the pattern so I can cast on tonight.
This was taken a little over a week ago and I'm down to the end of the heel flap. I just need to turn the heel and finish the foot and toe. So I figured I'm not that far off.

Owning Up

One of the perks about being on Ravelry is being able to see what other yarns people have and what they think about them. It is great to do a search on a yarn and see what it's being used for. It's made me think about putting my stash in the database so I can better know what I have.

I have big (58 qt) plastic storage containers in my closet (at least 8 that I can think of off the top of my head) that are stuffed with yarn. I have 5 stackable hat boxes in the corner of my room, stuffed with yarn. There are two dresser drawers, a big box in the garage and a comforter bag in my son's closet stuffed with yarn. All different types- acrylic, cotton, wool, novelty. The thought of actually cataloging it and owning the entire thing freaks me out.

I've decided to start small.

Here is my small collection of Baby Ull. I have plans for this. I'm going to be making more of the Zombie wristwarmers and a pair of Hot Rod socks for Hubby. The only thing I need to make the socks is an orange color and I'm going to dye some Knitpicks Bare with Orange Kool-aid to get the color I want. Then I'll be able to start those.

Here is my small/medium sock yarn collection. By my count I have enough sock yarn to make 18 pairs of socks. This isn't counting the one pair I have waiting in the queue, and the one I already have on the needles. (Or the Socks that Rock, Chapman Springs cursed yarn that I have hidden in the back of the drawer, waiting to be frogged for the 3rd time.) Considering I bust one pair of socks out a month, I have more than enough for the next year. I had so much fun dyeing yarn, that I have to do it again and that will just expand my collection even further. And even with this, I still feel no need to justify it. I've heard tale of people whose sock yarn collections outweigh mine by 5 to 10 times. I've never seen one that big, but blogs say they are out there.

Now don't judge me, I didn't purchase all of the yarn I own myself. Most of the yarn that I buy, has an intended project in mind. I'm one of those people who, when others find out I like to knit and crochet, gets given yarn that other people don't want/use anymore. This happens to me at least once a year, when I get a couple of bags of yarn. It makes me happy and I always give the yarn a proper introduction to the rest of the stash and put it in it's place.

Goodness in the Mail

I'm so excited to be going to the Stitch N Pitch game in San Diego this Sunday! I'm pretty sure I'm bringing my Victorian Lace socks to work on because the KAL will be starting a new pattern in August. But I've been a little distracted by this...

My order from KnitPicks. I've got five wonderful books to pick through and two new skeins of sock yarn. Here's a closer look of the sock yarn...

The cool thing about this yarn is that my husband picked out this colorway because he wants socks made for his feet. So I'm all excited about making him socks. I've made him socks before. But this time I'm going to make some out of something that is going to feel really great on his feet. His size 13 feet. I'm not quite sure how long it takes to make socks for size 13 feet (7-8 sts/inch), but we'll be celebrating our 10-year wedding anniversary next month so I think I've got time.