Randomly on a Thursday

1. My internet keeps going on and off, probably because my neighbours are still renovating. At least I hope that’s what’s happening.  I’ve lost this post three four five times. At least I finally got smart enough to put it in a document so that it would still be there.

2. Joe comes home today, and it will be so nice to see him – however briefly.  I leave for YarnOver and StevenBe tomorrow. I’m almost done packing/cleaning/organizing so that tonight I can actually visit with him for 30 minutes.

3. I think it is very easy to like your husband if you don’t see him much.

4. I finished the socks last night, so I didn’t have to cut them up into a million pieces, which I do truly swear was an option.
socksdonewhole 2014-04-24
5. I think that even if you practice for years and do yoga,  taking pictures of your own feet never gets easy.
socksdonefeet 2014-04-24
Yarn: Hot Socks Nil, Colour 25 Pattern: My own, from Knitting Rules, except I kept two of the ribs from the top/front running all the way down to the toes. Just for sport.

6.These don’t fit me. Which is good – because if they did I think I would keep them.
socksdone 2014-04-24
7. I’m like that.

8. You know, these were feeling kinda familiar, and then I googled the yarn name and my own blog turned up.  I knit just about exactly this pair of socks about a year ago. I totally forgot. Is that weird? (I guess the instinct I had that Ken would like these socks was a powerful one.)

9. In January I said that if I was going to make my goal of 12 pairs of socks done on time for Christmas this year I had to knit one pair at least every 27.83 days.  So far this year I’ve knit four pairs. It still seems wild and obsessive to keep track like this, but infinitely less wild than I feel when there’s three pairs to go on the 15th of December.

10. I gave away one of the pairs for a birthday present. Does that mean I have to knit 13?

85 thoughts on “Randomly on a Thursday

  1. Love the sock pattern. I had been thinking about slightly changing your sock pattern for interest and you saved me the time.
    I’m in the process of knitting a wardrobe of socks for my husband. He has a bad hip and has had trouble getting his Walmart cotton socks on his feet. He also couldn’t understand why I spent so much money for yarn before even starting to knit and as a result refused to wear hand knit socks. He has now changed his mind big time. Now I will have a different pattern to add to the mix.

  2. Yes it does mean you have another pair to knit which is just the universe balancing. I had no intention of knitting socks, but because of your influence I am about to finish my 3rd pair (and I started the first pair in mid February).
    Enjoy your trip!

  3. Just chiming in to say that I wish I could catch you at Yarn Over OR Stephen Be, but these children of mine, they have activities, and they have no driver’s licenses. Also, I have a school reunion – and since they only happen every 10 years, well, I guess I’d like to see some of those folks. HOWEVER: one of these years I will at last succeed in actually getting a spot in one of your classes AND being able to work my schedule around attending. The weather on Saturday is supposed to be lovely – so I hope you step out of the building a bit and enjoy it. Also – if you need good beer and an excellent black bean burger, a restaurant called the Gold Nugget Tavern & Grill is reasonably near (driving not walking) the Yarnover location. Email me if you need details/directions.

  4. I actually have done the same thing and I didn’t know it till I went to put the leftover yarn in the scrap bag. I guess we just liked something about them. No you are not obsessive about knitting that many socks. It used to me my goal to do 20 pair a year and when I traveled a lot it was easy. You can almost knit a whole sock waiting for a plane or on one leg of a trip. Now I am lucky to do a pair a month. Too many other things to knit.

  5. If it wasn’t for your basic sock pattern & sense of humor in my favorite book of yours, I don’t know how I’d pull off my very first pair for my 6’6″ uncle & his giant feet. I just started the 2nd one & can’t wait to see how they turn out for him!

  6. My mom likes to send me sock yarn in care packages, and last year she sent me the same skein of Opal Schafpate twice, once in February and again in October. We had a really good laugh. Might just have to make the second pair for her.
    Technically, I don’t think the January post said all twelve *had* to be Christmas presents, but for sanity’s sake you might want to replace it anyway. Or live on the edge in December, whatever 🙂

      • I gave my dad the same plaid flannel shirt from LL Bean twice. He told me that I had which I thought was rather rude, but if he hadn’t told me, would I have ordered him a third identical shirt? What can I say, the plaid just looked like him…

  7. I love that yarn. Which does me no good at all since as far as I can tell, no one in the U.S. sells it. Now I have to look all over for grey striped sock yarn. Oh no! Looking at yarn! How terrible! Anyway I think the socks are great and I’m glad you didn’t have to chop them up.

  8. Thanks for the good laugh that I got over your number “8. You know, these were feeling kinda familiar, and then I googled the yarn name and my own blog turned up.” I think that’s hysterical!

  9. Since your internet has been on/off, wanted to give you a heads up that I sent an email inquiring about your availability to teach. If you didn’t get it, my email is laura at laurafry dot com

  10. re: 10. I think it depends on whether you actually need 12 pairs of socks at Christmas! If these were meant for Ken, I would go find different yarn for him, and then definitely make 13!

  11. Ahh, Christmas knitting…..

    Was just thinking I should get started on it early this year. Love the socks! And you have cute, wee feet to model them. 🙂

  12. 3. You’re probably right:)
    4.Whew. That was a close one.
    7. Me too, which explains why I haven’t been giving away a lot of socks in recent history.
    10. I don’t know, I’ve never been much good at math.

    Have a lovely day to match your lovely socks:)

  13. re 10- i would say yes, you do.
    isn’t it funny how we feel we “get” to start a project and then we “have” to finish it? really you “get” to knit another pair. anyway, with all of your traveling, i bet your goal will be easy.
    although i have a feeling you will still be knitting under a deadline on december 15! just maybe not socks.

  14. Finding your own blog as a top hit isn’t that surprising – my husband put your site through a web traffic analysis site, against the University of Waterloo, and it actually showed up. (Not registering as a flat zero on that scale is scary impressive. He stopped being surprised that you continually crash small yarn suppliers’ websites.)

    Is that toe what you give in Knitting Rules? I hadn’t noticed the toe being anything special (and seem to have not recorded who I loaned the book to last), and those socks have awesome toes.

  15. I really love these socks. I’ve been in the process of relearning how to knit. I knit a little when I was 14-15 and am no 65. I wear a size 11 shoe so have never been able to find pretty socks to fit my gargantuan feet. I’m thinking that if I make my own, I’ll be able to make pretty socks BIG enough. So, long story short, socks are an intriguing possibility when I learn enough. Question: The variegation looks exactly alike on both socks. How were you able to manage that? Did you knit them both at the same time? Is that even possible? Thanks in advance for the explanations and thanks also for a wonderful blog.

    • It’s totally possible to knit two socks at a time, hit google with it and you’ll find lots of good instructions. I was able to make them the same because I’m sort of obsessive, which is totally the other way to do it.

    • The pattern match is managed by starting at the same place in the color repeat of the yarn. The size of my feet is the very reason I have started knitting socks, my feet are small and I get really tired of having folds in the arch of my foot.

    • Yes, do knit 2 socks at a time – but divide the yarn in to 2 equal balls, get 2 sets of needles – knit one sock up to a point, then start with the 2nd sock! So its technically 2 socks “at a time” but you do separate the yarn, and you have 2 sets of needles! But, I’m a new sock knitter (on pair #3) and this allows me to do a heel, then do the other heel (instead of waiting weeks before I get to the 2nd heel – same with the toes!)

  16. Preserving two of the ribs from the sock cuff is genius as it even “works” with striping or variegated yarns. The socks are lovely and, yes, you need to knit a 13th pair. I totally agree with #3. I married a traveling salesman 37 years ago, he doesn’t travel anymore. I love him. I even like him. Just not every day. Good thing I have a part time job.

  17. I came across a WIP recently that I could not recall having knit at all. It was for Owlie socks, with beads for the owls’ eyes. One sock is done and the other half done, but I don’t recall knitting a single stitch of it!

  18. Options for socks:
    1. Ask for them back on 12/24/14 and wrap them up; or
    2. Wrap them in Xmas paper and give them to the recipient with a Xmas card stating H/Bday;
    3. Wrap them in birthday paper and give them as a belated gift on 12/25/14; or
    4. Wrap one sock for the birthday, then tell them they have to wait for Xmas to get the matching sock; finally
    5. Give them the sock for the birthday, and on Xmas Eve at about 30 minutes before closing, run into a drugstore and buy a pair off the rack, cut the tags, washing instructions off and pass them off as you own! (I wouldn’t recommend the latter)

  19. Obviously, those ribs running down to the toe make these the ‘2014 Edition’. Clearly different. Enhancement of a prior good thing is not a ‘do over’.

  20. Those are beautiful socks. I can’t think of a better thank-you to Ken after the work he did on the blog update.

    Said the woman whose husband does all the updating on mine and he does not yet have a pair of handknit socks. But only because my hands don’t like tiny needles.

    • I knit socks for my husband with worsted weight wool. He wears work boots & the worsted weight gives a lot of cushion.
      Not to mention the socks knit up much faster…

  21. very proud of you for planning ahead with knitting a pair of socks per month. the last minute Christmas gift panic is getting a bit old. sorry, you do need one more pair now.

  22. I love the travelling ribs! That’s a variation I hadn’t tried yet. I’ve knit quite a few pairs of socks since taking your Grok the Sock class, and vary the “pattern” slightly each time, either adding patterning in, or ribbing all over, or whatever.

    I think I’m going to have to start knitting socks for family members, because I’ve discovered that I have special snowflake feet and I hate being able to feel the individual stitches on hand-knit socks (wahhh!) and my feet get way too warm wearing them. But I love knitting socks!!!

  23. “Does that mean I have to knit 13?”

    It depends on if “by” or “for” was used/meant. “By” implies that twelve pair shall be finished with a deadline of Christmas. It does not specifiy the disposition of said socks. “For” implies that the socks will be used for Christmas presents, which means there is no limit to how many you knit and dispense, but there shall be twelve completed pair to give away for Christmas presents.

    ETA: of course I don’t have any training in law, but my goodness that was fun to write 😉

  24. Have to? No… but, if you want 12 pairs of socks to give away at Christmas, you need to not count the pairs that you have given away for something else… Love your modification. They do look snazzy!

  25. If you got everyone who reads your blog to knit just one pair this year and send them to you, then you would have socks enough for every birthday gift ever. And you could then Really commit to your twelve-pairs-by-Christmas plan.

  26. re #8 – – so inspiring, that I decided my 2nd pair of socks that I knit (ever) had to go to dh, for that “hug” – I actually was up till 2am with those socks, and I also printed out your blog on the hug in the socks! Best Christmas Present ever! Thank you!

  27. Re 8, that is hilarious, that you knit almost the same socks for Ken last year! I can relate: I gave my sister the exact same book (History of Barbie) 2 years in a row! And thought I was original and that she’d love it both times! (She did love it, but gave the second one to a friend. I think socks might be different and that Ken will love and keep both!)

  28. Love, love, love that yarn; wish I could find a place to buy it! But I do plan to start a new pair of socks with your Not-So-Plain Vanilla pattern later today; already wound a skein of Desert Vista Dyeworks Voir. ;o)

  29. Lately I have been knitting a pair of socks a week, Not bragging, just intense knitting needs, keeps my blood pressure down. Wonderful for my hands when visiting. Keeps me from snacking too.

    Currently finishing up a pre-teen sweater. Socks are more fun!
    Have every one of your books. Thanks
    and, Yes you have to knit another pair of socks to replace the ones you gave away.

  30. I have all of your books, and have knitted sock. I’d like to say sockS, but finished one, lost a stack of weight and the sock was too big.

    I knit from patterns on my iPhone a lot these days, and would love to be able to buy a copy of the Sock Recipe. I have the book, but electronic would be good. I know, I could probably scan it, but then I also would like to store it in my Ravelry library. Picky picky picky 🙂

    • For me, by the time I got to pair three, I no longer needed to reference a pattern. Keep with it, you’ll get there. In the mean time, a few notes in your iPhone will get you through.

  31. I love this yarn and have Googled it but still don’t know where I can purchase it. I live in Nova Scotia but have no local yarn shop. Love your blog. You make me laugh and that is a precious commodity.

  32. “Apparently I wear hand knits as emotional armour.”
    I remember being touched by this post the first time I read it, as I am touched again today. You are a good and grace-full friend.

  33. I think you need to consult the Christmas spreadsheet. Because if you planned 12 pairs of socks as Christmas gifts, you either need to a) drop someone from your Christmas list, b) come up with an alternative gift, or c) knit another pair of socks to fill the gap in your Plan.

  34. As others have already said, if your goal was 12 pairs of socks, period, then this totally counts. If your goal was 12 pairs of socks to give at Christmastime…well…you already know the answer to that.

  35. #3 My hubby is a wildland fireman and is away for most of the summer, I agree that it makes a messy yet wonderful husband much easier to love and appreciate if we get a little time apart. Plus it provides some me-time for rolling around in my stash while watching all the sci-fi he doesn’t like… Thanks for all the laughs over the years, you blog is so inspiring!

  36. On my monitor, it looked like the recalcitrant socks-that-would-not-be-finished had light blue heels and bottoms. These finished socks are grey and white…no blue. Are you sure the original socks didn’t call in their “stunt doubles” and are lurking…unfinished…in your pocketbook?

  37. Very nice! The ribbing/gray stripes combo is very classy: they don’t look like the sort of socks to resist finishing! Will we gets some Color Affection up next?

  38. The person in my family who loved my socks was my dad. He was a navy lifer and veteran, so the first pair I ever made were cool red white and blue that I found. He’s been gone for almost 6 years. Now I need to find someone to make them for.

  39. I absolutely love it that you knit a pair of socks–last year!–with the same yarn, and it only felt a little familiar. Too much!

  40. Customer Center KakaoTalk Join solaire112
    After signing up, the rules are different for each site, so please be sure to read the rules before placing your bets.
    Please leave your site name and nickname on our messenger!
    If a problem occurs through messenger registration, we can contact you in advance and compensation is possible.
    If a problem occurs, you must have attached materials, so please take a snapshot. https://safetotosite.jouwweb.nl/

  41. I’m really fortunate today due to the fact that I located every little thing in your writing. Your writing is so great that I’m actually bothered with what to do. You appear like an angel to create this. I are sorry for that I really did not understand anything concerning this and also really did not understand this web site. Since I recognize, I’m fortunate.

Leave a Reply to Lilymarlene Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.