New socks, two socks, whose socks? My socks!!

I have quite a bit of sock yarn in my stash. I love it. It's so pretty and soft. Plus, there are colorways that I wouldn't touch for projects I'll wear next to my face but, for socks, anything goes. I love it all.

Ironically, though, with all this sock yarn in my stash I never knit socks. Oh, I cast on a pair for Emma once and even turned the heel but, after doing such a crappy job at picking up stitches for the gusset I frogged the thing.

Then, Ravelympics came along. For those who don't know, the Ravelympics corresponded with the Summer Olympic games. You join a team (I was on the Give 'Em Hill team), pick an event, and cast on during the opening ceremonies. To win a medal you have to bind off by the time the closing ceremonies, well, close.

I chose the Sock Put as my event. The Ravelympics gave me just the push I needed to knit my socks. I used a great colorway, Give 'Em Hill (blue for the Democratic party and yellow for Hillary Clinton's favorite color) and knit, knit, knit. With three days to spare, I finished my socks! I'll be editing this post later to include a picture; frickin' Firefox keeps crashing every time I try to insert an image into my post. Suffice to say I'm happy with the socks (though my kitchener stitch needs some serious work!) and I've already cast on another pair, this time for Emma. I'm using Lisa Souza's Sock! Merino in Berry Poppins. If you don't know Lisa Souza, by all means go here and check out her beautiful yarns. Drool away. And buy! For $18 you get like 520 yards or something awesome like that. Great deal and great yarn.

Commercial over. And it's time for bed. Pictures of my socks to come...

Christmas in July???

I've had nightmares that it was Christmas and I wasn't ready. Seriously, this is enough to have me waking up in a cold sweat. One year my nightmare came true and I realized I'd forgotten to buy a gift for my aunt and uncle. My ex-husband and I had received a George Foreman grill from his dad that year and, since we already had one, we re-gifted the one we got. Well, we got to my aunt's house and, turns out, they already had one, too. So of course my mother (gotta love mothers!) blurts out the entire story and, because I was so sensitive about having forgotten to buy a gift, I burst out crying. Good times.

Why do I bring this up? Because, on that long-ago Christmas, I vowed to never have that happen again. This year, in an effort to keep that vow, I started knitting my mom's sweater in July. Now, I would have thought that working with fluffy animal fibers in July would have me sweating and miserable...but nope! Instead, it has me realizing just how much I love knitting with animal fibers. I'm using Ultra Alpaca for this sweater and yummy-yum-yum! I love this stuff! If I didn't have to give my mom something (thus avoiding the Christmas of the George Foreman Grill Redux) I'm making this blasted sweater for her. I'll just lust after it from afar.

Ravelympics is right around the corner, cutting into my Christmas-knitting time. But I've been looking forward to this for ages, it seems. I'm going to make my first pair of socks for the challenge and I can't wait. I'll be sure to post pics here when they're done. I'm determined to complete these in two weeks. Wish me luck! Cast-on is this Friday and I really can't wait!