Monday, November 20, 2006

Land Speed Record!



Everywhere I go in the land of Knitting blogs that I peep in on, knitters are all hepped up about holiday knitting. This knitter is no different. The full-on family onslaught of both sides of the family begins tomorrow, and I hope to have the other sock in this pair for my dear old Dad finished shortly thereafter. I have completed a land speed record, as I cast that sucka on at 7 p.m. Saturday, and after a leisurely day of Sunday knitting, which included a three hour period of church knitting when I was working on the baby caps and helping others (it was a lot of fun but semi-exhausting), and minimal knitting this evening, it's finished. I used the same ol' sock pattern I always use (at this point, why even buy any more sock related books? I always seem to default to the tried-and-true memorized pattern anyway), but this time with a twist. I've discovered the key to speedy sock completion is to not use sock yarn! This was done out of Big Print on--get ready--size 5s! Socks on biggish needles, a minor revelation. Now don't get me wrong, I am still a major floozy for your Opals, your Koigus and your Trekkings, but it's just a nice feeling to finish a sock in a 36 hour period once in a while...speaking of Trekking, our little pal the Lone Knitter has a fabulous tale of lust to tell on her blog regarding #126 and the inexorable attraction normally sane knitters feel for it. I can relate to her mania, as I am frequently in the grips of a similar obsession. I satisfied my own little Trekking fancy by picking up this skein earlier today at my LYS. It's #181, a color that just popped and begged to be taken home. It was still in the UPS box when the owner showed it to me, I felt like those kids in Chitty-Chitty Bang Bang when the childcatcher is luring them out of their hiding place with the lolly pops and sweets. I don't mean to suggest that my LYS owner is as dastardly as that nasty fellow, she's more of a playground pusher type. Ha!

In any case, I hope to be done with sock numéro deux sometime Weds. afternoon, just in time to start panicking about cooking the T-giving meal, and then shortly thereafter, beginning drinking...

8 comments:

Karen said...

Tee hee, I tried really hard to find some pretty but THICKER yarn for my Mom's Christmas socks - but I couldn't resist the Koigu that was in my post yesterday. Oh well, she'll understand if she only get a sock and a half at Christmas. LOL I love your quick stripey sock - it's really pretty.

Lone Knitter said...

That is a lovely sock. I might just have to knit my dad some socks with that yarn. I was feeling guilty about never making socks for him. I like the colorway of the Trekking you got. Is it one of those new Naturas?

YawnOver said...

Gotta love the biggie needles. Even my size 3 socks went pretty fast (even if the yarn was yucky.) However I have some gorgeous Online yarn that is just begging to be knit (for me, for a change) - sigh - on size 1s.

Melissa said...

What a quick sock! Good for you!

Unknown said...

That trekking is really pretty. It looks like the stuff I was drooling over a while back.

Anonymous said...

love the stripage! It is *very* gratifying to finish a sock so quickly, that's why my Dad gets socks for Christmas. He loves bulky socks! : )

Anonymous said...

Great sock! Larger needles are just the thing for that instant gratification.

I wonder why in the middle of a well-stocked LYS, it's always those boxes of new yarns peeking out of the back room that make us all want to just dive right in! :)

Anonymous said...

It looks great! I have somehow avoided the holiday knitting craziness this year...