A year of (single) socks

G'day all!

Thank you all for your wishes for 2007 - they are reciprocated to you :-)

I think I have to name 2006 the year of single socks. Get a load of this.

Here are the pairs of socks I knitted:


Now believe it or not, those are some of my pairs of socks. Yes, only one sock is in the picture but they are paired. I just can't find all the pairs, which means they have probably found their way into some socky paradise behind the wash basket or something. From left to right we have a:

1. sock knitted to my own pattern with an afterthought heel in a german yarn
   
2. german cotton blend again knitted to my own pattern
   
3. green-blue Elfine (scroll down) in Jessie's hand-dyed yarn
   
4. firey sock based on sock bug's Lava Flow, only toe up and different in more of Jessie's yarn and
   
5. a Pomatomus in some Cherry Tree Hill yarn that dyed my DPNs green.
   

---

Next are the sock yarns I dyed :-)

1. Some blue socks in a five ply (sportweight) yarn in my own pattern again - they have some cabling in them;
   
2. my first foray into self striping yarns from a year ago, again my basic toe up pattern and
3. some jacquard patterned socks overdyed pink cos I can't stand black and white.
   

So that makes a total of 8 pairs of socks knitted all for ME! and one pair for DH. And one pair for the lady who put us up for a week in August in WA.

There are some socks that I will never wear. See the pink and black ones, labelled P? They are a tad too small for me. Anyone got a ladies' 8 size foot (I think that is a 6 in English sizing or about a 39 in European sizes) and prefers a sock circumference of 64 stitches in a fingering weight yarn? The socks can be washed in cold water though they are technically hand wash only, but DH's socks have lasted over a year of machine washing and are still quite quite presentable - better than some of my hand wash only US yarn ones. The yarn is 80% wool, 20% nylon and very soft and yummy. Wears well.

So would anyone like to swap some noice sock yarn for a pair of nice new handknitted socks? I prefer undyed soft wool/wool-nylon blend, or maybe some regia silk. I like but don't need any more Lorna's laces for the moment, thanks. Hand-dyed US sock yarns would be good - so many on etsy and available through so many online shops. Koigu KPPM - never had any - can't get it here unless we order it online.

---

Now look at this litany of sockie disaster. How many single socks are there?

1. one RPM in Lorna's Laces "Childs Play"
   
2. A Thuja for DH in Trekking
   
3. my basic sock in Jawoll and
   
4. Jaywalker in some umm, german yarn, can't remember the name of it.
   

The second Thuja is past the ankle on a toe up sock but I can't find enthusiasm for it at present. It was to be a Christmas present for DH but now looks like it will be a Valentine's present instead.
(I have the feeling that the spotty black Jaywalker has a mate, and if so, I'll offer it for swap too. It is a size 9. The yarn is too scratchy for me. Basically anything other than the softest wool is too scratchy for me. Trekking and Opal? Nope. I have to wash the hell out of the yarn to be able to wear it. Thank heavens that our local sock yarn is soft and yummy. And also that STR is good, since I've been a member of the STR club this last year = 7 skeins of yarn - imagine not being able to wear the socks after each pair cost me about $40 - and have to wrangle a way to afford it this year. Money is tight cos I am out of work now and we had to pay out nearly $2000 in December for various things.)

---

This lot are made of yarn I dyed up.

1. First is a mosaic sock from "Sensational Knitted Socks"
   
2. then two Straight Laced socks in a 5 ply/sportweight.
   

I have the second mosaic sock on the needles along with the second bright straight laced sock.

Oh dear. It is worse than it looks cos I cannot find not just two or three but FOUR more of the single Knitty socks I made - Baudelaire, Dancing Lady, Reptilian Lace and umm, erp, must look the pattern up... ah that is it Widdershins. Oh crap, I just realised that I knitted another Broadripple sock too for the Knitty calendar competition. I've got pics of the missing socks, just not the socks themselves. This one is for the Christmas album:


Will this be my knitting for the next year? Making all the mates to these poor abandoned socks? I would not even need to declare a yarn diet cos I'd be too busy making all the mates to these blessedly alone socks.

So you are thinking it is not so bad? How about if I show you the SIX unpaired STR sock club socks?

(They really don't have mates, I just gave them butterfly form cos it amuses me and I needed to send the STR people some pics of my socks. Plus I am very taken with the pics of my own foot, LOL - it looks quite elegant and shapely for a foot.)

That makes a grand total of EIGHTEEN lonely socks! I think. I am now confused cos I started off with only 13 lonely socks but now I keep remembering more. (actually most of them can't be too lonely cos the ones I can find are in a knotted mass on my desk, like a great heap of short, brightly coloured bundle of mating worms.)

Now after all that lot, I think we can wait until we see the pitiful remnants of the rest of a year's knitting. Instead, let's go a little political. Ever wondered why cashmere is suddenly readily available and cheap? Americans, be dismayed for the soils of the Gobi desert are polluting your skies all so that department stores can have cheap cashmere. Goats will be goats and people will be greedy.

Info from abc.net.au that will amuse, inform and confound.

Can the bugs in your gut help make you fat?

Could there be a cure for diabetes soon? (Amanda, you need to read this)

Someone had a lot of fun with this story about culling pigeons...

An Australian spindle maker.

Phew! That lot has taken a day to write up, in between frantically test knitting a sock, reading a whole 300 page book and being fed dinner at the PiLs! So for the moment,

anon!