Sock Show Thursday: Usually 4 Weeks, Not 4 Days

Last week was a marathon of knitting. I don't usually get that many dedicated hours of listening and knitting, even when I'm really concentrating on knitting on the train during my daily commute. I was lucky that none of my faculty seemed particularly troubled by it; they seemed to quickly grasp that I was making better eye contact that way.  A number of them asked about it and it became, as it is in meetings at work, a game for my classmates to ask how far I'd gotten, see the progress, and exclaim over how soft the yarn was.

Thank you Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Tina, and the base that is Socks that Rock for bringing a few more people into the "ooh, those are nice" fold. 

First up during the week, I finished the Dark Blue Socks. 

These are for me and are now going to go lounge with my other wool socks waiting for winter. I washed and put them all up a couple of weeks ago. The pile of wool socks that I own is getting pretty tall.  

These were 1x1 rib, 60 stitches on size 1 (2.25mm) needles. Flap/gusset heel. The pattern I can knit in my sleep pretty much....

I'd brought another skein of lighter fingering and a skein of BMFA Mediumweight for the trip out to Wood's Hole. I was optimistic that I might be able to plow through the BMFA before the weekend and it's nice to have something move that quickly when you're knitting around other people. 

Four days and my 1.5 (2.5mm) needles later....

They're a little more fraternal than matching. The bottom one was the first sock and you can see where it starts getting brighter into the toe. The second sock, still stripey (less so in person of course), had many more vibrant punches.

Unfortunately, this was one of Tina's Water-toned One-Offs, which means I can't get more.  The good news is, I've finished all of AudioGirl's Socks for 2013.  These are for her, though they'll be in the gift bin for a while.  If I'm counting right I've now knit her 6 pair of socks?  Something like that.

I did have to advise a couple of classmates that usually I only get through one pair in a month, not one pair plus in a week.  But this does push me up to six pair of socks for the year thus far and I'm even starting to notice an infinitesimal dent in the yarn stash. Yarn is being used and I'm not buying three times what I'm knitting. And at this rate I should make it through 12 pair by December without frantically knitting at at New Year's Eve party. (I'll still be knitting, just not frantically.)

Of course, Stitches Midwest is yet to come this year and I just got a large package from Fiber Optic. It's already dedicated though, so it doesn't count as stash, right?

Finally, I of course couldn't fly home without knitting. And it was a good thing I had something with me, as we were stuck in Boston for an extra three hours. We were ready to turn onto the runway when they shut down Chicago due to torrential downpour.

These are for the Philosopher. I'm using Fleur de Fiber yarn--she's that indie dyer here in Chicago that I bought silk hankies from a couple months ago.



Back to size 1 needles, though my 1.5 needles got stuffed into a project bag with another skein.  While I doubt I'll get to them in the next week, It's nice to make quick progress.

I'm also participating in Stash Dash 2013 with the KnitGirllls. Laura and Leslie are on their third year of using up and enjoying stash during the summer. This year's gentle goal is 4K = 4375 yards knit up between May 24 and April 5 (Laura's first day of break to first day of school).  These projects bring me to 675 yards. I've a ways to go yet.