Back on track!

Haven't posted for some time, but I have two reasons. First, I was on vacation for about ten days, but as you will note, I made it a "profitable" trip. I was in four yarn shops, and my sock collection increased. First stop was Rebelle's in Lexington, Kentucky, where I acquired a skein of On-line, bottom row center. Next, I went to The Needle Lady, on the Mall in Charlottesville, Virginia, where two 50-gram balls of Clown were collected. A quick stop at It's a Stitch on Route 29, also in Charlottesville, yielded a couple Regia choices, some Lana Grossa, and a gray tweed. Finally, new discovery was On the Lamb, in Staunton, Virginia. They have only been open for 9 months, but they have some great selections. Sock yarns were on sale for 20 percent off, so I grabbed another On-line . . . the lively yellow in the picture, and a skein of Tofutsies in pinks. Not identified in the picture was the bright blue on the top right grabbed just before leaving town at my LYS, Riverknits.

At last post, I had a mismatched "pair", a Wool-ease Diamonds in the Rough in green, and Jaywalkers in Lion Brand denim. In the ensuing weeks, I have made an identical pair to that posting, and each is shown here with it's real mate.

In my Jaywalkers, the color repeat on the Magic Stripes was so deep, that I had to add another skein to make the foot match, at least till I got nearer to the toe. I found that the stripes were not equal in length, so the toe of the second sock came out differently, but at least the tops match.

Here's an interesting "pair". I was cruising E-bay one day, and found two skeins of Paton's Kroy at an amazingly low buy-it-now price. I jumped right on it, and scored the bid, only to discover when the yarn arrived that they are two different dye lots. Bet I ask the next time, before making the jump. That's not the only thing wrong with this pair, which was supposed to be Peaks and Valleys from Knit Socks. At about the second row of the first sock, I transposed the skp with the k2tog. So, I renamed these "Hills and Hollers". I'm figuring that if I use a friend's technique, no one will notice the difference . . . she recommends running through the room. Actually, I think the texture on the legs will be the only saving grace. Maybe I should wear them under boots!

These "road socks", for the many miles rolling under our wheels to Virginia, are a basic sock, 60-stitches on US3's, with a knit 4, purl 2 rib, with an occasional offset cable to break the monotony. The yarn was Sisu, and I was worried after noting comments about it being prone to splitting. But, I didn't have a moment's trouble with it. I knitted the two simultaneously on two circulars.

I counted weeks, and find that with these pairs . . . 11, 12, 13, and 14, I'm a couple weeks behind. So, I've cast on another large gauge pair on US 3's with some Wool-ease sportweight, destined to be donated to a fundraiser. Those "fat needle" socks go so much more quickly.

Not to forget, I noted that I had two excuses. Sadly, we lost a favorite nephew, David, to cancer. He was just 47. His legacy is humor. He was always saying, "That reminds me of another bad joke." Some of the jokes weren't the best, but his delivery always was great. Since I tend to be a great audience, I thoroughly enjoyed him. We miss him lots, already.

On a final note, I started noting in my journal the yardage of the skeins used as I've worked on my socks. I'm just over three miles . . . figure its about 12 to 15 miles for the whole "trip". I've also decided that describing the participants in this KAL as "plungers" probably doesn't evoke the picture I'm going for . . . I'll work on that one! Any suggestions?