The Summer of Socks comes to a close tonight at midnight. I’m very happy to report that I accomplished most of my goals. Here are the 7 pairs that I was able to knit during the three months:

Denmark is pictured twice just because I like them so much.

I exceeded my own expectations on number of pairs. I did one more pair than last year, which I firmly believe was only possible because of the amazing job done by Beth and all the other blog readers. I didn’t have to worry about that part of things *at all* and that was a huge relief for me with all the other administrative things I had to do.

The one thing I didn’t really do was get to all the patterns I had wanted to try. Part of my goals were to knit all the patterns from Knitty that I hadn’t done yet and wanted to try. There are still several in my cue, but at least I got the list narrowed down by four.

In the end, it seems that some people enjoyed the along and things went pretty smoothly for the most part. As always, not all 500 people that signed up really participated. Actually, I’m kind of thankful for that! Life happens, people get busy and that’s just the way things go. Running something like this is a *lot* of work. I think I may have gone under if everyone actually had participated.

People have already asked if this will happen again next year or expressed some interest in another go. At this point, I honestly can’t say. I have no idea what my life will look like by next summer. Will I have time to do this again? Who knows. Will I want to? I also don’t know. There were times this year that I was ready to throw in the towel. I think it’s very easy for people to write accusatory and hurtful things in an e-mail, that they wouldn’t necessarily be able to say to your face. It also seems to be really easy for people to assume the worst about others in the world we live in right now, even in something so trivial as a sock knitalong. I was shocked at some of the e-mail I received this summer. It is so easy for someone to write something without thinking about how its tone will be read on the other end before they click ‘send’. And it made me very sad at times.

On the other hand, there were a lot of good things too. I’ve made some new “blog friends”, I’ve had a few laughs, I’ve learned a lot and been exposed to new things. And there have been several people who have even taken the time to say Thank You, which really means the most. And just look at all the beautiful socks everyone made! There are going to be a lot of happy feel this winter!

In the end, I’m trying to focus on the positive. There is still a lot to do. The people behind me in line at the post office tomorrow are going to hate me! I hope to finish things and sit back to rest this weekend knowing that I did a good thing and made some people happy.

And speaking of rest, I’m pretty tired and I need some time to recoup. I’m declaring next week a personal “computer holiday”. I sit in front of a computer all day at work and when I go home next week, I will *not* be turning one on. The pretty much means no blogging for me next week. But don’t worry about me! There are sweaters to finish and yarn to spin. I’ll find something to do. See you in a week!

…and the leaves are already falling!

Falling Leaves

Pattern: Falling Leaves

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock – Icehouse colorway

Needles: Size 1 addi lace

Knit: 6/27-7/5/2007

Mods: After the first toe I did my own short row toe. I also used my usual heel flap and gusset and bound off again with the same bindoff used here.

Another pair of socks in a week! Good thing I had some travel knitting time or it wouldn’t have happened. I’ve already described my issues with the toe, so I won’t go into it again. I’m just not a fan of short row heels (fat ankles I guess) so I took that out too. But other than those two things I think this is a really attractive pattern and a fun knit. I like the way the yarn did funny stripy things in each sock, and I don’t think it obscures the pattern too much. I really love how each repeat of the pattern comes together and meshes so nicely. Not all lace patterns do that, and I certainly appreciate it when it happens!

I’d like to knit this pattern again in a solid color, because I think it would be equally appealing. There aren’t too many patterns you can say that about either! Another thing I like about this one, it’s written for toe up! I always like it when I don’t have to bend my brain too much and still come out with a pretty FO.

This was also my first time using Lorna’s Laces yarn of any type. If you think that’s heresy, what I’m about to say will really shock you. I think it’s ok, but it certainly doesn’t make my top 5 favorite yarns list. It reminds me a lot of standard Regia and Opal, just a little softer. I’m still reserving some judgement because I really haven’t worn these much just yet (considering our current temperatures in this neck of the woods, I should think not!), but once I do perhaps I will be more enamored with them.

Speaking of socks, me latest toe up sock class ended yesterday and I just had to take a pic of my students with their socks.

Madelyn, C. and K. pose with their socks!

I’m very proud of all of them. They all learned new things and come through with flying colors. Thanks for a great class ladies!

I’ll be teaching this class again in September along with a couple of others. Keep your eye on the sidebar for updates if you’re interested.

My next sock project is Clessidra. Here is where I’ve had to bend the brain a little because I’m doing them toe up (of course) instead of top down. More about that next time!

I am totally confused. I went to work on Monday, which was kind of like Friday because I didn’t have to go to work on Tuesday. Then I had Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off, which kind of felt like a long weekend since it was three days in a row and, well, I didn’t have to work! Then I go back to work on Friday, which felt like Monday since I’d just had a long weekend afterall and now I have to work Saturday which I suppose is kind of like Friday then since I have Sunday off. But then I have to go back to work on Monday which will feel totally wrong and well… HELP!

So yeah, I’m a bit confused by what day it is at the moment. Hence the odd weekend post. We had a great time with my folks this weekend week though. Watching the parade was fun

(and we managed to get my grandfather through it all without getting too wet or too tired) and I also managed to get some cleaning done (I had no idea I had saved so much junk in my old room!) and some knitting and spinning in. The weather didn’t allow for a barbecue on the 4th so we did it the next day and we managed to convice everyone to pose for a picture.

(Hey Kim! Does my Mom look like she did in your dream? ).

How’s that for a motley crew?

In between cleaning and parades and whatnot I finally sat down with my Dad and figured out a solution to my plying woes. While I do love my woolee winder that HWJF gave me for my wheel for my birthday, the darn bobbins don’t fit on the Lendrum lazy kate properly and when you get toward the end of a bobbin they stop turning. As you can imagine, this is quite infuriating when trying to get some plying done! After seeing a couple of different ideas, I asked my Dad (who has always been handy with power tools) if we could make something. Make something we did!

It’s a fairly simple wooden box, big enough for three bobbins. The bobbins spin on plastic covered metal rods (salvaged from an old clothes drying rack) which go through holes on each side of the box.

The rods were bent on the ends so they wouldn’t slide through and I would have something to grab when putting them in and out. It isn’t perfect, and I really haven’t given it a try yet, but it is already WAY better than what I had before!

I also managed to do some sock knitting while we were away. My second pair for the Summer of Socks is Falling Leaves.

I’m doing them in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock, a yarn that I haven’t used before now. It was a gift from HWJF the first Christmas he was living in NJ. Considering that was 2.5 years ago, I thought it was about time it got used! I’m sure some wouldn’t like the funky striping that’s happening with these, but I think it’s kind of neat. The one thing I didn’t like was the toe as the pattern was written.

It uses yarnovers instead of wraps for the short rows and I think it made an icky, loopy mess. I can already tell you that I did my own toe on the second sock and I like it much better.

If I ever figure out what day it is I’ll be posting a finished object (like you can’t guess what that would be!) next time! Enjoy your… well… enjoy whatever day *you* think it is!