next, please

It seems only natural that when you first get into something new, there is someone that you will look up to and find fascinating in every way. When it comes to knitting, that person for me is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka The Yarn Harlot. I’d call her the Knitting Goddess but considering the fact that that particular goddess can be a real wench sometimes, its not much of a compliment. However, she is very skilled and I admire her so I will refer to her as the Knitting Guru or the Knitting Yoda or the Knitting Queen.

I’ve found her especially inspirational when it comes to knitting socks. Especially after reading this post on her blog.

So on Saturday I decided to start pulling out the sock yarn and plotting a couple new pairs. I’ve decided to do another couple pairs of run of the mill ordinary socks before taking on a pattern. I had mom’s yarn in hand (called Frog in a Party Dress and strangely enough the pink has not made me break out in hives) but discovered I didn’t have the right size needles. So I yanked out another ball that I had wound called Mexican Monarchs from dkknits. (dkknits is my favorite seller/enabler/sock yarn crack dealer. Check her out, you won't be disappointed.)

I grabbed my book (don't forget I’m still new, need to be reminded how to do things), pulled the westie up on the sofa next to me and cast on. I have to say that I hate the first few rounds, takes me forever. Once I have about an inch of the cuff done, it goes much quicker.

So I was quite content with my face scrunched up in concentration when mom walked by. She paused, went on her way, circled back around and tried hard to be discreet while looking at what I was doing.

She sat down on a chair across the room from me, picked up the newspaper and pretended to read. Every so often she peaked around the corner of the paper and I started to get squirmy because the scrutiny was intense.

“What?” I finally said.

“What are you working on?” she asked. I looked up at her, seemed obvious to me.

“New socks,” I replied. She got quiet again and went back to her paper.

A couple minutes later, she obviously couldn’t take it anymore. She put down the paper and stared at me the same way Dooley stares me down when he wants his dinner. I paused and looked up at her and she said, “I thought I was next.”

Hmmmm….

When I finished the Olive and Pimento socks, I made her try them on so I could see if they fit. Turns out we have the same size feet so that will make it easier for me to knit socks for her. I eventually had to hide the socks from her because she kept eyeing them like a hawk whenever she saw them.

Apparently she likes them. And is eager for a pair of her own.

So I explained that I didn’t have the right size needles and I planned to pick up a set when Mary and I went to the yarn store on Sunday. She had a look that said she wasn’t sure if she should believe me or not but seemed satisfied enough and went about her business.

So yesterday Mary and I made the one hour trek out to Lansing to visit Threadbear. It is a rather nice store. TONS of yarn, took us two and half hours to pick out what we wanted. And two very charming dogs trotting around. The beagle was especially sweet. Mary scored some major bargains and I found some new yarny friends as well.

I picked up these two skeins of sock yarn. They are Colourway from Wales and the colors are incredibly intense.


And this incredibly squishy yarn, Kaleidoscope, that I had been admiring but then got totally sucked into when one of the owners told me that there is a free scarf pattern when you buy two skeins. (They had one knitted up and it was so soft and squishy I wanted to grab it and curl up on a couch with it. I also liked that it only took two skeins to make a substantial scarf and the yarn was reasonably priced.)



I showed mom my new yarny friends when I got home. She smiled, complimented and petted them and then said:

“But I am next, right?”

Yes, mom. You’re next.