As a recap - if you can't afford/missed out on/just didn't want to join in any of the proper sock clubs where a package shows up every now and then providing you with new sock yarn and a pattern, make your own sock club. Easy as pie. Of course, it helps to have a bit of a sock yarn stash, which I'm glad to say I do.
I selected my sock yarns for the year ahead some weeks ago, but didn't actually gather them together (I just searched my photos on Flickr!). Now, they're all ready to go and what fun it was to dig through the stash and savour the finding of each one because almost every yarn that was chosen made me think good thoughts and recalled happy memories.
I bought the brown paper bags from Lincfraft and will soon have the packages lined up along a wall in the spare room, ready for random selection when the time is right. And yes, they will be sealed so there's no cheating. I won't be peaking into the bags before undertaking the random selection process!
When I had them all packaged up, I stood and thought about it all and marvelled at the collection.
There are some big names in those bags. Koigu. Wollmeise. Socks that Rock. Schaefer Anne. Just to name a few. I feel really lucky to have them. More than a few of these yarns were gifted to me by lovely people and though I have been saving many of them, I figured in the end that well, they can be replaced (isn't that half the fun? Choosing new yarn?) and, like the good crockery, it's not much use kept for occasions that might never arrive.
Now I think what's really going to work about this sock club gig is the impetus it provides to finish the current socks in progress. Just knowing that some of my most treasured yarns are in there, with wonderful scope and possibilities, is a great reason to push on when the current socks are starting to drag towards the end.
Socks? That drag? Really? Oh yes. I give you my Pomatomus Socks.
They are technically a year old. I actually began them this time a year ago, got half way through one repeat and gave them up. In January this year, with the same yarn, I went into battle. These socks are my nemesis, I swear.
I think the problem was starting the pattern when. for reasons I now can't comprehend, it seemed a bit beyond me. Several false starts rankled me. I could have chosen another pattern, but I don't like to be beaten by something that is effectively just a fancy kind of rib sock, when it comes down to it.
I think the results are worth it and I could even say I'm comfortably settled into the pattern now, and loving the yarn which is called Burnt Butter and was dyed by Donni. But I'll be glad when they're over. A week of almost exclusive Pom knitting has meant I am now on the foot of the second one.
Finally!
Today I've worked on the Myrtle Leaf shawl but it's night now and the yellow of these socks is much easier to deal with than the fine black of the shawl. Soon, they will be done.
Bells
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