International Socks of Doom

The pattern for the Socks of Doom was finally released late on Friday afternoon. It was after lunch and there really was no graceful way to excuse myself from work early to go start the socks. *sigh* I rode home on the train itching to start the socks but certain that starting on the metro was a bad idea – so I waited.

I arrived home to find that hubbo had set the table for the holiday (remembering to use the good china) complete with a festive bouquet of flowers. Aren’t they lovely? The bouquet is huge, including lots of my beloved lilies and irises. It’s also really fragrant and the scent of the flowers has invaded every corner of the house. It’s wonderful even if it is wreaking havoc on my allergies.

After dinner the family was kind enough to excuse me quickly to go start the Socks of Doom. Shouldn’t that have an ominous soundtrack playing every time I say the name? Perhaps the same music that accompanies Darth Vader as he enters the room. Anyway, I started them over and over again. In the end, the dpns and I were still unable to get along and I realized that I could do a cable cast on OR a loose cast on – not both. For the 5th and final cast on I elected to use the old familiar long tail cast on super loosely. It was perfect.

The pattern is very simple and once I resolved my cast on issues (after 5 tries) I was able to move quickly though the pattern. I did not knit in Temple and I did stop to eat and do other essential chores but still, by Saturday afternoon the first sock was done.

I stopped occasionally to check the Sock Wars forum and I was amazed to see that some people sent their socks off on Saturday. Yikes! Do they sleep? I usually do but this weekend there was much less sleeping and much more knitting. In the end I was rewarded by completing the socks on Sunday night. I created a few stitch markers to send with them, wrapped them up, and today they are on their way to my victim on the west coast. Hooray!

As I finished them off last night I started thinking about taking a breather or starting something new but then the Drama Queen innocently asked when the Funky scarf was due. Oh, right – the funky scarf. Isn’t it amazing how quickly I’m distracted? I pulled it out last night and, as I started knitting on it again I was instantly reminded of why I put it down. I still need to order more yarn for it. Ugh!