Friday, September 28, 2007

let us now praise wool socks

...were the words running like a zipper billboard across the base of my skull when I stayed in this cabin , on the scenic shores of Lake Sebago in Maine a couple of weekends ago.
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And when I say scenic, I mean pristine beauty with a SNAP in the air. Like 40 degrees F at night. No windows.

I left my sunny 80 degree neighborhood to attend this 3 day professional meeting, haphazardly grabbing a pair of wool socks on the way to my ride north. Just in case. I wore them day and night . I think they saved me.
My colleagues are still skeptical when I say I spent a great part of the year photographing sheep, alpaca and goat farms for a travel & knitting book. Pretty much a conversation stopper. There was one person who talked ruminants with me, because he and his talented wife just published
this book. Excellent reading, vicarious pilgrimages are such a pleasure. Only problem is it makes you crave goat cheese, big time.

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Back to my theme: In particular , let us praise the knitting of worsted weight socks. That's right, gentle reader, I finished a pair of socks in less than 2 weeks. Me! The Slowest Sock Knitter around *that'd make me SSK around, wouldn't it?

I think I'm on to something. It feels a tad remedial, a bit like cheating, but I love these heavy socks, I love immediate gratification...and I have so little pride.
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ps I also love Artyarns SuperMerino . The first of these socks took 1 skein plus an annoyingly small extra bit , about 3 yards , from a 2nd skein The second sock took one skein neatly. I think its a couple of rounds shorter in the cuff. Don't tell anyone, OK?

4 comments:

  1. What a beautiful spot. And yay for you with the news socks!

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  2. Great socks!

    Thank goodness you took a pair with you. Being without wool socks is just too stressful to ponder.

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  3. Beautiful!

    And, just exactly how can it be cheating to knit thick, heavy socks out of worsted weight wool, when what you like is thick, heavy socks? You really can't make those out of fingering weight or sport weight.

    A young lady I know went to Africa for a month...her present from me was worsted weight wool hiking socks (specially sized for a woman 5 and a half, and just longer than ankle length to precisely fit inside her boots. I loved making those socks...

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  4. Ok. I won't tell.....But I may just knit up a pair of these....

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