As tomorrow is November 1, I can cast on some new socks for SKA Sockdown! and also the Solid Socks Group challenge. I have to double check their group pages, but I think you can cast on at midnight, Eastern Time, which is 9:00 pm here! So, I might just be casting on some sweet new socks tonight.
I have dithered back and forth about the patterns and yarns to choose. I plan to go for a two-fer, as my family calls it, or as it seems to be called in Ravelry, double-dipping. The challenge in SKA is Man Socks. I have many men in my family: Doc, 3 sons, numerous brothers-in-laws, tons of nephews, 3 great-nephews, 3 god sons, etc. Also, I have a good friend (M) who has not been diagnosed, it keeps changing, but it's something really horrible, like a form of ALS, or some kind of neurological/muscular wasting thing, where he is now in a wheel chair, almost unable to walk. Anyway, his wife asked me to make him some socks, as his feet get cold. But they have to be super stretchy because his kids are helping dress him now, and they need socks that are really easy to get on. Did I say he wears a size 11? His feet used to be pretty wide, too, but I'm not sure now, with the atrophy, if they have narrowed. I hate to ask her to measure him. Somehow that seems intrusive. His hands are pretty claw like, also. I have wondered if he would like some fingerless gloves. Last time I saw him (about a year ago), the disease was just beginning to show, and he was keeping his hands in his sleeves, or in pockets, so his kids wouldn't notice.
So, I want to make a pair of socks for Doc, and M. And well, me. I sit here knitting and typing sockless. I never make stuff for myself. Well, I made myself a sweater about 25 years ago, but my daughter, Allie, discovered it and took it. So 2 pairs of man socks, and socks for me in one of the featured designers . So back to the 2-fer: Solid Socks wants us to make socks in "Autumn" colors. M wants blue. Doc wants socks he can wear to work. So I am going to take inspiration from a poem I wrote:
Color Change
The sun has not come out today.
The clouds and fog lie gray on gray.
Inside the house it's cloud-dark, too,
with nothing fun at all to do.
So, I'll run out into the gray,
and chase the gloom and wet away
until the sun shines, ray by ray.
I'll change the color of the day
to blue.
I will make Doc a pair of gray socks, and M some blue ones. I have been buying yarns in blue, trying to get something good for M. I'm waiting for some to come in, so I will probably not cast on for M tonight, unless I get a package in the mail. I do have this yarn in my stash:
Kertzer On Your Toes. I think it would work for M. So, I might just cast his on after all.
I have a pretty brown heather in this yarn also.
For myself, I bought (ok, I'm super weak) some amazing Cascade Heritage Sock Yarn
And their leaves also turn a gorgeous shade of red:
The big problem is that I am still knitting on the Mystery Sweater for the Sharing Our Gifts Across America Group. I have made big progress, but am not finished. I have almost finished the body:
this is the front:
and here is the back:
Muffin loves it.
The front is finished, and I am alllllmmmmmooooooossssssttttt done with the back. Then it's the arms and the finishing... Can I work on 3 pairs of socks and a sweater? I hope so.
C. A. Losi
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