Elizabeth asked what my secret is for getting so many socks done. The secret is a DEADLINE. Yup, end of the month all the socks go to the photographer. We have variations on the 3 basic sock patterns in the book. So first I have to have one sock for every variation and then I can add some more because . . . there are so many more stitch patterns I could add in !!
One more sock - done.

My husband had it on for a minute but not enough time to catch him with the camera. My camera is working, sort of. I jammed a toothpick into the side of the shutter so it stays open. Sooner or later my lenses is going to get scratched but it's lasting a little bit longer.

-Deb

The pile of socks grows larger.

And by tomorrow I will have 2 more to add. A baby sock which Brenda mailed to me today and a mock-cable sock I plan to finish tonight. I'm definitely back in the sock groove. After knitting a chunky sweater the first couple of socks were a bit of a shock to the system, going from a 6.0mm down to a 2.25mm needle is extreme. But now the new normal is the 2.25mm needle and I'll probably have a sock on the needles until into the fall now. Socks are so wonderful because of the diverse stitch patterns which can be worked into them. A simple traditional sock and a stitch dictionary and I am happy to knit for months. Although I have been informed today that I need to knit 2 toddler sweaters in between the socks. Variety is good too.

-Deb

It's been quite a week. Our community work came to it's culmination this weekend. We have been working all year towards the big Mariposa Folk Festival 50 year celebration. And it was fantastic.

Our part was to run the ArtsU education section of Mariposa. We ran 9 classes for 62 students. This is our second year and this constitutes a tremendous success. http://www.mariposafolk.com/index.php?show=artsu
And wouldn't you know it, my camera choose this weekend to totally tank on me! So here are some photos from last year  http://www.mariposafolk.com/index.php?show=16&gid=107 . Many of these students returned this year.

Mariposa was terrific and still thriving after 50 years, the last 10 years in it's place of origin, Orillia ON where I very happily live. The music is wonderful but it's also marvelous because we run into all kinds of people we know, fellow volunteers, towns people and sometimes old friends from 20 years ago (my husband seems to have someone tap him on the shoulder every year and say remember me? this year it was an old working buddy from 25 years ago when they both worked at a youth detention centre - a half hour of reminiscing commenced, and last year it was a young man who used to go to the National Ballet School who is now all grown up but still recognized paul who was residence head). It's amazing to realize how many people we know who are involved in this huge enterprise which comes off every year entirely run by volunteers. Amazing. http://www.mariposafolk.com/index.php?show=219

As I said My Camera Tanked!! The last couple of photos I got were of the latest socks off the needles.

This is in DK weight wool (Shelridge Farm) and it's gorgeous on my foot, you'll have to take my word for it.

And a sock weight wool sock, hand-dyed by Lynda, which came out beautifully. I'm working on my next one, a man's size mock-cable sock which I cannot show you, boo hoo. I guess I need to go camera shopping.

-Deb

I got this far with the red sock on the drive up to the cottage. Nice plain knitting.

That gives you some idea of how far we drive to get there. Although we live in cottage country (north of Toronto) we drive 4 1/2 hours to our cottage country. I know, weird. And I finished the pink sock. Yay.

I worked a mock cable pattern which is not lumpy at the crossing. It has a yo before and after the crossing which makes it a little lacy. So then on the foot I thought I would try to close the holes and it looks really cable-like. I'm really happy it will make a good men's cable sock.

Now it's hot as blazes here so I'm sitting in front of a fan, knitting socks.

-Deb

I am knitting socks, have I mentioned that lately?

Am I totally out of control here? I have one lace, one cable, one textured and one stockinette sock on the go. One to try the lace in a heavier weight wool, one to test the cable with some variations, one to see if the texture can hold out against the variegated wool and one plain sock because the tweed is so lovely and it's perfect for 'in the car' knitting. I'm not sure that any of these good reasons excuses having so many different socks on the go at once. But I've found myself in this position so it is only good sense to carry on, right? I'm obviously overflowing with good sense as you can tell. We'll see how I feel after the long weekend. I should have at least 2 of these socks done, 4 would much too much to hope for.

Have a terrific long weekend. Ours starts tomorrow, yay! Happy Canada Day everyone.

-Deb

Elizabeth left me a comment regarding socks: I'm wondering what your favourite weight is both to work with and wear.

Working and wearing are two different things for me and maybe for others too. I like to WEAR sock weight socks and have a dozen pairs of socks made for myself from various sock wools. These are as fine as I can get them using 2.25mm needles which is usually a gauge of 28-30 sts = 10cm.

And although I'm sure I would like very finely knit socks I have never made myself any. I'm a loose knitter and can't face going down to a 2.0mm needle so sock wool which knits to 32-34 sts = 10cm remains totally out of my comfort zone. I own a set of 2.0mm needles which I take out to look at every once in a while, shake my head and put them back. They're just too fine for me.

On the other hand I love KNITTING DK weight socks. Who can resist socks with 48 stitches on them. They are done in a couple of evenings. I have several pairs which work perfectly in my winter boots and as house socks on a cool, drafty winter evening at home. I even have some that are quite fancy.

I wear them to parties. The reality where I live is that from December to March I hardly ever wear a pair of shoes. I loosen up my Birks so I can take them to someone else's house to wear with socks if I must wear shoes but I prefer to put on my DK house socks to show them off. The rest of the time I'm wearing socks with my slippers - did I mention that most of the time I work at home? - and I keep a pair of slippers at the shop for when I'm there. Casual sock wearing rules here.

And believe it or not, I find the summer is the perfect time to knit socks. They're a small project which you can tuck away in your purse and you're not in any hurry for them at present. July is going to be sock knitting month for me. How about you?

-Deb

One sock finished. I really liked this pattern. It's really a fancy type of rib and I'm realizing that some kind of knit/purl combination makes the lace somewhat rib-like and makes the leg fit better.

This one is a Chevron pattern with some lovely lace bits running in vertical lines. I think it will look really terrific in sock weight wool in a lighter colour.

I finished this sock today at the licencing office, getting my car ownership sticker. This was an hour wait which I spent happily knitting. I can't believe the number of people that come in, knowing it's going to be a wait - hello you did this last year and the year before that, right? - and still bring nothing with them to keep themselves occupied. I was the only knitter, I checked. I complain to my kids about the overuse of their blackberrys and phones, etc but at least those young people with them were also busy and not finding the wait intolerable. I continue to be bewildered by this.

-Deb