12-Step Program for Sock Knitters - Step 6

Step 6: Willing to make amends to people we have harmed.  

Simple. Knit them a pair of socks. 

No one can be mad at you if you present them with a pair of self-striping socks in a flattering array of colors with a comfortable rib that fit perfectly. Tears will come to their eyes, the bottom lips will quiver, and they will be without words to express the joy of having a pair of socks that no one else in the world will have. 

Except for a child. 

They only get mad if you give them socks instead of toys. They don’t care how many hours you spent knitting it. They wanted a new video game.

If It's Not Fire, It's Water!

Like most of the people in Colorado, we are alarmed and distressed by the terrible flooding happening around the Denver Area. Our home is safe although wet and muddy. We live in the foothills on a hillside so the rain continues downhill.

However, Boulder, Fort Collins, Estes Park, and all the front range cities to the north of us are suffering. Even Aurora to our east has been hit hard. Colorado Springs has suffering flooding all summer due to the terrible fires of this year and last year, leaving the ground bare and subject to mudslides. Several small towns are completely surrounded by water and isolated.


I have heard that if it were colder, this storm would be dumping about 8 feet of snow on us. It is not unusual to have snow in September here in Colorado.

Three days ago, we were complaining about two solid weeks of temperatures over 90 degrees. Look at us now!

12-Step Program for Sock Addiction - Step 5

Step 5 - Making amends for these errors.

To frog or not to frog, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler with the fingers to suffer
The strings and needles of outrageous patterning,
Or to take yarns against a sea of troubles,
And by pulling to end them: to unravel, to knit
No more; and by knit no more, to say we end
The heartache of a boring pattern,
To do the thousand natural socks
To frog, to sleep before casting on again,
To sleep, perchance to dream; Aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of no current,
What dreams may come?
When we have shuffled off this pattern for lace or cables,
Must give us pause.

12-Step Program for Sock Addiction - Step 4

Step 4: Examining past errors with the help of a sponsor.  

Ravelry again, right?

You have a question? A problem? I am betting it's on Ravelry. 

So if you haven't joined Ravelry yet, go to http://www.ravelry.com/ and sign up. It's free and fun. 

You show a knitter how to knit and they will complete a sock. You can show a knitter Ravelry, and you'll never see them again!

So back to the needles.  Come back when you can. I'll see you on the other side of Ravelry.

12-Step Programs for Sock Addiction - Step 3

Step 3: Recognizing a higher power that can give strength. 

Ravelry, right?

For needlecrafters, diving into the thousands of patterns and yarns and projects and people and groups and advice -- how could anyone go wrong? How many times I have opened my Ravelry link (saved on my menu bar for ease and convenience) to find a new and inventive stitch to use on my socks, only to emerge hours later to find that I have added several new patterns to my library. Then I feel guilty because I should have been knitting instead of being on the computer.  

Here's where the higher power comes in -- all is forgiven for time spent in Ravelry. I look at it as my own form of video games.

More about Ravelry's involvement in my 12-step plan tomorrow.

Back to the needles -- that is, if I can close my Ravelry page.

12-Step Program for Sock Addiction - Step 2

Step 2: Make a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.  

This means our stash, right? 

Not only do I have enough sock yarn to arm -- I mean foot -- my son's college marching band, I also have enough little balls of left over sock yarn to make enough afghans to keep them warm. And yet I know that if I walk into a yarn store, or type ‘sock yarn’ on an eBay search, or start looking through a yarn company’s catalog on the internet, I will find that magic sock yarn in a color that I have been looking for, OR in a color that I didn’t know existed.  Therefore I must purchase it. 

Hmmm. I am beginning to think this might actually fall under the previous step of control and compulsion.

Back to the needles.

12 Step Program for Sock Knitter - Step 1

So my first question about setting up a 12 step program for sock addiction is: Is it 12 steps or 6 pairs?

If you have ever knitted socks, you know that they can become an addiction. I always tell people I haven’t bought a pair of socks in twenty years, and yet I have spent more money on socks than anyone else you know (present company out there in the blogsphere excepted).

So here are my 12 steps to sock addiction.  I will be posting these steps over the next several days so be sure to check back often. 

As I think of these, however, I realize I am not really looking for a cure.

Step 1:  Admitting that one cannot control one’s addiction or compulsion.  

My name is Laurie and I am a sock addict. Hello, Laurie. 

In the last two months, I have knitted eight pairs of socks, and started three more. I have enough sock yarn in my stash to last for two life times. In fact, I am convinced that I will not leave this Earth until I have used up my stash. I will live to be 157 years old. 

My addiction goes with me everywhere. I always have at least one sock project with me at all times. I knit in the car while my husband drives. I knit from the passenger seat when my husband goes into the hardware store only to emerge one hour later with a long stick and a bag of screws. I knit during my lunch hour at work while my Lean Cuisine Spaghetti and Meatballs gets cold. I knit on the train both to and from work. I knit during my women’s group meeting twice a month. I knit while watching TV. A sock project can go anywhere and that's exactly where they go. 

Yes, I have an addiction. But it's not a bad one.

More tomorrow. Back to the needles.

(Please know that I recognize the difficulty of working through a 12-step program and only have respect and admiration for people who are struggling and/or succeeded.)

7 Pairs of Socks Makes One Weak -- or, Week

First of all, Hello September!

I am so glad you are finally here. But please, take these high 90 degree temperatures away. I am tired of being hot.

And because of the heat, I have been knitting socks, socks and more socks. I have three unfinished sweaters because I just can't have that much wool my lap in the summer.

So I dug into my stash of sock yarn and pulled out my double-pointed needles. I knitted on the train, I knitted during my lunch hour. I knitted at my women's group meetings. I knitted which Ken drove the car to wherever we were going, from the store to Fort Collins to see our son. I knitted while watching TV in the evening and now that football season has started, watching football games. I also have three more pairs started. I avoid SSS (second sock syndrome) by switching between the socks.

So in addition to the overflowing drawer of socks I have upstairs, I have added 7 new pairs, in colors and stripes and lace and ribs. Now I just need some weather to put my sandals away.

Back to the needles.

My Basic Sock Pattern - Free

There are just about as many sock patterns as there are socks. And there are just about as many ways to knit socks as there are sock patterns. I use double pointed needles and knit one sock at a time. There is the danger of SSS (Second Sock Syndrome), which is not doing the second sock, but I switch between socks so I don't have that much of a problem. Other ways to knit socks include using two circular needles and the magic loop method which uses one very long needle.You can even knit socks on two needles and sew up the seams on the sides or the back. I have tried these, but I really loved my double pointed needles, so this old dog don't want to learn this new trick.

I usually don't use a pattern because I have made so many socks. However, I have been asked for my pattern enough times that it is time to write it down. Here it is:

My Basic Sock

Materials:

100 g of sock yarn – I used Plymouth Yarn Diversity (Love it!)
2.75mm set of double pointed needles
tapestry needle

Abbreviations:

k - knit

p - purl

k2tog - knit 2 sts together

ssk - slip, slip, knit together

p2tog - purl 2 sts together

sl 1 - slip 1 stitch

st - stitch

dpn – double pointed needles

Leg:

Cast on 60 sts. Divide over 3 or 4 needles, whichever you prefer. Join, being careful not to twist the stitches. (I use 3 needles divided as 15, 15, and 30, with the joining in the center of the 30 stitch needle. Then I am set to work on the heel flap. If you prefer to work with four needles, divide needle 2 into two needles with 15 sts each)

Work 1 inch of k3, p2 rib.

Next row: Knit around.  Continue knitting every sts until you have reached 6½”, or however long you want the leg part of your sock.

Heel Flap

Using only the needle containing the 30 sts, work the following pattern:

Row 1: Sl1, k1, (sl 1, k1, across to last three sts), k3, turn

Row 2: Sl 1, p to the end of the row, turn

Row 3: Sl1, k2, (sl 1, k1, across to last two sts), k2, turn

Row 4: Sl 1, p to the end of the row, turn

Rep these four rows a total of 8 times (32 rows), ending with row 4.

Turn Heel:

Row 1: K17, k2tog, k1, turn

Row 2: Sl 1, p5, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 3: sl 1, k6, k2tog, k1, turn

Row 4: sl 1, p7, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 5: sl 1, k8, k2tog, k1, turn

Row 6: sl 1, p9, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 7: sl 1, k10, k2tog, k1, turn

Row 8: sl 1, p11, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 9: sl 1, k12, k2tog, k1, turn

Row 10: sl 1, p13, p2tog, p1, turn

Row 11: sl 1, k14, k2tog, k1, turn

Row 12: p16, p2tog, p1 (18 sts)

Row 13: Knit across.

Instep:

Needle 1: Using the same needle, pick up and knit 16 sts along side of heel flap.

Needle 2: K30 sts, 15 sts from the next two needles.

Needle 3: Pick up and knit 16 sts along side of heel flap and with the same needle, k9 across the first needle.

Your set-up should be:

Needle 1: 26 sts

Needle 2: 30 sts,

Needle 3: 26

K 2 rounds (starting and ending at the centre bottom of sock).

Gusset Decreases:

Round 1: Needle 1: K to 3 sts before end of needle 1, k2tog, k 1.

  Needle 2: K30 sts across

  Needle 3: K1, ssk, k to end of needle 2.

Round 2: k

Rep these rounds until there are 15 sts left on Needles 1 and 3.

Foot:

Continue to knit all sts on the three needles until your measures 6” along the bottom of the sock or the desired length.  A good guideline is to measure your foot from heel to toe and subtract two inches.

Toe:

Round 1: Needle 1: k to 3 sts before end of needle 1, k2tog, k 1

  Needle 2: k 1, ssk, k to 3 sts before end of needle 2, k2tog, k 1

  Needle 3: k1, ssk, k to end of needle 3.

Round 2: k across all three needles.

Continue working rows 1 and 2 until there are 20 sts left: Needle 1: 5 sts; needle 2: 10 sts: needle 3: 5 sts.

Finishing:

Cut yarn, leaving a 12" (30 cm) tail. Thread the tail onto the tapestry needle and remove all the stitches using the Kitchener Stitch. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

If you don’t know how to do the Kitchener Stitch, Knitty.com has very good step-by-step instructions for you at http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer04/FEATtheresasum04.html

My Deer Boys

Bet you thought I was talking about my sons, right? They would be my dear boys. These are my deer boys. I looked out our front door and saw two bucks through the side glass. What a nice visit!

I wonder if anyone is home.

Wait! Come back! I think I heard someone inside!

Yes, I'm sticking my tongue out at you.

Are you looking at me??

I said, Are you looking at me?

Come on. Let's blow this Popsicle stand. 

The end

¯Doot! Doot! Doot! Looking out my front door. ¯