Spring Socks

It's beginning to appear like Winter has passed us by here on the Wet Coast of BC. Crocus, Daffodils & Primulas are up & starting to flower. No buds on the clematis yet but I expect them any day now. This shot is from the pot standing next to my door. Blue Fescue hangs over one side, brown Fountain grass in the back with Primulas in the front.

 I meant to do so many things this winter. I looked at so many projects & rejected most of them due to sore hands. The only two that I started was the Ringwood gloves, two tuques & a couple of pairs of socks. I still have three sweaters in-progress, a pair of lace socks on my favorite circs & the Ringwood gloves on my second favorite DPs.

The stripey Kroy socks finally got their toes finished - a lovely thick pair of socks to keep the chill away. I had three balls of this pattern so I had more than enough to make them really long for a change.
As I've said before, I really do love Kroy 4ply because it's just a little thicker, wears like iron & has terrific wild colorways. I love wildly colored socks. Especially in the winter when it's dull & cold outside & color has disappeared from the world. A wild pair of socks seems to be so necessary.

Ringwood is still on the needles but my thumbs have been too sore to juggle 4 DPs & all the little cast off & ons for fingers. They may sit in the basket until the end of the tax season when I have time to rest the old fingers or until the next long dry spell. My hands don't care if its warm or cold but it must be dry.

Since I'm unable to sit in front of the tube without doing something, another sock magically appeared on my needles. I had an almost full ball of a Kroy 3 ply in a pink/green/orange/grey pattern that really spoke to me but there wasn't enough to knit anything other than wrist warmers or fingerless gloves. So it got tucked away. Eventually I got some leftovers & another partial ball donated. I picked out the pink/green/orange/grey yarn to save because I really liked it but knew I didn't have enough because I'd forgotten about the first ball. I'm a visual person. If I can't see it, I forget about it & buy a new one. So I live in chaos so I can SEE what I have. LOL Eventually, I found the original ball. It was waaay too much to take & I had to cast on then & there.

Trying Something Different

My thumbs are sore as hell again but not as bad as they were at the beginning of the year. I've gone back to eating my dinner from a big plastic measuring cup - the handle takes pressure off the thumbs when you eat in front of the tv & I'm using a big mug with a handle to drink my tea for the same reason. I'm not knitting as much as I used to because Tax Season has begun & I need my hands to work.

Knitting is an Opiate. It's addictive & has become a life long habit that's impossible to break. So to avoid withdrawal sickness, I've had to cut back my habit a little & try something small & light.

When the pattern came out in Knitty Deep Fall, 2010, I fell in love. I copied the pattern in COLOR. And I filed it away in my pattern binder for the day when I got my courage up to knit a pair of gloves. Funny how that works. I can knit an Aran sweater with all the cables & bobbles but gloves terrify me. They can't be any harder to knit than socks??? And I've knit hundreds of socks - even a couple of pairs of Lace socks. So with sore thumbs that keep me from big & heavy projects, I cast on a pair of Ringwood Gloves. I found three balls of KROY sock yarn in a deep Wine color. The gloves have a seed wrist band with buttons & the stretchy Ringwood stitch everywhere else.

Sharon's Taxi Service

I've had a very busy couple of weeks chauffeuring two of the men in my life to & from eye appointments. I'm tempted to put a sign on the door of my van & go into the taxi business. Between Specialists' appointments, detached retinas & laser surgeries, it's been a busy time. And I have three more days of it at the end of the month too. Why am I doing all the driving you ask?? Because both of them get their pupils dialated by the Specialists & can't drive (or see) for up to 5 hours after the appointment. And I'm building up credits for when I may need rides to & from whatever myself. My only complaint is that I have to get up at 6:30 in the morning in the dark & dodge pulses of heavy rain from the latest Pineapple Express to do so. And now that my driving duties are over for the day, the sky has cleared & the rain is gone. There's no blue up in the sky but it's about 60 watts brighter than it was at 7:00!

So you'd think I'd get all this knitting done while I wait at these appointments?? Nope. Too dark out in the car. Too crowded in the waiting room - really only room for the patients - and no coffee shops. I do get a lot of reading done with my Kobo Aura - the back light is so good that I use it all the time.

I mentioned I wanted to knit CONIC from CookieA's book 'Knitwear - Shapes & Form' Since it's mostly an easy straight knit, I decided to cast-on the yarn I got from Knit Picks in LadySlipper & use it as 'car' knitting. I love the color. It's one of the blued tones of pink that suits my coloring nicely. I just hope it doesn't bore me to death with all the stockinette.