It All Comes Down To Socks

Until last December I did a variety of crafts. Mostly quilting with lots of surface embroidery. Lots of quilting and teaching of quilting. And then I decided to knit a few Christmas gifts. A couple of sets of bamboo needles and some chunky/fuzzy yarns and I'm good to go. Fuzzy scarves and super soft shawls for everyone.

Because of my new found interest my darling gave me a couple of large skeins of alpaca yarn so that I could knit my own hiking socks. First I had to learn how to knit socks, which is an art in itself. Diving right into the alpaca seemed a bit risky, so a few shopping sprees later I'm armed with needles, multi-colored sock yarns, books on yarns, and more links to great websites than my favorites list knows what to do with. I've joined socknitting forums and the Knitting Olympics on Team DPN. Total immersion, there's nothing like it to really understand something. I've spent most of January knitting socks, or learning about them. This included taking a beginnners sock knitting class at the LYS Jill Deal Inc.

First off the needles: Spiral Rib Tube Socks, from the book Socks, in Galway Colorneps. Note the baggy ankles! These will make great house socks, or I'll wear them with snow boots, but they'll never fit into my hiking boots. My next pair with a turned heel will be finished tomorrow. More to come then!