So, Twist Collective is doing a Finish Fest (rav link), which I found out about on Twitter. This nicely dovetailed in my year of being Stephanie only with shorter hair and way less writing skill and humor. Last year Stephanie did a self-imposed sock club while I signed up for two separate yarn clubs, one that was all sock yarn (yeah Loopy Ewe) and another that was mixed (Smart Ass Knitters World Domination Club). I also later in the year signed up for the Dream in Color color of the month, which I can opt out of each month. Many of these yarns were sock yarns. Tons of sock yarns. Plus I had the sock yarn I was buying as a matter of course when I didn't have a color for a project in mind. Plus (yup, another one) I had socks I had started in previous years that were half done or less. Now I have a dresser drawer full of freezer bags of sock projects. One for each month of the year.
January was a gentle start with my Embossed Leaves. I started these in March 2010 shortly after the Red Line yarn crawl. I bought the yarn at Windsor Button: Madeline Tosh sock in Clematis. Now if one of my friends wasn't super sensitive to wool, this would be the perfect yarn for her. Black with hints of purple. It is a favorite of mine and is perfect with my work uniform (not an actual uniform, but with as much black as I wear it might as well be).
I took my time with these socks for a number of reasons. I knit them for myself on size 0 needles, the only way they would probably fit my feet. And I tried out the super tiny circular needles from Clover.
My mini review of the Clover mini circulars was that I hated them. I was pressing on the cable with my pinky finger, which was causing some uncomfortable rubbing. They might work fine for someone else (hey, if you want to try them, let me know and I will mail them out to you), but they were just not for me.
I finished the first sock with the needles and then swapped to dpns for the second sock. The second sock flew by. It was the first item in my rotation and I spent 7 hours powering through the second sock (I don't actually remember how far I was on the second sock when I started the rotation, so your mileage probably will vary).
I'm feeling pretty good about the rotation by the way. I started off the new year with a pile of WIPs most of which are old enough to be called UFOs instead and have finished two items (5 skeins of yarn) and have only bought 2 skeins of yarn. For me, this is stellar!
