compulsion?

Having successfully completed my knee socks, which I love, I could return to the long detailed projects that are lingering around the 2/3 mark. The Big Blue Orenburg being the primary example. It's only a bit past the middle and I was going to finish it this year. Hmm. Well, so what do I do instead of being disciplined? Start another pair of socks, of course!

Last year a dear friend of mine asked for handknit socks for Christmas, and it gave me great delight to knit for him, knowing he would appreciate the socks and wear them and love them. I made two pairs for him last December and liked knitting socks so much I made two pairs for me. Given how this December is going, it appears that he may have unknowingly started a trend in my yearly knitting pattern: December is sock month.

What I love about socks: they are small enough so that something interesting happens before you get bored. Just as you think the next repeat is too stunningly dull, you have to turn a heel or shape a toe. You can put all sorts of stitch patterns in socks, especially lace, my favorite. And I find it very satisfying to knit something that gets molded to the complex shape of my foot when I put it on. Being relatively small, they can also be completed in real time, a very useful characteristic, especially as the end of the semester draws near. (No, I'm not a student, but I work in an academic environment and the tension seeps through everything...)

This next pair is in dusty blue-gray alpaca. They are "Feather and Fan" socks from the "Socks Socks Socks" book. My excuse for sitting still all day knitting is that if I can get them done in time they will be a nice present for my stepmother. I already have a gift for my Dad, but I can't really send him a present and not send her one, can I? Exactly. So I have to knit more, darn.