Off My Back

No monkey business here! The socks are finished, thanks to yesterday's long drive home.

So just before leaving for Talladega, I took a Yarn Abstinence Vow. After buying the yarn to complete my red scarf, I promised I would not buy any more yarn, at all - not for gifts, not on sale - for one full month. That's until November 4. If I keep this vow, I can buy up to two skeins of Socks that Rock (and the Rock 'n' Weave pattern) in time to make stuff for Christmas. But temptation comes so quickly.

I had a Plan for these socks. A practical, stash-busting Plan. They would be made with Leftovers...leftovers from my Entrelac Socks, stretched out with leftovers from my Braided Rice Socks. It seemed like a good Plan.

The first challenge to the Plan came when it turned out that the lovely cables of the Braided Rice Socks don't leave many leftovers. But that wasn't a real setback, since I can always use more Gems. And buying one small skein of yarn to make a new pair of socks didn't seem unreasonable. I'd weighed my leftover Cherry Tree Hill, and had more than enough, it seemed, to complete a pair of socks even without the extra yarn.

But as I knit those last repeats, I watched my ball of yarn getting smaller and smaller. Knitting faster doesn't help you finish before the yarn runs out.

And here I'd taken a Yarn Vow. And the colorway - Life's a Beach - turned out to be a no-longer -available special edition. I could have called Aaron and sent him off to beg at River Knits, but that seemed to be asking alot, especially in light of the Yarn Vow.

So I frogged. Pulled out the toe of the first finished sock, and very gently cannibalized it for the second. This is the main reason the Nile socks became my track socks - I hadn't brought any extra needles, and didn't think the loose stitches could stand up to being carried around in my knitting bag. It's a good thing I bought that whole ball of Gems.

So I don't have a good excuse to buy more yarn, but I think I need a new yarn kitchen scale.


And here are the finished socks. The long-dreaded cold snap will come any day now, and they'll go out for their debut. Aren't they great?

Like so many people, I've fallen in love with this pattern. It's easy to memorize, and it seems to knit up really quickly. A second set of Monkeys may be in the works once I knock off some UFOs.

I had to step down to Size 1, and then to Size 0 needles, but other than that the pattern worked perfectly. After the frogging I deliberately made the toes a little short, so the pattern will stretch nicely. Nothing will make me look forward to cold weather, but these should ease the pain!