opal | 
04 24th, 2008| 
I’ve got four days. Four days until I leave for Pennsylvania to visit with BFF Shelly.
I’ve got nine days. Nine days until we leave for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.*
To put this in perspective, I haven’t been to the mainland in over ten years. Ten years! I’m a ball of nerves. Sticky taut nerves. I’m so excited I can barely sleep. I’m so terrified I can barely eat.
So what do I do to relieve the stress? I knit.
Pattern: Twisted Flowers Socks by Cookie A
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Pine
Needles: Size 1US / 2.25mm
Started: April 12, 2008
Finished: April 23, 2008
No modifications
These socks were so much fun to knit! I loved the traveling stitches and the flowing leaves. I love challenging sock patterns. The concentration it takes to follow the pattern excludes all other thoughts from my little brain. There is no room for stress over the upcoming trip or for how pathetic I am when I’m sick. And just when I start getting bored with the pattern, I’m done!
There was a hiccup as I started these socks when I was in the throes of the big bag flu and I failed to read through the pattern. So I did not rotate the beginning of the second pattern round.
Of course I didn’t realize my mistake until I had reached the heel flap. I tried to rip back to the end of the first repeat to correct myself, but I couldn’t get the stitches back on the needles. I ended up ripping back all the way to the ribbing. Oof. There goes half a sock.
No worries though as I enjoyed this pattern so much I didn’t mind the reknitting.
For as much as some people rave about Shepherd Sock, I’m a little ambivalent about it. It’s not very springy and I like it when my sock yarn has some elasticity. The Shepherd Sock almost reminds me of a cotton blend yarn.
Still, the Shepherd Sock gives magnificent stitch definition and shows off the pattern to perfection. It’s also incredibly soft. So I really shouldn’t complain.
Did you notice a creature encroaching in on my photos? Pressie just wouldn’t leave me alone during my photo shoot, so I thought I’d give her a little face time on the blog since she’s so rarely mentioned here.
Happy Thursday everyone! I’m going to try and post before I leave, if not see you wish me luck!
*If you’d like to meet up with me, leave a comment!
