Sock Hop Knitalong (and an FO)

The black Fixation Bulky socks are finally finished! I wove in the last stray piece of yarn last night, washed them, dried them, and today they are gracing Goldisox's (too big) feet. I stretched them out on the scanner bed to capture them for posterity but they were much longer than the legal-sized surface so you'll just have to imagine them in all of their boring boring boring glory. Don't get me wrong: I love the way they turned out and I especially love that he loves the way they fit but there is nothing pretty about knitting with black rope. Even if it's stretchy rope.

I've finished ribbing and 1" of leg on one of the Austermann STEP socks (#04 Night Blue or something like that -- very greyed blue) and ribbing plus 4" on the other. Again not a vibrantly exciting palette but lovely yarn to work with even if it is a tad too splitty for my taste. I do think they'll make gorgeous socks, however.

Which leads me to the Sock Hop Knitalong which begins a week from today. (If you haven't entered the contest, stop reading right this minute and click on the CONTEST button in the upper righthand corner of your screen. We'll wait.) There are so many different socks I want to try but I've narrowed it down to two.

1. I'm definitely going to cast on for THE Wendy's toe-up generic pattern. Probably in SOCKS THAT ROCK's "Lucy" colourway but I might change my mind and switch yarns since right now "Lucy" seems to be calling out to be a spiral tube sock. I might break out the breathtaking Lisa Souza (a gifted, gifted fiber artist) "Mahogany" colourway. (I owe THE Wendy for introducing me [and the rest of her readership] to these magnificent yarns.) (Should we be calling this THE Wendy-thon??)

2. I can't seem to resist the "Dad's Easy Cable Socks" in SOCKS SOCKS SOCKS, my absolute favorite sock book. A simple cable that you could do without a cable needle, semi-bulky yarn--what's not to like?

(Note: I'm trying desperately to post more pictures but Blogger is giving me trouble.)

HINTS: If you haven't visited designer Dawn Brocco's site site you should. She has some terrific sock patterns there for purchase and download. There's the popular Scrumptious Shag Socks and lots more on her comprehensive sock page. I'm dying to make the felted boot/slippers with the fold-down cuff. No, this isn't a photo of the boot/slippers. This is the Scrumptious Shag.

(And I know this has absolutely nothing to do with socks but I fell head-over-heels in love with her Watermelon Baby Blanket. This is too adorable for words.

Lion Brand has some great free sock patterns too. So does about.com. I've pretty much determined that sock patterns are just about everywhere these days if you know where to look on the internet.

We're not going to open a separate Yahoo! mailing list for the Sock Hop but encourage you to share your sock stories and photos right here. I'll open up a new post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, just so you can have a current place to talk about socks and share experiences. I'll also give you an email address where you can send me photos, links, anything you'd like me to post in the blog itself. Sock-related, of course! (Only we get to post the photos of the half-naked men . . . )

Speaking of which:

Imagine Taye Diggs, fabulous star of stage (RENT) and screen (CHICAGO) and television. Imagine that Taye needs a pair of socks because his wife (the brilliant Tony award-winning Idina Menzel of WICKED) is too busy to knit him some. (She must've caught it from Natasha Richardson Neeson . . . )

Do you have your pattern picked out? Did you buy your yarn and needles? The (stress free deadline free) Sock Hop Countdown is underway!