The Beginning in the End

You may have noticed I took a wee bit of time off. I needed some time and space to find the joy of my inner knitter once again. I learned many things from my Sock Madness experience, including that too much of anything makes me burn out. This will be my last post about Sock Madness (at least for this year) because as much as I am now over it, I feel the whole thing needs proper closure.

I was, remarkably, still quite excited getting ready for Round 5. I picked my yarn:

Malabrigo Sock in Indiecita

and got through the first foot, including heel, by the morning. But I hated the heel:

a short-row with yarn overs. And more importantly, when I needed something new and exciting to keep me motivated, I received a pattern that looked remarkably familiar:

Yes, Dimpled Diamonds looks astonishingly like Leyburn, at least through the foot and part of the ankle. Honestly, I gave up and removed myself from the competition before I got any further. Is that fair to the designer? My fellow competitors? I don't know, but I know that the joy was gone. I didn't want to know from socks any more. And, believe it or not, I am on an official sock break until the end of this month. I'm sure by then I'll be itching to get back to socks, starting with completing the second half of some on-going favorites: Ziggity Zag, Django and Longbourn Sophisticate to name a few. And can't forget about the Socks that Rawk! quarterly KAL where I am committed to Shur'tugal (rav linky) and Mad Color Love (rav linky).

So what did I learn? I learned that I could knit a pair of socks in 3 days! I learned a couple of cool heel techniques including my first afterthought heel. And I learned that when you make a pair of stranded socks in 3 days your technique gets pretty good! Which is why I was able to not only finish sock one of Longbourn Sophisticate:

but also get back to work on the Cheerleader's Endpaper Mitts. (rav linky) And with some of my non-sock knitting time I managed to get to her graduation party. Yes, our Cheerleader in now a college graduate! Now isn't that something to cheer about!

I've also blocked and worn my Charlotte's Web (to the aforementioned graduation party) and started a baby sweater. I received some birthday yarn and non birthday yarn and few other things as well. So I hope that I am well rested and ready to get back on track with my writing as well as my knitting. And that I didn't lose too many of you!