Ladies and Gentlemen, we have Fall Socks

Has anyone ever had a pain–a bruise, for instance–and no bloody idea how it got there? This was me a couple days ago. A large, only slightly hideous, lump appeared on my wrist last week accompanied by some sharp shooting pains. I don’t think I can tell you how much it kind of sucked to knit through it, but more on that is a second. It resolved itself, so no worries anymore- a very kind doctor at my local walk-in clinic said it was just a ganglion cyst. Sounds scary, but it isn’t. Fun fact: they used to be called ‘bible bumps’, because doctors used to slam bibles down on them to cause a rupture and start the healing process.

But no worries, we’ve evolved as a society and now only jab pointy hollow things into our lumps to suck the liquid out.

Despite being an unhappy knitter and an unhappy student for a week–have any of you had to write a twelve page paper with a bum wrist?–I’m still beyond pleased. I FINISHED THE SOCKS! The girl with the striped socks now has them on her feet, and with the cold weather rolling in it couldn’t be better timing. They’ve turned out really well, and I’m really fond of the grey toes… they just seem to pull it all together. Project infatuation is a real thing, guys, and these socks are Exhibit A.

Socks knit in ‘Pheasant’, WYS Signature 4 ply. 2.25 mm needles

The cold weather is also ushering in two important days: Remembrance Day, which is a big thing in Canada, and Christmas. I’m sure that after the first passes, the decorations for the second will start springing up and the Santa Clause coca cola commercials will roll through without delay. Also without delay comes the Christmas knitting.

Christmas present scarf- 100% alpaca, worsted weight, 4 mm needles.

I can’t give you the personal details, just in case the important someone reads this, but I have a deliciously soft scarf on my needles right this second. And just let me tell you about this yarn, you guys. Both the grey and the brown are from the same seller, A to Z Alpacas. As you can probably guess, it’s 100% alpaca and it feels kind of like a cloud in string form. I’ve been a fan of A to Z Alpacas for a while now, and have quite a bit of their product- again, my friends have me down as ‘Alpaca Queen’ in their phones so what does that say, really? They’re centred in southern Alberta, Canada, so I feel the extra glow of supporting a local small business when I see my package in the mail. According to their website, they raise over 300 alpacas, meaning they see their yarn (as well as roving and pre-knit socks) from animal to mailbox. She even hand dyes it. Definitely worth the investment, if anyone out there is looking to pad their stash. They sell through their Etsy site, which you can find here: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/AtoZAlpacas

And no, while I may be a fan of their work, these opinions are my own and I was in no way compensated for including them in this post.

This scarf is a sort of modified linen stitch (and by modified I mean I tried the linen stitch, messed up a bit, decided I liked the fabric my muck-up made and continued on with it!), and will eventually be 78 inches or so. I’m not following a pattern, but I have this vision of it going grey square-striped square-brown square-striped square, rinse and repeat until it’s done. The 78 inches is a tall order, but I’m really looking forward to seeing that someone’s face when they open it in… 49 days?

Good lord. Did I blink?