First, I just want to take a second to thank everyone who participated In Your First Skein is Free. I gotta tell you, I haven’t had this much fun since Debbie’s Little Yarn Shop had that half-price sale! If it were up to me, I would send every last one of you yarn and I’m Not Kidding. That’s why I knew from the get-go that I could not be in any way responsible for picking the winners! Thanks to M and Great Gran for being such good sports (even though I didn’t bother to ask you if you were willing to participate).

I’m sure that many of you have been watching the results of the Voting eagerly, and I have to tell you that it was insanely close. Insanely Close. In the end, Liesl managed to triumph by a single vote! Congratulations! Vera was her color of choice and will be ordered today.

For the second part of the contest, the names of all of the folks who professed to have never known the joy of Lorna’s Laces were placed in to a Priority Mail box (many on-line yarn stores choose to ship via Priority Mail). At dinner last night (taco salad), Great Gran was gracious enough to select a name for us. I documented the event for posterity:

Who is it? Who’d you pick?!

It’s Ella! Congratulations! Ella indicated that Black Pearl would be her color of choice.

I’ll get this yarn ordered as soon as I obtain mailing addresses - you shouldn’t have to wait a minute longer to fill the void in your lives.

To those of you who by a Cruel Twist of Fate did not acquire your first skeins through this contest, don’t be sad. Remember, the joy of sock yarn dwells in each of us. And in each of us lies the ability to shop on-line in the Pursuit of Socky Happiness. Your LL will come. It will come in time.

Update
The LL is on its way from Knit2Purl2! Ella has decided that she is going to make the Lava Flow Socks from Sock Bug and Liesl (although besotted with Elphine’s Socks) has requested Pattern Suggestions for something Challenging but not Impossible. You can leave suggestions in comments or visit her blog disdressed and tell her directly. She says that perhaps she would like something toe-up?

The votes are in! Great Gran has drawn a winner! Tune in tomorrow to see who won the coveted Lorna’s Laces.

By way of a Complex Point System that took into account creativity, humor and desperation, M has narrowed the field in the essay portion of this contest.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you the Three Finalists!

Liesl:
Vera is calling.
I can’t say no; already
she has ruined me.

Lorraine:
I’ve never even touched the fabled Shepherd Sock, and grow green with envy watching the world knit its wooly goodness.

Rachel:
Lorna’s Laces should be free because: Air, water, and all the OTHER things absolutely necessary for survival are free.

The contest is officially closed! M will be picking the Top Three Essays today, voting will begin at 1pm tomorrow and continue until 9pm on Wednesday (times are Central). Great Gran will draw a name from the hat on Wednesday night and winners will be announced on Thursday. Now: To the Knitting!

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single square.

I think I may start calling it the Epic CounterPain. Just for fun.

Know what the best part is? I still haven’t got the pattern right! Nothing serious, just whether or not to start with a knit or a purl on some of the rows and I had added an entire extra line of pattern for no reason. Laura has been helping me sort out my Pattern Issues and making squares of her own! She is going for a more Sensible Option and making a baby afghan with her squares. She’s also opening an etsy shop with some of her hand-dyed sock yarn (and other goodies)! I am very happy that she managed to get it all together before the Sock Yarn Addict Club begins. Tonni has also been working on squares (March 16). She has made some adaptations of her own and they look great! Tonni lives in Alabama too, which provides me with segway:

With the appearance of Darlene’s blog (she is working on her very first article of clothing!), the total of Alabama knitbloggers that I know of has hit 5. I think this means we need a button.

Please copy this to your own server! Stealing bandwidth is mean.

This is not a ring! In fact, at the moment, it is not even a group. It’s just a button. But if you take it, please email me and I will see about putting together a list of Alabama Knitters for link purposes.

Here is the best part! Are you ready? Look what I’m learning to do:

I made yarn! Twisty, chunky yarn, but I made it!

That is a Turkish Drop Spindle that I got from Teyani at Crown Mountain Farms. Teyani fixed up the spindle and wristaff with some practice roving and got it started before she mailed it to me. Then, she managed to teach me how to use it through email and over the phone (she rocks)! This is one of the most fun things I have ever tried! The next time I have it apart, I will show you all the parts and pieces - the design is really clever and the spindle itself is beautiful (cocobolo rosewood). My starter fiber is Corriedale Pencil Roving in Tibetan Dreams (Teyani does the dyeing, oh, the Talent!). It comes as a fluffy yarn pillow:

I didn’t want to open it because it was so pretty.

I can totally understand why there are folks out there with giant stashes of unspun fiber. Darling Sister, visit soon so I can show you how to do this! You will love it.

Don’t forget about Your Chance to Win! Your First Skein is Free entries will be accepted until midnight (central time) on Sunday, March 26.

I’ve made it to the heels on the 2-Up Socks.

Shhhh, M’s working.

I am ready to start the heels. I just need a minute to read through Queen Kahuna’s instructions and figure the whole thing out. Since I haven’t had that kind of time (yeah, that’s the ticket: I haven’t had that Kind of Time), I’ve been working on the LL socks instead!

Don’t you love how the colors “stairstep” down the leg?

I have a confession to make. That is not the leg that the instructions for the Staggered Rib Sox wants me to have. I didn’t feel like there was enough stockinette in that leg. You couldn’t really see colors of the yarn. I’m using #15 from The New Knitting Stitch Library instead. Why I can’t make a pattern like it’s written I surely don’t know. Must be a phase.

Lately I’ve had the feeling that something was missing. I’ve been a little aimless (knitwise, that is).

That’s it! A sweater! This Dyed Cotton in Honeydew from Blue Sky Alpacas is to make Bardot. Incidentally, that is the only pattern in Rowan’s Beach Cool that I want to make, so the book is for sale/trade as soon as I am finished with this little sweater if anyone is interested. At a gauge of 5st to an inch, Bardot shouldn’t take too long.

And now for the Grand Finale:

Mom wins the Knit-a-Long!

Again, I didn’t think one could “win” a Knit-a-Long…Congratulations. I am very proud of you, Mom! Great Gran will be second, she took her scarf along with her on the Colorado Trip (my cousins are skiing, M and I stayed behind to tend the animals: we are feeding a total of 12 cats and 3 dogs a day). She told me this afternoon that she had finished all the baby things and was starting on the scarf tomorrow. Mine looks about like it did the weekend we started.

I have made an official Contest Page. It’s My Very First Try at xhtml/css so no laughing, please. I’ve also decided to open the essay portion of the contest to anyone. The sad, pathetic comments from Lorna’s Junkies have rent my heart in twain. If there are any addicts who would like to tell us in 20 words or less why you need MORE LL, feel free. M is still picking the top three essays so I feel that this is fair. He has seen many of your sock yarn stashes (I would get excited and say “Dear, come see THIS one! It’s MUCH better than mine!”), but I’m sure that won’t prejudice him at all. Only entrants who have never tried LL will be in the drawing.

Drum roll, please!

That is the Bedspread yarn. It’s going to need its own container.

Does anyone know how you’re supposed to knit off of a cone?

Ladies and Gentlemen, up until this very week, day, hour and minute, Cherry Tree Hill Supersock has been my hands-down favorite sock yarn of all time. But I have to tell you, Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock is giving CTH a run for its money. Yesterday (or was it the day before? things have been busy), a wealth of sock yarn arrived with the mail.

Lorna’s Laces in Black Pearl and Mother Lode

These are from Amanda and Leah who both were deeply touched that I had led a life empty of Lorna’s Laces (LL). At first, I was hesitant about accepting the yarn that has been referred to as “crack” by many many many many bloggers - “your first hit free” is how the Drug Dealers get you, you know. But it’s sock yarn and I was really powerless to resist.

The first thing I noticed (after salivating over the richness of the dye and the inspired color combinations) is that the twist is completely different. It’s smoother, more like Kroy, Wildefoot or some of the other workhorse sock yarns. And yet it retains the softness and spring of CTH or the infamous Socks that Rock. After a little pattern research, I cast on (So what that I have three other ongoing sock pairs? What’s it to ya?!).

The pattern is free: Staggered Rib Sox.

It’s an absolute pleasure to work with. Now, having only made a cuff, I cannot attest to its wearability. If the twist is any indication, it should last much longer than many of the other “premium” sock yarns. I can absolutely see why people wept for the void in my life. And I can’t thank my Knitting Role Models (a.k.a. “Pushers”) enough. This also means that my trade with Becky was brilliant! Don’t you just LOVE the color?!

That’s LL in Bittersweet and then some sparkly stuff that I will use to trim something. Becky did warn me that she was sending pink…

Now, if you have read this far, you are either a True Lorna’s Laces Fan or dying to try some. So I tell you what I’m gonna do:

I hereby announce the

Your First Skein is Free:
Lorna’s Laces Socky Goodness Givaway

To enter, tell me in my comments (which will be more fun for everyone) or send me an email that outlines in 20 words or less why your first skein of Lorna’s Laces should be free. Be sure to include the name of the colorway that makes your heart go “pitty pat”. Winners will be selected in two ways: Everyone who enters at all will be put in a “hat” and a winner will be drawn, and M (who is impartial, yet understands the Call of the Yarn) will select the top three essays which will be featured in a blog entry to be voted on by the Knitting Public. The two winners will receive two skeins of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock (enough for a pair of socks) from Knit2Purl2. Entries need to be in by Sunday, March 26. Voting will happen from Tuesday, March 28 to Wednesday, March 29. Winners will be announced on Thursday, March 30 and the yarn ordered on the 31. I’ve got to get the order in before April 1, that’s when the Sock Yarn Addicts Club starts.*

As an anticlimatic moment, the Red Socks and I have made up. I frogged them completely (I didn’t like the toes anyway) and have now increased to the appropriate number of stitches.

The Fairhope Fudge Bag is so I like the socks a little bit more. Sadly, there is no fudge in there with them.

*I don’t believe my sock yarn buying habits are a “problem” really. But M is questioning my self-control and I certainly can’t have that. Plus, Abigail is giving out Gold Stars. I love Gold Stars.

I have learned something this weekend. I have learned why an individual should never make something two-at-a-time when said individual doesn’t know what she is doing: making things two-at-a-time means that there is twice as much to rip out.

I measured M’s foot, accurately determined my gauge, calculated how many stitches I needed to increase and dilligently increased until I achieved the prescribed number of stitches. After that, I proceded to knit for three inches, all the while thinking “Hey, these look really big.” I checked my gauge and my math several times, told myself that it was some kind of Optical Illusion and knit for a couple more inches. It wasn’t until we were in Montgomery on the way home that I finally admitted to myself that there was No Way this was right and re-measured his foot. Turns out I can’t work a tape measure. So I yanked both socks off the needles and frogged back to the toe increases. Then I attempted to sort things out. The first sock was fine: I stuffed all the stitches back on, tinked back a round to catch up all the ones that were droopy in the back and then knit an increase round so that I had the appropriate number of stitches. The second sock was a problem. I got all the stitches back on and by slipping the first sock around, managed to get all the droopy second sock stitches corrected. Yes, I know it would have been easier to use dpns to correct each sock individually, but I was in the car and had to make do with Available Resources. As I began to work forward again this happened:

The socks did this on their own. I was paying close attention the entire time.

That, my friends, is three sock pieces on one circular needle and one sock piece on the other circular needle. Now, if you’ve never made socks on two circs, I just want you to know that this is NOT how your socks should be arranged. At this point, I told the socks exactly Where They Could Go and hurled them onto the back seat. I fumed the rest of the way home.

I forgot to tell you! I finished these last Saturday, they are washed, loosely blocked and drying.

Yaaaaay, Bloomin’ Feet!

The two-up socks are a little longer/wider, but look pretty much the same. We are running to Atlanta this weekend so there should be some Travel Knitting to show you on Monday.

I have been devoting a large amount of time to Pondering Summer Knitting. For me, I want to make a tank or two, some short sleeved pullovers, maybe a short wrappy cardigan to go with a sundress. I want to make a sweater vest in cotton (shine?) for M and several things for the house (yellow throw pillows for the couch, a runner for the table). I’m not sure where I want to start! I love possibilities.

One last little thing: I love to order from stores who do just a little bit extra for their mail-order customers. Pretty tissue, a yarn sample, a note on your invoice, little things that make getting mail just that much more of a treat. PurlSoho.com is one of those stores.

Pretty!

All I got were a couple circular needles but it was still fun to open! I am a sucker for presentation.