A Little Knitting Relic

Well fancy that! After discovering that embarassing old journal with all my knitted socks documented, I happened to also uncover the first pair of socks! It's almost as though they were book marking those pages! These ones would be the "1st ever! Red, green, orange and yellow Peace Fleece" that I documented. I seem to think I was about 12-13 when these babies were born. I have memories of wearing them with my stunning navy blue Doc Martens which I purchased from a church rummage sale when I was in grade 7- so that fits.

My mom had a basket in the basement full of bits and pieces of Peace Fleece wool/mohair. I had a hankering for a good sturdy pair of boot socks, as well as a hankering to learn how to make them! So, this was the result.

I seem to recall using THIS pattern that was ripped out of an issue of Canadian Living, and while I remember very little about the pattern itself, it clearly did it's job- because it resulted in a pair of (albeit not matching) socks!

And the yarn was Peace Fleece. Likely not the best choice for socks as it is not a superwash, but for me at the time (and many times since) it was about colour, and not practicality.

Well would you look at that! Seemingly my feet didn't grow into the same size as one another until the latter part of puberty.

And so dear knitting friends, I appreciate you allowing me to show you these little treasures dug up from my basement. Back to some current knitting content after the long weekend.

Promise.

There is lots to be told.

Whoops! This incident has not deterred me from knitting in red one bit.

Enjoy the warm weather, and sunshine! Happy long weekend to you all.

Ever Want to Feel Like a Total Loser?

A tip- don't ever crack open a journal from your teen years unless you want to feel REALLY bad about yourself.

I made that mistake recently and I can't believe that I ever thought (let alone WROTE DOWN ON PAPER!) some of the things that I seem to have here. Admittedly... my thoughts consisted of nothing much other than boys. What an unproductive citizen I was! Looking back, I wouldn't have blamed my parents if they had given me a swift kick out the door with nothing more than a one-way ticket to an all girls boarding school- on the other side of the planet.

While rifling through this journal though, I did find one gem that I am ever so happy to have come across. I found a record of all of the socks I had churned out during those difficult years! Based on the last pair documented... it would seem as though I stopped keeping track about three years ago (which wasn't really all that long ago...) The last few pairs were for my boyfriend (at the time) as well as some selfish sock knitting. I have vivid recollections of propping my head up with my notebook while ploughing through some socks during lectures in my final year of university while I made those "Sweet Georgia Monkey Socks".

BAHAHA! 'My Snow Shovelling Reward' Funny thing? I TOTALLY remember those ones. My mom paid me in sock yarn for chores.

The last entry in this journal that was not sock-related appears to have been from much longer ago than 3 years. Phew... Three years is really not all that long ago and I would hate to think I was still writing such musings up until so recently. People can't change THAT much in three years, and I might have to consider living in solitary confinement for a while if that was the case. No one deserves to be around someone like the person reflected in that journal.

It would seem that from my first pair of socks (which would have been... oooohhhh... I dunno, about 13 years ago maybe?) up until my last documented pair, I managed to produce 39 pairs. That's 78 individual socks! I know there are loads of folk out there that have done waaaaay more than that... but that's a lot of warm feet-YO!

I attempted to complete the list up until the present, but my mind has blanked. I am considering sending out a mass email to everyone on my list, asking them to please let me know whether or not I have ever knit them socks, and what colours they were (asking them the yarn and fibre content might be asking too much). I will keep you posted if I ever come up with an updated number.

In conclusion, I must thank my lucky stars that I found that list of completed pairs of socks amidst the wreckage that was my teenage psyche. Otherwise... today would have been a really terrible day.

Once again, I thank goodness for knitting.