Sockin' Along

I don't know if it was stress, work, feeling tired all the time, or the drag of the US election, but I was beginning to worry I was losing my fibre mojo, my sock mojo in particular. I didn't finish a single qualifying pair for Summer of Socks, I don't think. One half-knit toe is still lurking in a corner somewhere, occasionally peeking out and glaring at me. I had my first hit of Single Sock Syndrome when I was foolish enough to knit one-sock-at-a-time, 3 projects in a row. Only two of the 5 Rockin' Sock Club socks have been knit, and the 3rd was in progress but suffered an unfortunate frogging when I messed up worse than I thought I could work my way out of. And I had (*gasp*) talked myself out of doing the October Sockdown! on Ravelry, which would have broken a perfect participation streak since Sockdown!'s inception.

Well, I'm happy to say the discovery of a tumbling-blocks stitch pattern written in Germany yanked me back from that edge. I finished my September Sockdown! with about 36 hours to spare in late October, and cast on Steffi Linden's Escher-Wurfel before the month-end starting deadline. And I don't know why it is, but knitting two socks at once rolls along so much faster.



Okay, okay - you can't see the stitch pattern, the photo's lousy and it's half-done so it's all bunchy - but proof that more than half a pair of socks has happened in a week!

And, they are not friendless. Two days after casting on the October Sockdown!, I jumped in to the November Sockdown! with the Mystery Sock by Debi. This one is doled out slowly, one clue a week. The first clue, and the first few rounds of the 2nd, are shown here. Clue one only took a couple of days of sittin' around time (eg, not much!) again proving the strange paradox of two-socks-at-once going faster, as well as the Yarn Harlot's theory (I think it was hers) that complicated colourwork also somehow goes faster. Bizarre.



So things are looking up. The frogged RSC sock will be re-started for December as the designer, Yarnissima, is the Sockdown! designer for next month. I now just have to pick up my lace mojo again and get the purple thing back on track, as it's been gathering dust since late summer.

What If The World Could Vote?

I've often lamented that the government that really has the most influence on my country is not one I can ever vote for. Like it or not, Canadians are drawn along with the US administration of the day, and it's rare that our leaders have had the balls to stand up to the US Administration - the Chretien/Martin government's refusal to engage in Iraq is one of the few proud moments when they did.

I'm obviously not the only one who feels this pressure when it comes to the American political machine steamrolling the rest of the world. Check this:

http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/

Go vote! And hey, I still don't have a sense that too many other people besides Mom, Sissy and Podgy read this, but if you do and you happen to be a US Citizen - GET OUT THERE AND VOTE TOMORROW. And please, look at what the rest of the world thinks of your country. Do the right thing.