Yarn Club #2: Magic

I'm addicted to this knitting pattern.  I've worked and worked and worked and hardly feel like I've done anything but play.  The fact that I'm having to read a chart (which I usually don't like) and doing so while also watching the Olympics (which I usually can't) is testament to how beautiful and perfect the design is for this pattern.

I've never knitted anything quite like it.  Quite that captivating and thrilling.

I usually shy away from difficult patterns.  Not because I'm not capable of doing them, but because I've discovered that I don't always have the mental tenacity to stick with a project that is hard.  But this sock is pure magic.  From the twisted knit rib (which I usually hate doing, btw) all the way to the toes.  Magic.  I'll let the pictures of Sock 1 speak for themselves.

I can't really tell you if this pattern is difficult because it simply doesn't feel like it.  It looks super-complicated and very detailed and involved, but it is not difficult to do.  It flies off of the needles, not because there isn't much knitting to do, but because the knitting being done is just purely so much fun.  I also feel like I'm really learning to "read" my knitting.  On the "resting round" I'm able very clearly to see and know what I need to do without looking at the chart...AND I'm learning to look at the symbols and easily understand what they mean and what I need to do.  I feel like I've grown as a knitter while having the time of my life.

I cannot wait to show you my finished pair...probably by the end of this weekend.  I have decided that I'm doing the next pattern from Cookie A in my Dream in Color Smooshy yarn I had set aside for my next sock project (I'm not completely ignoring the 4 (maybe 5???) other pairs of socks I currently have on the needles...but these patterns must be knit).  I'm thinking of setting aside a notebook with the patterns in it for my "special go-to" sock patterns.  Hickory (the Bertie Bott's from earlier this year), this one, and Simple Cable socks...and of course vanilla socks.

And then after that??  Well, in the spirit of yarn clubs, I think I'm going to finish up that Rockin'Sock Club sock that I started last year sometime...it's an ankle sock and the first one is already finished and the 2nd one started.  I have no idea what captured my attention to drag me away from that loveliness, but that should be the next pair, don't you think?  If I manage all of that by the end of February (possible if I'm not distracted by fairies...fairies are pretty prevalent in my house, btw)...that will be 5 new pairs of socks in the first 2 months of 2014...amazing if I can say so!  (oh, and that's not counting the Turkish Bed Socks I'm working on during lunch...and I'm almost finished with one pair of those!)