Each year, usually in January, our family gathers at Bryce Mountain Resort in Basye, Virginia, for a family reunion. When we first started going there, our children were just toddlers. In fact, my son, now 27, learned how to ski not long after he'd learned to walk, in a program called "Ski Wee." Every year, another one of the cousins would be ready for the lessons and soon, all ten of them were flying down the little hill like fearless little demons. My mother-in-law usually stayed in the condo making meals while the six parents spent their days, skiing with the youngsters and ferrying them back and forth from the hill. Nowadays, the youngest (top photo) of the ten drives himself to the slopes but no one skis--they're all on snowboards now.
Gradually, the parents stopped skiing and the week has become something of a retreat. The adults, read, hike, take naps, watch movies, cook, and visit. Dear Hubby takes his computer and ham radio equipment, spending the days speaking to hams around the world. I knit.
Left: Sister-in-law, Anne, serves up dinner Below. : Some of the younger cousins still have to take time out for homework.
This year, before we left, I realized that my stash had grown heavy with unused sock yarn. Anyone who knits socks knows how easily that happens--you only need 400 yards for a pair of socks and usually, that's only one skein. Add to that the abundance of interesting sock yarn out there and presto! You've got yourself a sock mountain. So, this year, I decided that my goal would be to knit at least one pair of socks.
The first pair I made was from my new favorite sock yarn, Cascade Handpaints, purchased recently from the new Island Yarn Boutique. I did mine on #1 needles and used one of the patterns from Charlene Schurch's book, Sensational Socks.
I completed a second pair from Lorna's Laces sock yarn, using a simple K2, P2 rib
and a stockinette foot for your basic crew sock. The last pair was a little more of a challenge. I'd ordered a skein of Socks That Rock from Blue Moon Fiber Arts in a colorway called, "Braun's Woods." Online, it looked like a pale mix of sky blue, forest green and chestnut but when I started knitting one of my favorite lace patterns, I discovered that the lace was totally obscured and that the brown was pooling in a way that really turned me off. I switched to a mock cable pattern and it worked out better, because the stitch broke up some of the pooling, while the cable stitch stood out against the busyness of the colorway. While I was working on them, my sister-in-law, Amy, commented on how nice they looked, so, at the end of the week, I gave them to her as a gift. (She does a LOT of the cooking for the crew and it was the least I could do in return.) By that time, I had completed five socks!
Mission accomplished.
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