S.S.S.

To non-knitters the title of this post probably means nothing. To most knitters it means Second Sock Syndrome, a condition where a sock knitter finishes the first sock of a pair only to cast on for a completely different pair of socks because the knitter is itching to get at a different yarn. This may make for a less twitchy knitter but it does make for a lot of unmated socks. This condition is so common that I read about one charity that has sprung up to collect lone socks from knitters with Second Sock Syndrome so they can be donated to amputees.

However, while I do itch to get to my next skein of sock yarn, I do not indulge myself in Second Sock Syndrome. Some would say I have great willpower. I say I have a husband who's amazing at making me feel guilty for wasting time and yarn if I don't finish a pair of socks.

So in my case, the S.S.S. stands for Sunday Socktoberfest Stuff. That's where I update my fellow Socktoberfest participants and anyone else I've suckered into reading my blog when I write of sock knitting on what's going on in my double pointed needle world.



That's the current pair of socks I'm knitting for Darling Mollie. I call them the Sunflower Socks because the yellow is like the petals of a sunflower and the cream stripe with the dark gray speckles reminds me of sunflower seeds in their shell. They're being knit from Opal Prisma on 2.5mm dpns - just a plain stockinette pattern with an eye of partridge flap heel. I realize that I just described this sock like one would describe a race car or a computer. I finished the first one last night at 3am while watching an episode of Babylon 5 and as you see I have cast on for the second sock already. S.S.S. averted!

Now for something a bit decadent. My current sock yarn stash.



Each one of those balls or skeins represents a pair of socks for me to knit. The ten skeins on the left side of the stash is all my Regia yarn. I think I have a skein or two more not in the picture tucked away somewhere and when I find it it'll be like finding a fivver in a forgotten jacket pocket. Lana Grossa Cotton Maya and Cotton Fondo are the three big skeins in the middle. I'd like to say that represents three pair of socks but in reality I have doubles of each color so it's really six pair of socks. Two big skeins of Gedifra Sock Color is in the upper right and the rest below it make up skeins and balls of yarn I got from Poppy, Belinda and Kara. And I'd like to take this opportunity to pat myself on the back because three of the Regia colorways were bought at 50% off regular price. I don't exactly sniff out bargans but when one plants itself directly under my nose, I take heed.

That's nineteen skeins/balls of yarn there. That represents nineteen pairs of socks plus three skeins have doubles so now we're up to me having enough yarn to knit twenty-two pairs of socks - if I don't find my misplaced Regia colorways, that is. My life currently allows me enough knitting time for me to complete a pair of socks every two weeks and that's if I don't knit anything except socks. I have knitting lined up for forty-four weeks. If I don't buy a single skein of yarn more I can keep knitting socks until...what? July? August?

I don't need more yarn. What I need is more time. And more needles.

I think more hands would be a wish outside the realm of reality.