Socktoberfest

In the beginning of the year I got pretty involved in KALs and enjoyed them immensely. I had every intention of keeping up the involvement during the summer, but things got pretty involved with the Nana move, and essentially I dropped out of just about everything. Project Spectrum just sort of disappeared off the map, and all the posts I had planned for Have Socks, Will Travel and the Trek Along never really materialized. Of course I kept up with Amazing Lace, but it did take some effort.

I'm still not ready for any KAL or swap that has a time line on it. Some of the gift swaps look really nice, but I would have to invest a lot of time into finding items for a theme box and I just don't have that time right now. But Socktoberfest sounds like it would just fit the bill right now. The idea of just enjoying knitting socks is very appealing.

The STR socks are coming along slowly. I'm still working on the first leg; this sock is in one of my travel bags and hasn't seen much action lately. This is the Lichen Ribbed Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks. The yarn is a pleasure to knit with. I would like to finish this pair of socks this month, as well as start (and maybe finish?) a pair of socks with the Evening Sun yarn.

It looks just as yummy wound up as it did in the hank, don't you think? I'm thinking of using another one of the rib patterns from Knitting Vintage Socks for this yarn. Either that or trying a simple pair of toe-up socks. That would be two pairs of socks for this month and that would be plenty for me.

Of course, there is always that other use for sock yarn -- Log Cabin Blankie! The pile of sock yarn in the top picture is for using in the Log Cabin. I ordered a bunch of single skeins and now I can thoroughly indulge myself when necessary in some mindless garter stitching.

Mario the tile guy has finished tiling and grouting the bathroom. Ray the bathroom guy is finishing up the rest of the walls and ceiling. I think all the major work will be done tomorrow and we will just have detail work to finish up. I am very pleased with the work that has been done and I'll post pictures soon.

For those of you intrigued now by the idea of pear pie, I never really baked with pears until I had a pear tree in the back yard that sometimes inundates me with fruit. I have found that I can substitute pears for apples in any recipe that calls for apples without changing another single thing about the recipe, and the finished product will come out fine. The pears bake up very nicely, and it doesn't seem to matter if they are soft or if they are still a bit hard. I just peel and slice and bake away. I have never yet been disappointed with the finished product. So go ahead and be fearless; bake up some pear pie today!