Hunter Hammersen called for more test knitters and I jumped at the chance. This time, she needed a sock knit. The one I was assigned required thicker yarn, so I started with some 100% wool Hacho (Mirasol) that I bought a couple of years ago at Hill Country Weaver’s annual yard sale. Meghan expressed some doubts that the pattern would look good in this yarn, but I’ve been trying really hard to knit from my stash lately, so Friday night while TH was bowling, I gave it a whirl.

I honestly cannot decide if I like this or not, but I wasn’t in the mood to do mediocre knitting, so I headed off to Gauge in search of the PERFECT yarn.

While at Gauge, I found some lovely green malibrigo and MadelineTosh DK Silver Fox that would work. Green or gray? hmmm.

• These socks are for a guy, so I asked the random husband that happened to be in Gauge which he preferred (the gray) and had a quick conversation with his wife about how great knittinghelp.com is.
• I have some green malibrigo fingering weight in my stash and I’ve been wanting to try some Madeline Tosh.
• After seeing the gray/blue sock on Hunter’s blog, I’d already named this pattern Earl Grey Socks in my head.

Only problem was that they only had one hank. Carli was nice enough to let me know she actually had some leftover from one of her projects in the back that she could part with if I ended up needing more…the universe votes grey!

I will need 20g more and Monday, she made me a deal on 30g…. Thanks, Carli!!!

Ps. More on this pattern later, but I really enjoyed it!

People that know me well can tell you I’m a little bit of a spaz. This has never been more apparent to me than when Meghan and I were discussing our adventure to the Yarn Harlot’s* book signing in Austin. I couldn’t decide what to wear, if I should take any finished objects with me, or which knitting to take. I settled on a plain black top, jeans and my still slightly damp from a wash Joshaqan socks. I took a picture of the WoW blanket on my phone and both my current Works in Progress. I don’t think I’ve been this nervous since TH and I were dating. I had plans to discuss topics with the Yarn Harlot while she signed my book that probably would have taken a good half hour. I think Meghan was beginning to worry she might actually be forced to pry me from the YH at some point. I asked her to regularly remind me that there was no way she and I and Stephanie were going to end up at dinner…but I’d discussed a plan on the off chance that this happened. I’m more of a planner than we have time for in today’s session.

We arrived at Book People and I began to realize something. There were going to be a lot of people there. After there only being about 10-15 people rsvped on Facebook, I felt like there were at least 100 people at the book store. They actually made an announcement that they couldn’t add any more chairs due to fire codes. Then, Stephanie arrived; she is even funnier in person than she is in print. She opened with comments about how close Texas is to the sun and we fell under her spell. Texans seem to really respond to people that respect the fact that we all survive Texas summers. The funniest thing to me was that it was so much cooler on Sunday than it had been that I was terribly close to wearing a sweater….true story.

This just in, it is a little difficult to get a good picture of a person while they are reading. Sorry, but this is the best I could do.

Prior to arriving, I was worried that Austin knitters were not going to show up and she might not come back next time, but the line for signing was actually very very very long. The kind of long where they hand out different color bracelets and call people in groups. Nevertheless, the YH was very nice and when I asked to get a photo with her, she said, “I live to serve.” If I’m not mistaken, I think she mumbled something about being short halfway under her breath and then smiled.

me and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (thanks, Meghan!)

Two seconds after we walked away, I realized I’d forgotten to show her my Joshaqans AND my sock in progress (a sock I worked on until 1 am Friday night so the entrelac would be done when I handed it to her for a sock photo). Oh well. Somehow, I wasn’t upset. Mostly because, I’d ALMOST forgotten to get a picture with her I was so awestruck to be that close to her. There was no need for me to monopolize her time when there were so many folks waiting in line. Overall, I behaved with decorum and I think Meghan was pleased that I didn’t make a nuisance of myself. It was so lovely to hear her read and I’m so glad she made it to Austin!

the long-suffering Meghan with Stephanie

Ps. Meghan and I met a lovely knitter from FL, Karin…..hope you enjoyed your visit to Austin! :)

*The Yarn Harlot (YH) is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

Generally, I think it is quite tacky to post about a gift item prior to giving it, but I can’t wait to share these socks, and I’m not sure when I’ll get to visit my Grammy, so I’m breaking my rule. She’s a lovely lady and she’d probably want you all to be able to admire her socks as soon as possible. The good news is that I’m pretty darn sure she’s not keeping up with my blog, so I won’t spoil the surprise. Hmmm. I may not be able to wait. I may have to mail her these puppies. I don’t think I can take it… guess I need a new tagline
Katherine the Great
– more impatient than you can imagine.

These socks are soft and beautiful and lovely and wonderful and they totally remind me of her. This is, interestingly enough, the first pair of socks that I’m like wow, these are lovely. Don’t freak out, I didn’t just wake up and decide my knitting is fantastic – I think it must be the silk yarn (Southern Silk Sock from White Bear Fibers in Starry Night) and the pattern (Usak). Yet another from the Silk Road Socks book by Hunter Hammersen that is fabulous. I like it even more than expected which seems to happen with every pair from this book. What is amazing is that I expect to like the socks and then somehow I like them even more. every time.

So, here’s to my Grammy. Let’s all take a moment and send a happy thoughts her way. She’s a great lady; I hope she likes these and that they fit!

update: she got them in the mail Sat. 10/15 :)