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Random Monday

Whatever happened to the Darn-A-Thon? I found myself wondering this over the weekend - the holidays really put this project on the back burner, but yesterday I decided to resurrect it by repairing the first pair of socks I ever knit for myself.

These socks were knit just before the dawn of Ravelry (if any of us can remember that time!), so they aren't even entered in my notebook, but the yarn is from Knit Picks. In my early knitting days, I didn't know there was a whole world of yarn outside of a Michael's store - I had only recently discovered Knit Picks! I hadn't even encountered this thing called 'luxury yarn', and I had just moved to Chicago after spending three years in Portland, OR. Even though I grew up in the midwest, I knew my first winter back would be tough (boy was it ever!) and I would need some wool socks to get me through.

Of course, I had no idea how to make socks, as I was still pretty new to the whole knitting scene. My very first order from Knit Picks was stolen from one of my neighbors in our sh*ithole first apartment (it was seriously a dump), but they were kind enough to send me a replacement once I contacted them. Even though the yarn was inexpensive, these socks have survived many years of service with nary a hole. They turned out surprisingly well, despite the fact that I had no idea what I was doing at the time and the instructions I was following weren't terribly helpful. I'm no longer into self-striping yarns, but it's a nice reminder of my early days of sock knitting!


Even though it isn't FO Friday, I wanted to share this project that I've been secretly working on. I knit this little monster for my SIL's baby shower which was on Saturday. The pattern, Olive the Monster Christmas Tree Ornament by Rebecca Danger, was originally written for fingering weight yarn, but I decided to try a worsted-weight version using the Berroco Ultra Alpaca I had leftover from the Monster Baby Booties and Pointy Hat. She turned out to be pretty cute!




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