Sock of the Day #3- Hand-Dyed, Crusoe, and The Coming Storm

Sock of the Day #3:

This was my first successful experiment in dyeing self-patterning yarn. I dyed and knit this yarn before I thought of writing a book on the subject, back when I wasn't quite sure it could even be done on a small scale. At the time, we were living in a single-wide trailer while we built the house we live in now. I made the long skeins by stringing yarn from the kitchen cabinet knobs, through the living room, down the long, narrow hall, around the bedroom doorknob, and back to the kitchen. Over and over and over again. I used Rit dye because that's all I could get my hands on.

Luckily, the notion worked. I don't remember what brand this yarn was- I know it was peach colored (the spaces between the stripes are the yarn's base color), and that I got it on eBay on a cone. For cheap.

I also know that it was totally unsuitable as sock yarn. These socks have been repaired multiple times.

Both of them.

The latest repairs were made after taking Merike Saarnitt's darning class at the Sock Summit (you can tell which ones they are- they're the ones that look neat). I not only fixed new and previous holes, I did some pre-emptive reinforcement of weak spots. They're good for another round of wear.

(Side Note: you may remember that I am a tad anal about stripes matching on my socks, so you might also expect me to experience discomfort when my repairs don't match the original fabric. Nope. I don't care at all. In fact, I rather like the mish-mosh of yarn colors on the soles of my feet. Go figure).

I've started listening to Robinson Crusoe, and am enjoying the story, though I'm only a little over a chapter into it. I have noticed that a great many of the volunteer Librivox readers are tentative and herky-jerky in their delivery for the first couple of chapters on any given book, and then smooth out and relax for the remainder. I hope that happens with RC, because this reader tends to pause every third or fifth word, whether the text demands it or not.

This is what our yard looks like this morning:

Cold, white, and wintery.

The Weater Service is predicting a major storm slated to begin later this afternoon, and continuing maybe until Sunday. We may get up to 16" of new snow, and 40mph steady winds. They're saying that it could be the worst blizzard  since '67, which is before my time here. I've seen some pretty big snowstorms in my nearly 40 years in SoDak, and we're smack in the middle of the warning area, so this one is going to be a humdinger. We're stocked up with food and booze, and I have all the ingredients for turkey dinner tomorrow (and Heath Bar Fudge, if a real emergency arises), lots of wine, the presents are wrapped, and we have a generator (not that we expect to lose power). And I have wool socks enough for everyone's feet. I'll keep all y'all posted. And I'll take pics.