Last day of 2007

So, it's the last day of 2007. I've been trying to decide if I wanted to post a reflective year end recap kind of post and decided against it. 2007 has been an interesting year for my family. Interesting - that's just the word I was looking for. My father died in January, Oldest Boy broke his arm in February and then became a teenager in April, same boy broke his arm in June and we're now awaiting word on whether or not he needs surgery on his ankle, we had a chunk of our home renovated, there was lots and lots of baseball and soccer and football played. We've been almost frantically busy at times. We also came into a nice little inheritance and were able to pay for our renovations, buy season ski passes for the boys, and pay off our credit card and medical debts. It's been a full and interesting year.



We woke up to snow yet again this morning. By noon we should have passed the record set sometime in the 1800s for the most snow in December. It's like a winter wonderland out there. Everyone in our family is getting to spend the last day of 2007 just as they would like to. Mr. Baseball took the two older boys and a neighbor friend skiing, Youngest Boy and his best bud are hanging at our house playing without the interference of big brothers, and I'm still in my jammies hanging out on the computer. I couldn't be happier. Even Odysseus gets to spend his day hanging around without anyone picking him up and carrying him around like a rag doll.

Tomorrow I may update with some WIP photos before we leave for vacation.

I wish you all a very happy New Year. May 2008 be filled with peace and joy for you and your families.

The stockings were hung

They were hung by the chimney with care and filled to the brim with goodies on Christmas Eve. The stockings have always been one of my favorite Christmas traditions. But now the stockings are empty and ready to be put away for another year.

We had a very nice Christmas. The inlaws arrived on Sunday for a brief overnight visit. The boys were thrilled to see their grandparents. We spent Christmas Eve with neighbors who do a very nice home church service. My boys like this so much better than going to "real" church on Christmas Eve.

Yesterday, we all spent the entire day in our jammies. We opened gifts, played with the new Wii, ate yummy food, and just generally enjoyed a relaxing Christmas. Mr. Baseball and the boys are off skiing today - enjoying the sunshine and very moderate temperatures. I did my annual post Christmas shopping this morning and finished by noon. I love to buy Hallmark wrapping paper for next year and scoff up some good deals at Target.

Now I'm spending the rest of the afternoon cleaning the house and knitting the Cherry Cordial sock. I clean a bit and knit a bit. I'm enjoying the quiet of my house.

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas.

No catchy title today

I've been planning a post all week to write about knitting this sock. This sock took many trips this week as we went to the orthopedic surgeon on Monday to have Oldest Boy's sore ankle looked at, to the dentist on Tuesday for cleanings all around, to an MRI for Oldest Boy on Thursday, and back to the orthopedic surgeon yesterday. There's been lots and lots of waiting room knitting. I'm loving the Yarntini yarn and the ease of a plain vanilla sock is quite soothing.

Unfortunately, when we returned to the orthopedic surgeon yesterday we were given bad news about Oldest Boy's ankle. I didn't understand most of what the doctor said as I had two of the boys with me and my brain pretty much stopped working when he started talking about dead bone and detaching cartilage and surgery. I went in prepared for the doctor to say that the shadow on the x-ray was "nothing" and was not prepared for bad news. Oldest Boy is inan air cast for now until we return to see the surgeon on January 11th. I'll know a lot more then. Until then I just keep reminding myself that he's no worse today now that we know there's something wrong than he was on Monday when we didn't know. I know he'll be fine.



When I returned from my walk this morning, I had a flock of these Pine Grosbeaks in my front tree again. They love to eat the tiny apples and they don't even move when I come near or make noise. I don't know how I never noticed them until this year. I have two friends who also only noticed them for the first time this year and I got to prove how smart I am when I could tell them what kind of bird they had seen. I think they're very nice.

I must return to the bustle of preparing for Christmas. My inlaws arrive tomorrow and there is much to be done before then. The timer just beeped and it's time to pull the spiced almonds out of the oven. It sure smells good in here.

Hitting the slopes

After all the storminess we've had in the last week, the weatherman predicted that today would be a beautiful New England winter day (I know it's not really winter yet but come on ... we've already had almost 2 feet of snow). Based on that forecast, I promised the boys I'd take them skiing today. That weatherman was spot on. It was a perfect day for skiing/snowboarding with temperatures in the 30s and very little wind. You might notice in the photo above that Oldest Boy is boarding with his winter coat unzipped and flying wide open (it makes a mother proud to see such a thing).

Back in April, our closest ski area had a special on season ski passes and we bought one for each of the boys (including Mr. Baseball). This is Oldest Boy's last year at home with us as he plans to attend high school next year. We fully intend to take advantage of our flexible schedule and ski as much as possible.



The older boys went skiing a couple of weekends ago but Youngest Boy was nervous about getting back on the slopes. He was a little timid at the start of the day but soon got his feet under him. By the middle of the day, he was zooming down the slopes.



It should be said that I don't actually ski. I CAN ski but I haven't for years and I don't intend to start. My job is to make sure we have everything we need, pack up snacks and lunches, get everyone ready to go, and then sit in the lodge to help the boys when they come in. I sat about five feet from this fire all day long knitting my Cherry Cordial sock. It's a tough life.

Zee Zig Zag Hat

Zee Zig Zag Hat, she is finished!

I haven't knit something this quick in many years. I cast on last Thursday and finished on Monday night. It's really a very nice pattern. In fact, I think I'll make another one with just a couple of modifications. This is the first time I've knit with Koigu. I must say that although it's lovely yarn, I don't really get all the hype. I liked the solid yarn much better than the variegated yarn. I'm sure it's the same base but the solid felt softer and even a little thicker. I do like how the two worked together.



The hat fits me a lot differently than it does my boys but they were the easiest models I could find. They proclaimed the hat itchy and all of them said they would not want me to knit a hat for them. Oldest son has been asking me to knit him a hat for ages and I was planning to do so but if they find Koigu itchy I'm not sure what yarn he would like.

It's a hat!

What's this you ask? It's a hat. The pattern is called Zig Zag Hat and it is published by one of my not so local yarn stores (nothing is actually local where I live). I've admired the samples in the store many times and had some Koigu in the stash. I decided after I finished the Monkeys that I would take some time to knit something besides socks.

I really like how this hat is turning out. I'm not entirely convinced the hat will fit when it's done but I did try on the store sample more than once or twice. I'm terribly slow at two color knitting. I never learned how to do it properly and so I drop the yarn each time and pick up the new color. I don't have the patience to learn the "right" way so this works for me. I'm almost done a full repeat of the pattern and it only calls for a repeat and a half before knitting the top of the hat. I may have a hat to show soon.



I realized after casting on for the Zig Zag Hat that I also needed a portable project. Our schedule is filled with dentist, doctor and orthodontist appointments and I need something I can knit without thinking. I cast on some Yarntini in Cherry Cordial to make a plain vanilla sock. Socks are the one thing I can knit from start to finish without following any pattern or directions. I'm in no hurry to finish these - no deadlines - which is making them even more enjoyable. This is my first time knitting with Yarntini and I'm liking it a lot. This is the variegated version and not the self striping but I like how it's knitting up into almost single row stripes.

Right now I'm headed off to bed. I know when I wake up in the morning we'll be in the midst of a Nor'easter. I've got all the food we'll need and we plan to hunker down for the storm. I made two batches of gingerbread dough and have them in the fridge for the night. Tomorrow, if all goes well, the boys and I will roll out dough and make gingerbread cookies.

Finished Monkeys

Pattern: Monkeys
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Happy Forest
Needles: Size 2.5 mm Knit Picks Circulars
Modifications: I used a standard slip stitch heel instead of a stockinette one and added extra pattern repeats to the leg and foot to accommodate my big feet.

I cast on the first sock of this pair the night of the World Series. They were knit as good luck juju for the Red Sox and dubbed Green Monster Rally Monkey socks after the Green Monster in Fenway Park.

It's hardly original to knit Monkeys. There are 2,857 pairs on Ravelry alone. I really liked the pattern, however, and found it both addictive and quick to knit (despite the long time between casting on and finishing). I never memorized the pattern but it was very easy to follow and I like the socks a lot. The Dream in Color Smooshy is definitely my new favorite sock yarn. I can't think of a single bad thing to say about it. It's smooshy, has great color, lots of yardage, is pleasant to knit with, and has good stitch definition. I'm so happy to have more in my stash.



I've got a list of knitting plans. I'm hoping to have a couple of finished objects that are not socks. I need to wind up some yarn and cast on for a hat and I need to finalize my plans for some mittens. Until then, I've cast on a simple plain vanilla sock with some of the Yarntini in my stash. I need to have something simple to knit for upcoming doctor, dentist and orthodontist appointments and plain vanilla socks are the one item I don't need any form of pattern for from beginning to end.

Finished Objects

Today is a good day to show off a few finished objects.

I finished these Harvest Cable socks on Friday and have been trying to photograph them since then. I have come to accept that this is the best I'm going to get with the winter light.

Pattern: Harvest Cables by the Sockguy (pattern no longer available)
Yarn: Wollmeise in Spice Market
Needles: Size 2.5 mm Knit Picks circulars

I can't say that I love knitting with Wollmeise. It's rather stringy and feels like cotton. It tends to hurt my wrists some, too. I will say, however, that I love the yardage and the colors are fabulous. Once the items are washed the fabric is lovely. I love my Wollmeise socks.

The second finished object is a picture of the Chocolate Crinkles from yesterday. It sure is nice to have cookies when it is COLD outside. When I left for my walk this morning it was only 19 F. It's a good thing I have a walking buddy or I'd never leave my house in the winter.



My final picture shows the colors of our new kitchen walls and some of the cabinetry.



We found Odo up there last night - apparently playing hide-n-seek all by himself.

What a day!

The day started out quietly enough. We all went to bed last night knowing that we'd wake to snow and we weren't disappointed. The boys got their schoolwork done quickly and headed outside. Oldest Boy knew that he had to get the driveway snowblowed before he could play with friends and set right to work.



I took advantage of the quiet time to sit down and knit a few rows. I'm hoping to finish this second Monkey sock so I can start some mittens. As I was enjoying my solitude, Middle Boy came running into the house to tell me that Oldest Boy had fallen through the ceiling. I went running into the garage and saw Oldest Boy hanging by his armpits between two beams. He has gone into the attic space over the garage to get sleds and the floor collapsed beneath him. He was able to catch himself from falling through onto the garden implements below but he couldn't get down without risking serious injury. I was able to maneuver the ladder below him and he climbed down without incident.


(to the left of the white beam is the entry to the attic space - to the right are the two beams he fell through)

The only injury Oldest Boy sustained is a large gash to his left hand. He recovered quickly and went out to sled with his brothers and the neighbor. They stayed out there almost all day.



My nerves were shot after this incident and I didn't have the ability to sit and knit and I wanted to distract myself from thinking of all the what ifs. I kept myself busy in the Izzy way (Grey's Anatomy reference). I spent the entire rest of the day baking and cooking.



By dinner time, we had Molasses cookies, Chocolate Crinkle cookies, bread sticks, and Italian Wedding soup. My nervous energy had delicious dividends. Oldest Boy is fine and I'm just counting my blessings.

Tree hunting

We went out for our annual tree hunting today. Usually, we're much more prepared and we go out on a warm October or November day and tag our tree. Then Mr. Baseball goes by himself in December to cut it down and haul it home. This year we weren't that organized so we did it all at one time.

First, we had to look at acres of trees and fight about debate the merits of each one. Some are too tall or too short; some too skinny or too fat. Some are just plain ugly. Eventually we found a tree to call our own.



Oldest Boy did the honors of cutting down the tree by himself.



And I was there to catch it as it fell.



Oldest Boy proclaimed himself The Conqueror.



Finally, we loaded it onto a sled and Middle Boy hauled it out.



Mr. Baseball will get it set up complete with lights while I bring Oldest Boy to youth group this afternoon. Tonight, we'll decorate it as a family and tomorrow, while the snow falls, we'll be able to enjoy our new tree.

Just hanging out

As I was walking up the driveway this morning after my walk, I spied a male pine grosbeak in my front tree. He looked so nice silhouetted against the yellow house that I went in to get my camera to try to get a picture of him. It was only when I was looking through the camera lens that I realized he wasn't alone. His mate is there up above and behind him in the picture. They're still out there now enjoying their breakfast.



At least they weren't there at the same time as Odysseus. I found him there a couple of days ago. He looks fairly guilty, don't you think?

Happy Thanksgiving

It's just the boys and me for Thanksgiving this year. The inlaws were here last weekend, my folks live in Florida and my sister decided to stay home this year. I cook the same amount of food no matter who's here and somehow it all gets eaten. Today we feasted until we were about to burst. We had the best turkey ever (thanks to Cooks Illustrated and Trader Joe's) and I've finally found a great roll recipe.



It's been a crazy week with the inlaws visiting, our first snow of the season and my van breaking down yet again. I don't think I mentioned that Oldest Boy made the school basketball team. We were very surprised when he decided to try out because it's been years since he played basketball but we figured it couldn't hurt to try out. You can't even imagine our surprise when he made the team. I'm sure the fact that's he's the tallest kid there didn't hurt but he's got a lot to learn. This means that once again our lives are scheduled around getting Oldest Boy where he needs to be when he needs to be there. I'm trying to be happy for him.

I'm knitting a tiny bit every day but it's slow going. I plan to finish these Harvest Cable socks by the end of the month and can't wait to cast on the second Green Monster Rally Monkey sock. Although the Spice Market is a beautiful color, I really look forward to knitting with something more bright and cheerful.

Thankful Thursday

NH Knitting Mama is suggesting a Thankful Thursday blog theme today. This is something I can get behind. In general, I'm a very grateful person and I try to take the time every single day to take stock of my many blessings and to be thankful for all that I am blessed with.

With no pictures for embellishment and in no particular order here are just a few of the things I am grateful for today:

1. My walking friend, Melanie. Every day, rain or shine, hot or cold, Melanie and I meet at 8:15 to walk 4 miles together. There are many, many mornings when I'd rather stay inside but I know that she's counting on me so I get my butt out there. 4 miles in one hour and we never run out of things to talk about. Melanie is wonderful in many other neighborly ways but I am particularly grateful to have her for my walking buddy.

2. Good neighbors. Melanie is only one of my many wonderful neighbors. I know that I am truly blessed to live in a neighborhood where people watch out for each other. I've had meals delivered, my driveway shoveled, my cats fed, my children chaufered, cars loaned and, of course, eggs borrowed. I've also had neighbors call if they saw my children doing something that they thought I might want to know about and neighbors who felt comfortable speaking to the boys themselves. I am grateful to have neighbors who feel like they can call me to borrow some baking soda, to baby sit their child or to drive a child to soccer practice.

3. My home. I loved my home before my renovations but now I truly love my home. As I was walking up the driveway this morning after my walk I looked at my bright yellow house and said, "I am so grateful for all this." Having a nice home to live in with my family is such a blessing to me. This is so different than I how I grew up and I feel so blessed to be able to offer my boys such a wonderful place to live. We are truly blessed.

4. Yarn. Okay, it might sound superfluous after all my lofty blessings but this is a knitting blog. Today, in the mail, I received my Loopy Ewe Winter Sock Club kit. I don't want to give away the surprise so I won't post a picture yet but there is some yummy Yarn Pirate BFL yarn included. I haven't made any yarn purchases and don't intend to do so anytime soon because I am feeling overwhelmed by my stash and feel the need to use some of what I have accumulated. What a blessing to have so much yarn!

A surprise

Does anything cheer you up quite as much as an unexpected package in the mail? Today I received these wonderful dishcloths from Abigail. She and I had emailed back and forth months ago about the allure of dishcloths. I've never quite gotten the draw to knitting or using them but Abigail tells me that I'll be converted from my spongey ways once I give these a try. I can't knit with cotton myself because it kills my wrists so I appreciate this gift all the more. The astute among you may notice my shiny new sink. I don't miss the old brown porcelain one even a tiny bit.



Abigal wrote a little note to let me know that she knit these in honor of the Red Sox victory. How cool to have Red Sox dishcloths! I'll give them a try later on tonight even though it seems a shame to get them dirty. Thank you, Abigail. This package was definitely a bright spot in my week.



I have managed to do a little knitting myself. Here is the first Harvest Cable sock complete. I'm liking it an awful lot. Wollmeise is a beautiful thing. It's so nice to know there's no way I could possibly run out of yarn. This pattern is quite nice too. I'll have to find a way to share it as it says on the bottom that it can be shared as long as the copyright remains attached. I do wonder what happened to the Sock Guy. He had great patterns.

When life gives you lemons

I had a weekend filled with disappointments both minor and major. I don't tend to dwell on such things but instead just soldier on. Still, sometimes the sheer number of disappointments and irritations start to get you down.



On Saturday, I decided to drive to the nearest Trader Joe's (about an hour away) to stock up on baking and Thanksgiving supplies. I found many yummy things, of course, including our turkey. This turkey was the number one recommendation by Cooks Illustrated and I was pretty happy to find it. Sadly, I also found out that Trader Joe's no longer carries their UFOs. UFOs are mint chocolate drops that are a favorite of my youngest son and, sadly, there just is no substitute. If anyone can find UFOs at their local TJ's I'd be happy to pay to have you ship them to me.

When I got home, Youngest Boy and I decided to take a trip to the local animal shelter. I had heard that they were over run with 154 cats and Youngest Boy decided that maybe he was ready to get a new kitty. We found a beautiful little three year old cat named Marla who Youngest Boy just loved. Unfortunately, because of their paperwork requirements we could neither touch her nor be approved to take her home. Youngest Boy was crushed and cried all the way home. He has vowed never to get another kitty. I was just angry and I understand how they remain with 154 cats when they make it so difficult to take one home.

While I was at the shelter, Mr. Baseball left a message on my cell phone to tell me my van wouldn't start. I was able to call my wonderful garage today and have it towed there. They called about an hour ago to let me know that it's the fuel pump. Things could be worse but it's still going to cost about $500 to fix. Ugh!

There are a number of ways to handle stress but two of my favorites are baking and eating. This morning, while waiting for the tow truck to arrive, I figured I'd make some cookies. I started with peanut butter cookies but after Middle Boy cleaned his room without complaining I realized I needed to make cookies that he likes (alas, the lad does not care for peanut butter). So, while waiting for the phone call from the garage, I whipped up a batch of Snickerdoodles.



So we don't have any UFOs or a new kitty and while the van will soon be fixed I'm not sure how we'll pay for it. Nonetheless, the house smells wonderful and I'm feeling better as I sip my tea and eat a snickerdoodle or two.

Whole lotta bakin' goin' on!

Okay, it's a bad play on words I'll admit. I'm not sure if it's a little bit of mother guilt for abandoning my babies for the weekend or the fact that it's starting to feel mighty chilly around here or if it's the thought of the impending holidays, but my new double wall ovens have gotten a lot of use already this week. We've had cinnamon buns, roast chicken, whole wheat rolls, chocolate chip cookies, pork tenderloin, and, finally, these peanut butter white chocolate chip brownies. In all fairness, I must say that the brownies look much better in this photo than they actually tasted. They were made for Oldest Boy's sports banquet though and hungry boys are not picky about their sweets.

Since my return on Sunday evening, I've spent the majority of my time cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry. The laundry pile just never seems to get any smaller. Last night, the boys decided to give our long haired cat a bath. You can't imagine the pile of dirty towels that one bath produced.

Here's Odysseus this morning looking like he might have preferred a spin in the washing machine instead of the bath in the tub.



Until last night, I hadn't even touched my knitting since Sunday. When I abandoned the Harvest Cables sock before the World Series I failed to make a note of what row I was on. I've been too tired or busy to try to figure out where I was. Last night, about 45 minutes before we had to walk out the door I finally sat down to take a look at the sock. It didn't take me long to get back on track and now I'm happily knitting along. I hope to have this first sock done soon.

Sunneshine

Do you remember that friendly wager I had going on with Sunne? She contacted me before the World Series began to see if I'd be interested in placing a little bet. She's out in Colorado and was hoping to see the Rockies win and, well, I'm out here on the East Coast and I was pulling mighty hard to see the Red Sox win another World Series. The Red Sox won the World Series and, therefore, I won our little bet.

Sunne had Sheri at The Loopy Ewe send me this beautiful Apple Laine yarn in a colorway called Arizona. It is gorgeous! Apple Laine remains one of my all time favorite yarns and I'm thrilled to have more to knit with.

As if that wasn't enough, I got another package in the mail today sent directly from Sunne herself.



Aren't those the cutest stitch markers you've ever seen? Little bats and baseballs with Red Sox team colored beads. Sunne knows I knit socks almost exclusively and these are sized for small needles which I really appreciate. Just think of the Good Juju knitting with these will have. Sunne has her own shop where she sells other awesome looking stitch markers. Be sure to check it out.

I'm feeling pretty blessed on this gray, stormy day. Thank you, Sunne.

Solitary

Main Entry:
sol·i·tary
1 a: being, living, or going alone or without companions b: saddened by isolation
2: unfrequented, desolate
3 a: taken, passed, or performed without companions b: keeping a prisoner apart from others
4: being at once single and isolated
5 a: occurring singly and not as part of a group or cluster b: not gregarious, colonial, social, or compound
synonyms see alone

And so it was that on Friday afternoon I found myself all alone in my husband's car making the drive to Vermont. A homeschooling mother alone; all my myself for three (or more) hours in the car. I had girlfriends joining me in Vermont but when they said they couldn't leave until much later in the day I decided to make the drive by myself so I could enjoy the drive in the daylight.

I made a couple of brief stops along the way to pick up supplies and nourishment and I listened to music on the cd player but mostly I enjoyed my solitary drive and the quiet opportunity it provided me. I savored every single minute of my solitude. The view outside my windows was beautiful and I often let out an audible sigh at the simple beauty of a November mountainside.

My girlfriends arrived later in the evening and we had a fantastic weekend filled with LOTS of food, a good amount of wine, movie watching, knitting, playing silly games and shopping. We slept little and laughed often. When the weekend was over and it was time to head home, one of my girlfriends offered to make the drive home with me. I suggested she remain with our other friend and I made the trip home alone. The solitary drive made it easier to reenter my busy, loud house filled with boys.

While in Vermont, I managed to finish one solitary Green Monster Rally Monkey sock.



The Dream in Color Smooshy really is a dream to work with. This color is named Happy Forest. How apt to be knitting some Happy Forest while in the Green Mountains of Vermont.



When I came home I found that Mr. Baseball had cleaned out the garden of all the debris. It was a terribly disappointing harvest for us this year. I don't know if I planted too late or if we had too much rain in the Spring or if the garden didn't get enough sunshine but we had very, very few vegetables. Amongst all the garden debris, Mr. Baseball found this one solitary pepper and put it on the deck railing where I found it this morning.

Feeling fallish

It's the last day of October. The fall colors are mostly gone from the trees now leaving the lawns blanketed with debris. My morning walk is done in chilly temperatures with a distinctive crunch underfoot. Baseball is over and fall sports are drawing to a close. Last night the ghouls and goblins were in our neighborhood for trick-or-treat. We are putting up storm doors and clearing the furniture off the deck. You get the feeling we're settling in - getting ready for the winter. The animals all around us are doing the same thing.

This morning I finally finished my October socks. I had them just about finished last night but left the kitchener until this morning when I was more awake. As I sat down to finish them I realized that I had rearranged the stitches incorrectly when I started the toe. I tried to convince myself if wouldn't matter but I knew it would bother me so I ripped out the toe and reknit it.


Pattern: Lichen Ribbed Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Goldrush
Needles: 2.75 mm KnitPicks circulars
Modifications: I made my usual round toe instead of the one in the pattern.

I'm quite pleased with the new socks. I'm proud of myself for trying a new heel - the Welsh heel - even though it sounded silly with a seam stitch down the middle. They fit great and I'd definitely make them again. And now I can have an O next to my name on the SAM blog - just under the wire.



Here are the current socks on the needles. To the left are the Harvest Cable socks that I all but abandoned during my Red Sox knitting and to the right are the Green Monster Rally Monkey socks. Both of these socks require at least some attention while knitting leaving me without a simple, portable knitting project. This means that I need to give them my full attention. By the end of November I hope to have two completed pairs of socks to share.

We are the Champions!

Too stupid to blog.

Remember when I was too stupid to knit? Well, the same thing can happen with blogging.
Yesterday, I barely had my wits about me. I didn't trust myself to actually type something into Blogger.

It's true. The Red Sox won the World Series. Again. As a lifelong Red Sox fan, it's hard to even believe. The Red Sox are supposed to come close to winning; they're supposed to get your hopes up as high as they can possibly be; they're supposed to convince you they are about to be the World Champs; and then, then they're supposed to crush your heart by finding some way to choke and lose it all. To win two World Series in 4 years is unbelievable.

Of course, all my knitting juju must have had something to do with the win. The Good Juju socks got the Sox through a rough period in September when their 14 game lead dwindled down to a 2 game lead. The October socks got the Sox past Cleveland. And, finally, the Green Monster Rally Monkey socks got the Sox all the way to the World Series.

There are only a few rounds left on my second October sock. I'll have a picture to share soon. I almost thought I wouldn't have an O next to my name in the Sock a Month KAL. I've had a letter next to my name for every month since I joined SAM 2. Once these are finished, I can even return to my sadly neglected Harvest Cable socks which have been patiently awaiting my return.

Green Monster Rally Monkey Socks

As you know, I've been knitting good luck socks for the Red Sox since September. I asked you to chime in with your opinion on whether I should continue with my October socks or start a new pair for the World Series. The vast majority of you said I should start a new pair. Blogless Diane mentioned that she had never knit her red Red Sox socks but that she had knit a pair of Green Monster socks.

Green Monster socks sounded like a great idea to me but I still needed a pattern. I brought the idea to Ravelry and the majority of people suggested Monkeys. Hence, theGreen Monster Rally Monkey Socks were born. We even have a little KAL going on. You don't have to knit Monkey socks to join us but you do have to knit green ones. If you're not on Ravelry but want to join us in knitting Green Monster socks for the Red Sox, just leave a link to your socks in the comments field.

Here's the beginning of my Green Monster Rally Monkey Socks:



I cast on during the pregame show before the first game. Right as I started the first pattern row, the first batter for the Red Sox hit a homerun right into the Green Monster. Coincidence? I think not.

The Sox are now up 2 games to 0. We move to Colorado tomorrow night. Go Sox!!!