Along with chocolate-filled heart-shaped cookies, a box of delicious tea and other sundries.
My friend Joanne shipped a surprise box to me a few days ago and look what was inside.
An Octopus with 8 folding arms and 16 clips – a hanging dryer called Pressa from IKEA.
Look how perfectly it holds my handknit socks. It even matches my bathroom tile.
Thank you for the lovely gifts, Joanne. A fun surprise.
Tayler Earl of Henderson, Nevada has a YouTube channel Wool Needles Hands. Forty five thousand subscribers and I’m one of them!
She posts a couple times a week.
In this recent episode she showed her acquisition of a woven Peanut Basket which she uses to hold yarn as she knits socks, TAAT (two at a time)
Her enthusiasm convinced me that yes, this was an item I needed cause guess how I like to knit socks? TAAT!
I’m sure I wasn’t the only sock knitter who knew a Peanut Basket would be a terrific addition to my knitting life. Here’s the one I ordered and received about five days later. You can see how one side holds the peanuts in their shells snd the other side is for the discarded shells.
The yarn Stained Glass is hand dyed in Thetford Vermont by Michele of Woolens and Nosh
Mary, Maura and I spent some time this afternoon, trying to find pairs from a big box of clean socks. We are not the first team to attempt to match socks! As many as six family members have contributed to the accumulation. There were no-show socks, shorties, ankle socks, a couple of argyle and a ton of black and white athletic crew socks, some dress socks. A few holey socks were discarded. No hand knit socks on the pile!
From this
To this
Some loners were left. Hopefully there are some matches in a drawer or under a bed.
As I folded the pairs, I realized all the hand knit socks I’d made (plus one spring green pair knit my Sabine Bornemann at Die Wollnerin in Berlin) were clean at the same time. It’s the second time I’ve washed all of them since shelter in place started. I read that Sabine’s hand dyed yarn store in Berlin has now reopened, allowing two customers at a time
Lots of places and friends represented by the different yarns from Alaska, Germany, Norway, Arizona, New Zealand, Florida. Can you find the yarn I received for my July 4th birthday? (thanks Joanne). The sock monkey pair? There’s the desert plant dyed yarn and gifts from woolswappers halfway across the globe.
My new method is the hand wash setting on the machine and hung out to air dry in my bathroom. I used to hand wash them and roll in a towel.
Magic turning a pair of red heeled worksocks into a Sock Monkey
Note: have to work on the stuffing so it isn’t lumpy
To Do: hand sewing and face embroidery by daylight tomorrow.
A Handknit Sock There’s a math to it. The cast on. Count the multiples of four. Last year it was hats and cowls. This year, socks. I want to try the fish lips kiss heel. It’s a simple thing. How a sock is knit. You start with yarn. Needles as slim as toothpicks. Terms like toe and gusset and cuff. My friend says, "it’s too much work." There’s a rhythm in the repetition. The making. Clockwise circles. Some throw, some pick. Row after row after row. In time you get length and warmth. There’s the calm you long for, around and around and around. Turn heel for a path to Zen. You think of those you love. The grandmother who taught you. The wet squeezed out, pairs hang to dry. Later fold their softness, admire the colors, ignore imperfections. Find comfort, hidden in shoes. My squishy hand knit socks.
This post started with Steve bringing me a bowl of beanie weanies for Sunday night supper.
I looked at the color of the bowl, the sock I was knitting, and the teal of my new robe from Christmas. ( thank you, V- it is very cozy)
I try to keep the blog IRT for the most part.
The last sock yarn I used was for a Sockhead Hat by Kelly McClure Pattern (thanks for the Chocolate and Cherries yarn,Toni).
Then I thought of all the references I am using to tutor myself to knit socks again. Reading about the knitting is good preparation.
I’d started a pair of socks simultaneously on two circular needles about two years ago. (Thanks for the yarn, Molly) but bought new size one double point needles yesterday to knit them singly.
I used to worry about “SSS- second sock syndrome.” Listened to Alicia and Natalie on a Mastering the Knits Podcast talk about socks and yarn and more socks and felt inspired.
Also, my long time friend, E, brought me a Christmas gift. A book –Knit Socks! –shaped like a sock -by Betsy Lee McCarthy
The two books have exclamation marks in their titles. 
Additional References pictured above
-The glare of the Round white OTT light -so I can see on a winter night
– Susan B Anderson “How I Knit My Socks”
Susan’s Blog link
-Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Knitting Rules!
Yarn Harlot link
A couple of weeks ago, my next door neighbor at school put out a call for a poster about reading.
There was to be a state inspection and a visual aid encouraging reading was on the checklist. When I saw her in the hall, I offered a collage of photographs of students reading their favorite books. She was thrilled and one of her students created a large poster with the photos and added some text about the benefits of reading.
It looked good and she told me it was well received by the inspection team. My colleague was pleased. And grateful. I wish I had a photo of the finished poster to include in this post but it is at school.
As a thank you, she brought me this unexpected gift.
She said when she saw them at the store, they reminded her of me. I looked in the mirror and I see the resemblance!
When I saw the smiling face socks, I thought of fellow blogger Stef and her Smile, Kiddo blog. Always on the lookout for smiles.
Here’s a link to a cool post titled What I Like About Me.
Right now the high school students are working on creating images for a positive image campaign so it’s a great post for that theme.
p.s. You can see Twilight, Gregory Crewdson’s book of photographs. If you haven’t seen his movie Brief Encounters about how he makes his photographs, check out the trailer and the film.