Sock Mania Begins

I've joined Sock A Month Knit Along 4. This will be my very first hand knitting KAL. In a former life (before the shop) I used to host KAL's for an email discussion group devoted to machine knitting. They were a lot of fun and I kind of miss the camaraderie and fellowship one gets from an internet KAL. However, my KAL's didn't have nearly as many members as SAM4 does, nor did we have a blog. Blogs didn't exist back then. This will be an interesting experience. It will also help to encourage me to use up some of that huge sock yarn stash I've got.

For my first pair of socks, I intend to finish my Monkey Sock pair. I've got the second one cast on and started. In true obsessive tradition, I've already been thinking about what I'll make after it's done. I'm thinking about the manly yarn I bought Monday. I want to make a pair of socks for Christmas for a certain male in my life. But then again--there's all those dozens of other sock patterns I've been dying to try--and all that hand painted sock yarn, and the Opal I bought last month... I'm hopeless......

I've got Knitwits this afternoon, which brings me to my next story. The Knitwits depend on charity for our yarn. Most of the members are elderly folks on fixed incomes who can't afford to be buying a lot of yarn. The local drug store in Rathdrum has had a whole bunch of furry novelty yarns on clearance for well over a year. It hasn't been selling, and I know a lot of Knitwits who love to make scarves for the cause. So I approached the craft dept manager a few weeks ago and offered to buy the whole kit and kaboodle for a small, but I thought fair, price. I'd get yarn for Knitwits, and they'd get at least some for the yarn plus they could deduct the difference (between retail and what I bought it for) as a charitable deduction. However, the manager didn't see it that way. She saw it as losing a lot of money on that 'very expensive yarn'.

I know retail, and how it works. So I decided to just wait, bide my time. Let the yarn sit there for another year collecting dust and ask again. I did not need to wait that long. I popped into the store yesterday to pick up a prescription and all that scrumptious yarn was on clearance for 75% off the marked price-which was the original clearance price of half off. In other words, less than 50 cents a skein. The boss must have decided he was tired of seeing all the fuzz taking up valuable shelf space that could be devoted to stuff that actually sells. I got all that wonderful soft furry yarn for 20 bucks! That's way less than I offered for it originally. I ended up with a better deal, and got what I wanted. Heh heh....Talk about a great high! I am so excited about taking the yarn to the meeting today.

I will be working on the yellow Pea Pod cardigan.

Have a great day.