Timeless Tuesday

I really don't have time for this today! But here goes.
Last week I promised socks, and here they are:

I really consider this the true start of my knitting. Prior to moving to O'ville in late Oct 97, I had been, at some point, to the Toronto Creative Needlework Festival. I was overwhelmed with 'real' yarns. Once in O'ville, I found a small arts supply/gift shop that sold yarn, but I don't think most of it was 'real'--just Patons type stuff. In the spring of 99 I saw an ad in the paper for a "History of hand knitted Socks" lecture/slide show at the county museum. Wow! Other knitters! I knew nothing about knitted socks, really, I could have cared less about knitted socks. But other real life knitters? I had previously joined an internet forum, at the time owned by Delphi I think, which eventually turned into the About.com group of forums. But real live knitters?

So I went :) And shortly after, started a 4 week sock knitting class at the museum. It was wonderful--it's a huge barn like structure, and our group sat in front of the big windows overlooking my new county. I knew nothing about sock yarns and had to purchase these yarns from the teacher (see I couldn't buy just one colour?). The greens were just like the cedar trees in the fields below. The grey was actually grey, cream and green. I learned how to knit circularly with dpn. I started out knitting inside out, LOL. We didn't do a test swatch, gasp, but they did fit. It took longer than 4 weeks to make the pair, and I knew before I was done that I would make more!
I'm not sure if I went to the spring Needlework show, but I think I did. And I might have bought some Koigu (or it might have been that fall). Learning about sock yarns really taught me about using the 'correct' fiber for a project, and the 'correct' weight. I will admit to making my dad a pair of 'socks' in a worsted yarn or maybe even chunky. I knit them tightly, like good socks should be, to some degree, LOL. However, I didn't realize that 'thick' in the world of socks meant DK weight. These socks were like boot liners! I made my brother a pair out of Bernat Aspen, which was so soft, with merino wool. A worsted weight, I don't know why they discontinued it! He really liked them and they eventually fell apart. I really should make him some new ones!

And so, I became a 'real' knitter--using double pointed needles, hand dyed wools, creating my own patterns.
Oh, I see in my brag book a Christmas tree skirt started in March 1999...I really should get that out again...