Sock Death to Come Soon

I just received an email from my assassin in Sock Wars. She is on my second sock. At least I got one "kill" in before my demise. Maybe if my victim's unfinished socks get to me before my socks arrive, I can knock someone else off. It sounds like my target was almost done with her pair. Or maybe I'll get lucky and the Tooth Fairy will be knocked off and I will get a brief postage repreive. It figures that I would get killed by a fairy. My rennie character is deathly allergic to them. My assassin's relative went to Austraila and brought back yarn. My socks my be made from it, so even though both of us are in the US it will still be an international event.

Hey Marilyn and Sue, see I did update my blog.

The First Victim

I've gotten the first pair of socks done for Sock Wars and I have my victim with their email. Due to a hurricane and other things, I don't have an address where to send them. So Hollyspinner should you be reading this, please kindly send me your mailing address. They were ready to be mailed on Saturday. Come Monday morning, post offices around the world are going to start to wonder at all of the socks being sent off. In the meantime, I'm resting my hands. They didn't hurt when I took my nap. They sure did when I woke up. People tried to warn me that would happen, especially after my Olympic experience.

I cooked a whole pie pumpkin for the first time. I've cooked squash before, but never whole. My friend Steve K gave me a bunch of pumpkins. This one is going to be a pumpking deluxe cake for my friend Kaylan's birthday. If there is enough, it might also be some pumpkin bread. I need to cook more of the pumpkins down and freeze them for future use.

Tomorrow is Sunday Spinning at other friend Steve's house. I know too many people named Steve. It is the first time we have gotten together since his friend Bill passed away. The spinning group always has a good time. There is lots of food, friends, and fiber.

Sock Wars

The war will begin soon. I've changed my mind several times on which yarn I'm going to use. I don't even know if I can sleep tonight. I can't get started soon enough. I almost feel sorry for the first person I knock out of the event. Maybe they will get a skein of my handspun as a guilt bonus.

All while the sock war is going on, I still need to knit several pairs of socks for other people not in the war, spin and knit a couple of sweaters, finish a couple of sweaters and shawls, and make a couple of blocks for the Post Office Quilt. It is a neat idea. All of 490 and 491 zip codes (southwest Michigan) will be represented. It is going to be raffled off, but I don't know what for. There is going to be a book that the local Post Offices will carry. I get Kalamazoo (they lumped all the zips together) and Hickory Corners. I also found out that they are going to do a second quilt for the Postal Museum in Marshall. I'm in the museum biz, and I didn't know there was a Postal Museum in Marshall. There is a really cool Magic Museum in Marshall.

Speaking of Museum's, this week's event is the Otsego Creative Arts Festival. I'll be there spinning, weather permitting, down by the Otsego Historical Museum or the antique tractors. Right now it doesn't look like the weather is going to co-operate. That's okay if I can't go. It will give me more time to get ready for Cider Time at Historic Bowens Mills over the next four weeks. More on that later after the first victim of Sock Wars.

There was a purpose to this

The main reason I started the blog was so folks would stop asking where my next spinning (that's as in yarn, not the silly name for an exercise)demonstration was. As this is my busy demo season, I might want to start announcements now. The next spinning will be at the Tiller's International Community Harvest Festival. This organization teaches almost lost skills of blacksmithing, horse plowing, and more to anyone, but mainly to take back to less developed nations. They are going to be processing sorghum. I've never seen that done before. I'm already planning on buying some and making cookies.

Sock Wars begin in a week. I almost have my arsenal assembled. I just can't decide on bright obnoxious acrylic or purple cotton. I can't quite get the exact gauge no matter what I try. I have some plans of attack, but I'm not foolish enough to voice them. I just found out there there may be another warrior in my town. I'm told she knits fast, but then the person who told me thinks that most everyone knits fast. The boyfriend is very supportitve of the war. He thinks that it should take awhile before someone kills me, and he thinks I knit fast. He should know fast as his mom knitted fast. I will say one thing to my fellow warriors who might be reading this - I can knit 8 inch long ribbed cuff and a 12 inch long foot sock in one day. Given enough pain killers, you're going down. Bring on your size 11 feet!

I'm Back

I know it has been awhile. Stitches Midwest took some recovery time, and then it was time for the Michigan Fiber Festival. Yep, I spent way too much money. I got these cool light up knitting needles. The don't just light up at the tip like some on the market. The whole needle lights up. I was into exotic, luxury spinning fibers like alpaca, quivit, and cashmere. I also got stuff to do breed samples with. I want to make a blanket or something with all the different types of fiber labeled. I wasn't any better at Michigan Fiber Festival. I got the first place dyed adult mohair fleece. It is a pretty blue ribbon color. I'm going to ply it with a lighter blue. I think it will become a mitered sweater of some sort.

On to the news - I've entered Sock Wars. I probably didn't do enough damage to myself when I was in the Knitting Olympics earlier this year. Folks can sign up until September 8th. If I understand it correctly, you receive information on your target and have to knit and mail a pair of socks to them to "kill" them before the person targeting you sends you a pair of hand knit socks. I have a nice stash of sock yarns so the arsenal is ready. As someone I work with says, if it envolves knitting, competition and killing, it is up your alley. I'm off to finish stuff so I can focus my knitting on socks when the war begins.