Sox and Violins!

Sorry -- I couldn't wait to use that headline. First... the Sox!



Yes, you saw that right: I've started knitting my very first sock cuff from a ginormous ball of Opal sock yarn. Another couple of inches and I should be ready for the heel!

I signed up at the last minute for a sock knitting class at Bumble Bee Quiltworks, one of the local yarn shops. The class takes place not too long after our rally class on Sunday mornings, so I have to play Race Against Time (and Sunday drivers) to make it from the rally class in York to home, let the dogs into the house, then burn rubber backing out of the driveway to get up to Waterboro in time. It will be sooooo worth it, though. Knitting socks has been a goal of mine for a while now (regular readers of this blog are no doubt heartily tired of hearing me say, "I really should start to knit socks one of these days...").

The class is small but congenial, and all 6 of us are dog people as well as knitters. I've even had the good luck to meet a Border Collie trainer who is considering giving classes again soon. There's no telling what I wouldn't give to be able to do herding training with my dogs without having to drive several hours! You can be sure that I want this woman to be my new best friend, and that I'll continue to keep in touch with her after the class is done.

Thanks to our fabulous instructor, Jeannie the Soxy Lady (hey, don't blame me. It's on her vanity plate.), I have discovered the existence of 12-inch size 2 circular needles! Although I've overcome any lingering fears of using multiple double-pointed needles, the fact that I can use a circular of the correct size ensures that I'm about to become a veritable sock-knitting machine.

Next week: we turn the heel. Oooooooooh...

And then there are the violins. One violin, actually -- Greg is having his solo violin piece Hardanger premiered in Boston next week. Of course we're going down for the concert. Hardanger could be one of my favorite pieces of Greg's; it's sweet and haunting and very Scandinavian. It was written for "regular" violin, but in a manner meant to recall Hardanger violins with their sympathetic strings. If you've seen the movie "Fargo," you've heard a Hardanger violin being played -- that's the haunting violin sound you hear in all the snow scenes at the beginning of the movie. The violinist who is premiering the piece absolutely loves it, since it gives her plenty of chances to do Paganini-style theatrics.

One more knitting-related thing, though it also has to do with dog rescue:

I have discovered what might be the world's coolest knitting bag.




This is actually a canvas bucket made from recycled boat sails. It's deep enough to hold multiple sock-knitting projects and related notions, and it has pockets all around its circumference. These buckets are made by Safe Haven, a rescue group for Newfoundland dogs up in midcoast Maine. People use them for grooming tools, gardening, and gazillions of other things, but I swear to you, this bucket's true calling is to hold knit stuff. Really -- you need one, and it's all for a very good cause. Email Alexander right now from the site and tell him how many you need for all the knitters you know! After all, Christmas is coming...

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Hardanger violin