July KAL: Toe Up Sock

The Third Knit Along (KAL) for 2013 starts next Thursday, July 4th. Michelle Hunter of KnitPurlHunter is doing a Summer Rerun of a favorite KAL, a toe up sock project that she has named "Center of Attention."

This design uses Trekking XXL sock yarn in the color "Susanne." Skacel, the distributor of this yarn, donates $10 to the Marsha Rivkin Center for Ovarian Cancer Research for every skein of "Susanne" that is purchased. Needle size for the sock design is US #1 (2.5mm) or size necessary to achieve a gauge of 8 stitches per inch in stockinette. The pattern may be knit with double points, two circular needles, or the magic loop method. Sizing will be for adult medium or large.

Michelle will post the first week of the KAL on her website next Thursday and then each stage of the KAL will appear on the successive Thursdays in July. A Knit Along is a neat way to encourage yourself to knit daily. You will have a goal each week of finishing a section of the knitting. Then you wait for the next post and, presto, pretty soon it is the end of the month and you are done!

Now, here's a really cool thing about this Knit Along. Because the KAL is a repeat, you get to see the socks. Go to Michelle Hunter's designer page on Ravelry. There you will find a photo of the sock design and you will see that there are three cables that climb up the center of the sock. These lines of cables are the "center of attention." Very clever.

Keep in mind that these cables might get lost in a multicolor sock yarn. If you are thinking of doing the Knit Along in another yarn, just be aware of the cable interest in this design and be thinking of using a more solid color yarn if you want the cables to stand out.

• Click HERE to go to the Knit Along directions page.
• Click HERE to go to our website to order Susanne. Any order that includes a skein of Susanne will ship for FREE from now through Monday, July 8th, so see if you want anything else from Graywood and we'll be happy to process your order.
• Click HERE to see Trekking XXL Tweed, another yarn that would show off the cables. 

I hope you can join the Knit Along in July. If you've made more than enough socks for your drawer, then consider making this pair to donate to a good cause or knit a pair for a holiday gift.

Happy knitting,

Wanda

P.S. I counted up the colors of sock yarn that we have on our website one day this week and stopped counting when the number went beyond 60. We carry twenty colors of CoBaSi, the non-wool sock yarn that is great for warm weather knitting, and I just added eight new colors of Trekking XXL today.

A Pause in the Blog

Dear Graywood Knits blog readers,

I want to let you know, in a few words, that I have been away from the Graywood Designs website and Graywood Knits blog for almost two months now, due to the death of my father, Stanley C. F. Hayes, in early May. Dad died on May 6th, a Monday, and the funeral was the following Saturday.

I am one of seven children and we all made it home to Wisconsin to be at Dad's side in those last few days. Dad had just turned 92 and was living alone, but with daily assistance for personal care and meals. We are fortunate to have had him through all of these years.

Some of you know that I write a daily blog that has been focused on my Dad. Since January of 2010, Dad received a daily email with the blog post. I would write a bit about something that I thought he might enjoy reading about, and I always included a photo. It was my way of staying in touch with him, even though I am in Michigan and he lived in Wisconsin.

You can find those posts at the blog, "From Under The Willow." In these days after Dad's death, I am still writing the Willow Blog. I am not sure where it will take me, but the daily discipline of putting words together with photography is an enriching experience.

I can testify, too, to the comfort of knitting in the midst of sorrow. I knit several baby hats during my weeks in Wisconsin and kept a summer scarf design on my needles. There have been several weeks in June now when I laid knitting aside in favor of gardening and art journaling. But the knitting always beckons and soothes.

Just the other night I took another hat off of the needles and worked in the ends. It's good to get done with a knitting project and move on to something new. I'm waiting for that "moving on" time as I grieve for my father. Knitting, I can finish. This weight of emotion moves more slowly.

So, I am back at the blog. There is a new Knit Along coming up on July 4th. That's what the next post will be about.

Again, thanks for following my knitting endeavors. I hope you will look at the website and, gee, maybe even place and order now and then.

Regards,

Wanda