The Summer of Socks 2007 has been going strong for 3 days now. For once in my life I am prepared for something prior to it happening. I am more than ready to spend 3 whole months knitting socks non-stop. Oh, I’ll probably sneak in a little of finishing the shawl I still owe my mom and a little bit of Stitchdiva’s Sahara sweater. But other than those two, nothing but socks, baby.

I now have enough sock yarn to last 3 months and then some. There is no way I can knit up enough yarn for 53 pairs of socks in 3 months. So there is no fear of running out. It was a major concern for a little while, but it’s well taken of for the moment. But just in case, I have all the major yarn shops that carry my favorite sock yarns bookmarked. I will not run out. In case I get below 10 skeins, I will immediately place an order. I will not have empty needles for one moment.

My needles are ready; I purchased a few old lots of knitting needles on eBay. In most cases, I have 2-3 sets worth of just about any size that I could possibly need. This should save me from wandering double needle syndrome where DPNs mysterious vanish with no trail, no signs, never to be seen again in this lifetime. Does anyone else wonder where the knitting needle black hole is? We really need to get NASA to dedicate one of their satellites to locating this black hole so we can find our knitting needles again.

My knitting bags for socks are packed with everything I could possibly need: scissors, measuring tape, darning needles, a copy of the sock recipe from Knitting Rules by the Yarn Harlot, and a few skeins of sock yarn.

Originally I was going to plan out my sock knitting, have a lineup just like a baseball coach does. After the black sock denial episode, I trashed that idea. If I try to figure out which order I am going to knit all these beautiful sock yarns, I will spend all summer debating with myself instead of knitting socks. In order to avoid this, I have devised a system. I will merely switch back and forth between my worsted weight sock yarns and fingering sock yarns, randomly digging into each basket and pulling out whatever skein my hand comes upon. This way, I will not get burned out on T.F.N (tiny flippin’ needles) socks and I will not get bored to death with plain worsted weight yarn. Simple? Yes, but it’s the only thing I can think of to keep myself for wasting precious knitting time debating what to knit next. If you have any ideas, please feel free to post in the comments. I’m game for ideas to shake these things up.

I’m not going to win prizes for most original sock pattern. At the moment, life is not going to let me take a vacation this summer so I won’t have any great vacation photos to show where my socks have been this summer. I don’t design socks. All I know is a very basic cuff-down, flap heel sock design that I can modify to just about any gauge yarn. It’s a great pattern that I know by heart (thank you, Yarn Harlot) that shows off the lovely handpainted yarns that my stash is full of. I might stand a chance of most socks if I’m very lucky. I can whip out a pair of worsted weight in 4 days, and a pair of fingering weight in 10 days without pushing myself. And yes, I can be extremely competitive when given the right motivation.

On the morning of the SOS, I casted on Fleece Artist Merino Socks in colorway Blue Lagoon. For a few happy hours I considered never knitting with any other sock yarn ever again. I was in love. I thought I knew sock yarn love before this but obiviously I didn't know love. Never have I known sock yarn like this. What a wonderful way to start the summer. It's gonna suck when I run out of my 6 skeins of Fleece Artist unless my stash holds other unknown treasures.

But regardless of winning a prize or getting to knit socks for 12 weeks straight, I am looking forward to see all the beautiful, original socks you knit. I hope to run into you with your traveling socks as you come across my beautiful state of Idaho that I call home. I hope to learn something about the art of sock knitting from you. I hope to be inspired by you. I hope we all have a very good time.

May your needles churn out the most beautiful socks ever known to the human race.