KnittingAlchemy's Hibiscus for Hope Socks

MezzoDiva has gifted me with an invitation to guest author this blog and I’m only too happy to oblige. I’m sure she’s working hard to get ready for her 60K walk/run in September, a Herculean effort for a great cause. I thought I’d share a day in the life of my Hibiscus for Hope socks. I’m knitting them up in Crystal Place Yarns’ Maizy, which is 82% corn fibre and 18% elastic nylon. It’s soft and stretchy and yummy.

MezzoDiva developed this pattern from one by my stitch & bitch buddy, Rebecca, who designed the beautiful Agatha shawl. I fell hard for that one too, MezzoDiva. Anyway, Hibiscus for Hope is the sexiest sock pattern I’ve ever seen with its sensuous angles and its luscious laciness, and I can’t wait to finish mine. Click here to make a donation and receive this pattern.


Hibiscus for Hope Diary: August 10, 2008

Yesterday, my husband and I decided on the spur of the moment to rip up to Jasper for the afternoon. Jasper is four hours away in the Rocky Mountains. It’s been twenty years since we saw Jasper and we were both very excited to be going. The drive up and back afforded me hours of time on my socks. I had one toe done and was keenly working my way up the sock toward the pattern part.

Sixty stitches, round and round on my two circs. The views were stunning and the needles were flying (except when I discovered the hole I made with a yarn over…I’ve been doing a lot of lace work lately…these yarn overs seem to be involuntary…in fact, this is the second perfect little hole I’ve created involuntarily on these socks, but I digress).

There I was, singing along to the radio, knitting away, enjoying the feel and colour and action of every stitch, watching as the prairies turned to foothills, the foothills began to be dotted with small rocks here and there, and suddenly seeing and being in the middle of the mountains. The beauty and sheer size of these rock formations really take your breath away. They remind me that I’m but a small part of this earth. They exude a solid strength and I take great energy from them.

Back to the sock. It was around the time that the prairies turned to foothills that I reached the point in the sock where I could start the patterning. How exciting! When I reached into the Ziploc bag that held the sock accoutrements for the pattern I realized the pattern was sitting on my dining room table at home. Sigh. I had pulled it out of the Ziploc bag the night before to read ahead in the pattern and had forgotten to put it back. In our spontaneous dash out the door I didn’t give it a thought. I had the Ziploc baggie with the wool and partial sock in it. I threw in an extra ball of the yarn because I wouldn’t want to run out. There was paper in the bag but it turned out to be a Movie Gallery print out. Isn’t that the way it goes? Throw in a Crayola “burnt orange” for marking rows and you’ve got the full domestic picture.

Luckily, I brought back-up knitting. I worked on the Victorian lace scarf I’m making for our adopted daughter who lives in Inuvik. In winter, the kids wear their parkas in school all day because the building can’t be heated enough. She’s actually a friend of my daughter’s but we love her too and consider her one of our own. The pattern is “Scarf with a wide and handsome border,” found in Jane Sowerby’s Victorian Lace Today. I’m knitting it with Fiddlesticks JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk in the colour Jade.

In Jasper, we did the stroll down the main drag where all the souvenir shops are and I was a very good girl. The only thing I bought was a pretty bag for my knitting, and it was 50% off. (The Ziploc bags work great but the statement they make really isn’t me.)

After our stroll we had a lovely dinner of rainbow trout before setting off home. The sun behind us lit up the landscape we drove through making the drive home as lovely as the drive up. I continued to knit the scarf until the sun went down.

My Hibiscus for Hope socks’ journey will continue. I may print out a few extra copies of the pattern and place them strategically in both our vehicles, in my purse, in my knitting bag, and anywhere else I may be inspired to look for it the next time I leave it sitting on the dining room table.

Best wishes to you MezzoDiva in your walk, and thanks for championing this important cause.