How I Do That

Several people have asked me how I knit so many socks each month, along with knitting items for charity and hand quilting doll and full sized quilts and reading a minimum of 100 books a year. (You can find links to my other blogs where I talk about these other projects on the sidebar.)

Here's how I can accomplish so much:

1. I only work two days a week. My husband is retired and he does a lot of the cleaning, errand running, and cooking.

2. I am in relatively good health. I don't have arthritis or back problems or any other chronic medical condition which limits me or causes pain.

3. My four children are all grown and on their own, but I don't have any grandchildren yet to keep me occupied.

4. I get up between 4:30 am and 6:00 am every morning. Obviously I am a morning person. I organize my day so that I'm doing work I have to concentrate on mid-morning, when I'm most alert and energetic. I alternate doing something physical (raking leaves, doing house work or yard work, going to the gym or for a walk) with my sitting down projects throughout the day.

5. My strongest personality trait is persistence. I don't give up. I set high goals for myself.

6. I'm flexible. If a project isn't turning out the way I want it to, if I can't afford to buy the materials or tools I need for a project, or if I come across a project I just *have* to do now, I'll change my plans.

7. I am a list maker. I make lists of what I want to do each day, each week, and each month. I don't always get everything accomplished, but the lists help keep me focused.

8. I'm careful about how I commit my time. I work two days a week as a librarian and archivist at a university library and one morning a week volunteering, accepting consignments at a thrift shop which uses the proceeds for scholarships. I joined a quilt guild for a while, but I realized their focus was on art quilts while I prefer traditional quilts. It was not a good fit for me and so I dropped it.

9. I document what I do in these blogs. This way I can see what I've accomplished. It encourages me to do more.

10. I have fun! That's really the whole point, isn't it?

Slate Socks

Needles: 2.75 dpn
Yarn: Fannie's Fingering Weight 400 yards 4 ounces, 80% merino, 20% nylon. Colorway: Slate
Pattern: Plain stockinette over 52 stitches

Cranberry Socks

Needles: 2.75 dpn
Yarn: 70% merino wool 30% silk; 430 yards. Colorway: Ruby Lips. From The March Hare on Etsy.
Pattern: Autumn Lace.

Fairy Glen Baby Socks

Yarn: Unknown
Needles: 3.25 dpn
Stitch pattern:
Rnd 1: *sl1, k2, psso, p2*
Rnd 2: *k1, yo, k1, p2*
Rnds 3 and 4: *k3,p2*

Done over 40 stitches

Blazing Woods Socks

Needles: 3.25 dpn
Yarn: 100% superwash merino 2 ply wool; 100 gms/440 yds from SeeJayneKnits on Etsy. Colorway: Autumn Blaze
Pattern: Plain stockinette

I had to start this sock several times because I was having a problem with colors pooling. Using 3.25 needles and doing K2, P2 ribbing over 60 stitches, did the trick.

More Sock Yarn!

I just saw that I've won some sock yarn from Sock a Month. It's gorgeous! I can hardly wait to receive it so that I can fondle it and let it tell me what kind of socks it wants to be.