On Your Mark

Summer of Socks 2007 begins one week from today. Because I have no kitchen and am getting a tetch antsy, and because "a tetch antsy" = "swamped by an OCD-like urge to organize my crap," I pulled out all my sock yarn and laid it out on the table. That's enough to make 26 pairs of socks. I seriously doubt I can knit 26 pairs of socks in 3 months. Six pairs would be more like it. Eight, if I really knit hard.

Which means I am currently engaged in the very pleasant task of shopping my stash for the lucky eight skeins and in debating sock patterns for those eight. I know I want the Dale Baby Ull (upper left corner, turquoise) to be textured, maybe with some kind of cable pattern. I know I want the black and gold Lorna's Laces (top center) knit in plain stockinette, toe up, to make tall socks to wear to football games this fall. (Black and gold are my alma mater's colors.) And, of course, the grey frogged yarn between the Dale and the black and gold LL is intended for Jaywalkers.

Other than that ... ? I'm sort of in the anything goes stage, but I thought I might at least make a couple decisions in advance of next week's official kickoff. I am leaning toward starting with the Koigu (under the L of the Dale) because it's already wound into cakes. Seems like as good a rationale as any for picking the first pair.

My only other knitting goals between now and then are to finish the striped socks (which are behaving themselves now), and the Shedir (which is not).

I did something somewhere I wasn't supposed to do on that Shedir, and now the pattern is all out of whack. There are purls where there should be knits, and knits where there should be purls, and altogether more stitches than I'm supposed to have. I'm going to have to tink back the crown shaping until what's on my needles makes sense again.

In other words, Shedir is in jail. But it can't stay in jail too long, because the woman it's intended for may not have much time left to wear it. So sometime before next Thursday, I'll tink and reknit until it's off the needles and on her head.

In Book News...

I keep forgetting to report that I finished "Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife" by Jane Berdoll. I read this book for what might seem a silly reason: I met the editor, liked her, and wanted to see something she'd edited. This book met that criteria, plus I'm something of a Jane-ophile. (Austen, not Berdoll.)

The book was good. I was initially dazzled by the author's ability to remain true to Austen's style, which couldn't have been easy. As the book dragged on, though, I started to get offended by the liberties taken with Lizzy's character. Casual fans of Pride and Prejudice -- such as those of you who have only been exposed to the story through that thoroughly irritating Keira Knightley film adaptation -- will probably not feel anything near to my irritation over Berdoll's conversion of Lizzy into a foot-stomping, pants-wearing, fiesty romance heroine. But for those of us who know and love the book, the loss of Lizzy's dignity alters the character too far.

In the end, though, the spot-on rendering of Darcy's character and the brilliant echoing of Austen's voice allowed me to like the book. I give it a qualified recommendation for those of you looking for some intelligent but fun summer reading.

After finishing that book, I reached for "Memories of My Melancholy Whores" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a book which has been on my TBR list since before it was available in English. Well, technically, it's more a novella than a book, but it's diminished length didn't diminish my interest in reading it. As expected, it was a lyrical, beautifully written piece, light on plot and heavy on character. I enjoyed every word and feel enriched for having read it. What more could we ask from any story?