Socktoberfest!!

Knitalong is a phenomenon fueled in these modern times by the Internet. And by the community minded spirit that defines knitters and knitting. In days long ago, knitters (and quilters) would gather in local communities to knit for charity, for common causes, for companionship. Now that we have the Internet, knitting has gone completely global.

Non knitters haven't a clue how huge this thing is. It boggles the mind, really. To wit: over 190,000 members on Ravelry.com! International events such as World Wide Knit in Public Day. Books published with the Knitalong theme. Local Meet Up groups dedicated to knitting. Art Events using Knitting as the medium to foster awareness of global issues such as the war and the environment. And thousands of knitting blogs (small sampling to be found on my blog roll), Flickr photos of knitting. Podcasts about knitting! It goes on and on and never ceases to amaze me. And thrill me too, I must admit. I revel in the collaborative/creative/hip/geeky/manic allness of it.

The seeds of all this global knitting were nurtured by Stephanie Pearl McPhee, and her blog Yarn Harlot. She set out to challenge worldwide knitters with the Knitting Olympics and to encourage donations to Doctors Without Borders. And her ideas continue to flow. There are plans, friends, big plans in 2009! But I digress. Again.

One such annual event is Socktoberfest, in which as the name implies, socks get knit in October. To commemorate this event, Kristen Kapur of Through the Loops fame offered up a Mystery Sock pattern. The pattern is doled out in clues throughout the month, and knitters log on to get the latest update and make progress. Sound like fun? Thought so!

I jumped in eyes wide open and ready to take on the challenge. It was complete coincidental serendipity that a skein of gorgeous Madeline Tosh Sock yarn arrived in the mail on October 1. Beautiful Lapis blue, it screamed Mystery Sock to me! It was the motivation I needed to finish up the Hedera socks so I could have two sets of needles available to knit both socks at the same time, from both ends of the skein!

October is going to be a really busy month! Socktoberfest, Rhinebeck, vacation, house cleaning, woodwork stripping (a subject for another time, oy!), and work! Whew.