Chatter about my Sockdown socks

I'm trying to finish up a pair of socks I started for Sockdown 5 on the Sock Knitters Anonymous group on Ravelry. It's going pretty well. The challenge for this month is to knit a pair of socks in a chartreuse color. The challenge also has a second option where you can knit a sock from a particular designer. One of those designers is Cailyn Meyer, and I'm knitting her Glass Slippers pattern for a size 8 foot. The socks are going to be the first pair I'm knitting for my grandmother.

My goal was to have one whole sock done by the 15th of the month so I could start the next sock and finish it by the end of the month. I'm on the heel flap of the second sock now, and if I work pretty hard on the second sock, it should be done by Oct. 3, three days later than I was hoping.

I'm really enjoying the pattern. Usually I dread knitting a second sock, but the construction is diverse enough that I forgot about the pain of the endless twists and seed stitch in the leg by the time I got to the mind-numbing stockinette in the foot and toe. I messed up a stitch count by the time I got to the foot chart on the first sock, so hopefully the blunder will correct itself in the second sock.

My ultimate goal is to finish a challenge. Usually I start a pair of socks for Sockdown and then get sick of them halfway through the second sock, put them down for months, and then pick them up again when the challenge has already expired. If I finish within the next week or so, it'll be my very first finished Sockdown!

Between working at nights now and not really getting that many hours at my other job, I've had plenty of time during the day to knit. I usually try to wake up with my husband around 9 or 10 a.m., eat something small for breakfast or have a cup of tea, go for a run, and knit until it's time to go to work. I like watching movies and old-ish TV shows on Netflix (my husband and I don't have cable... not worth paying for it.) All six seasons of Lost are on Netflix streaming, so that's my latest semi-obsession. It reminds me of a daytime soap opera. I typically have time to knit after work as well.

I'm a slow knitter, so a pair of socks in a month is quite an accomplishment. I don't know how some knitters do a "52-pair plunge" and knit a pair of socks a week. That's pure insanity.

Next, I'll outline my knitting goals for the end of the year, and some things I want to accomplish next year.