Of Tara and Socky Goodness

Okay, I know I owe y'all about a hundred blog posts and I've been writing and writing (mostly in my head but it counts.  No, it does.) (Hush.) but I can't seem to get anything that makes me happy and meets my desire to be deep and meaningful after a year of... navel gazing.  (And not the kind that Sue does, which is DANG entertaining.  Mine is more like reading a dissertation on Lint.)

Anyway, I've decided to jump in right where I am. Today.  Saturday, October 16th with a beautiful soft fire warming my living room, a blustery fall nightfall outside and a completed sock just off the needles.

(Click to embiggen the socky goodness.)

This sock is for a friend of mine named Tara.  Well, no, that's a lie.  This is a sock for ME but it's the Test Sock for my friend Tara because we mostly wear the same size.  On Monday, it will be winging its way to Ohio for my friend to try on.

Tara gets Barb Socks because she's recently discovered the joys of FULF-dom.  Hers was sort of a Purple-Heart-worthy injury because she injured herself while saving her cat from a dog. 

Wait, wait, let's listen to her tell it:

"9 long weeks ago, my boyfriend and his dog came to visit. My new little kitty flipped out and somehow launched herself to the top of an 8 ft (at least) curtain rod. I stepped up on a chair to get her, and when I stepped off the chair, with 20 claws embedded in my torso and several doses of Benadryl in my system combating an allergic reaction to 50+ mosquito bites, I misjudged the location of my foot in relation to the floor and rolled it.  [...] It's going to be a long process from here still BUT I am no longer on crutches, and I am wearing shoes and I am encouraged that at some point in the near future I will have minimal pain. Right? Right!"

People, THIS is the sheer brilliant lunacy that unites most of the people in my life. I feel the need to recognize it by giving her a handmade foot hug. (Plus, I'm trying to make a sock-knitter out of her because I am sneaky like that.) 

Tara, wear this sock (but don't get too attached--it has some issues. I did something funky to the toe decreases but couldn't ever really figure out what it was, and I am not sure if I dropped a stitch and then did something weird to pick it back up.  Something is weird about the cuff.  Also? I had to make it out of two color lots of the same color (Claudia hand-painted yarn, Caribbean Blue flavor) which are VASTLY different.  No, really, look at how different the toe is from the cuff:

)  (Yes, I used a photo in a parenthetical digression.  Just proving that I still have my God-given digression talent.) and think about how it fits:  Should it be longer in the foot but more snug?  Should the heel be slightly smaller or larger? How do you feel about the pattern down the foot? (My daughters HATE that.  I have to eliminate all pattern  once we get to the foot on their socks.) Toe too sharp?  Could be rounder?  What? Wear it inside a shoe for a little bit--now that you're back into shoes.  How does it feel?

Does the sheer softness of the yarn make you want to take it off, put it on the other foot and share the love?  THAT'S the kind of reaction I'm looking for.  If it DOESN'T, then maybe we need to look at alpaca yarn or something even softer...

This is your one-and-only shot to get Barb Socks specifically made for you. (I mean, I may again knit you some socks (although most repeat victims awardees are related to me by blood or marriage) but this will probably be the last time I send you a Test Sock and make you go through a fitting.) Since I can't be there to try a sock on you, you're going to have to be my eyes.  (And just be glad I didn't make you contort yourself to take pictures of your feet, the way I did poor Ei and Tiffany.  I'm refining my process, see?  I'm ever evolving.  At least, I THINK this is evolution...)

Good to be back.