Eight Maids a-Milking

On the eighth day of Christmas,

my true love sent to me -

Eight maids a-milking,

Seven swans a-swimming,

Six geese a-laying,

Five golden rings,

Four calling birds,

Three French hens,

Two turtle doves,

And a partridge in a pear tree.

And what did I do? I finished a second UFO, the Mystery Socks that Kirsten Kapur (Through the Loops) designed for Lolly's Socktoberfest IV. Througout October a new clue was posted weekly and I was able to keep up all the way through. I even worked on the second sock each week. But, when it looked like the pattern was not showing up well in a dark purple yarn I lost enthusiasm and set them aside.

I really didn't want to frog such a lovely pattern, and even more so after knitting my favorite heel - the Eye of Partridge, isn't it pretty? So, I picked them up for the Twelve Days of Christmas UFO challenge. As I approached the toe on the second sock I had my own little surprise......I ran out of yarn! Fortunately, I had one skein of multi-colored Koigu with a little purple in it and saw that it would complement the solid purple Koigu of the sock.

Pattern: TTL Mystery Sock by Kristen Kapur

Yarn: 2 skeins purple Koigu (ran short) + multi-colored Koigu for toe

Needles: 2.5mm metal Knitpicks

Soctoberfest Mystery Sock ~ Clue #2

I finished Clue #2 of the Soctoberfest Mystery Sock close to midnight last night. Before I called it a night I checked to see if the next clue was up on the Through the Loops site and it was.

Cables combined with lace proved to be quite a challenge for me. I dropped several yarnovers and had to knit back to fix them. Cables are so much easier to fix when you make a mistake and I will take them over lace any day! I had to switch to my Knitpicks ultra sharp dpns to knit this pattern. I made it through though, although it consumed much of my knitting time this week and there was not much sweater progress.

Off to start Clue #3.

Socktoberfest 2008

Lolly kicked off SocktoberFest IV last week. In past years I have turned out multitudes of socks during the month of October to celebrate; however this year I am limiting myself to only one pair. My sock drawer is full and I've decided that I need to limit my sock knitting.


I thought long and hard about what to knit for Soctoberfest.....that is, until I read that Kristy, of Through the Loops, was going to design a mystery sock in honor of Soctoberfest IV and release the instructions in installments. I immediately downloaded the first clue and knit the Mystery Cuff last week.

I think purple complements the Socktoberfest theme so I'm using some purple Koigu from my stash.

A new clue will come out each Wednesday. Since I want a completed pair by the end of the month I've opted for the two-socks-two-circs method. This is not my preference since I loathe the dreaded thread tangle.


If you are interested, head on over to Ravelry and join the Fans of Through the Loops group! I'm off to start knitting Clue 2!