Woolly Weather

Ever since I learned that I'll be moving to Pennsylvania in January I've been keeping tabs on the weather. Here in So Cal we don't have 'weather'. Or seasons, really. Folks will say we have 'earthquake weather' and there is a 'fire season', but that's about it as far as our climatological descriptions go. This year we've enjoyed an especially protracted summer - it started sometime around September 2007 - and a quick consultation with the 10-day forecast implies that it isn't going to end any time soon. What I find outrageous is that on November 1st it's going to be 80 degrees. 80 degrees. In November. November, people. NOVEMBER!

So I thought I'd put in a call: Um, hello, Mr. Weatherman? Can we have Fall now? You know, Fall? Jewel tone leaves drifting from trees, a slight chill in the air, golden shimmer on the breeze, snuggling under blankets holding steaming mugs filled with mulled something-or-other? Because, you see, I'm moving to Pennsylvania soon and I'd really like to knit myself some toasty wool socks but who wants to knit wool socks when it's bloody 80 degrees outside!? So, Mr. Weatherman, why don't you work on Fall and get back to me. Thanks.

As for the socks, well, I knit them anyway! This was my very first pair of knit socks. Little did I know they would lead to an addiction. My standing as a certified yarn-a-holic having been long established, I now find myself loitering in the sock yarn section of the LYS (that's knit-speak for Local Yarn Shop. Oh, yes, we knitters abbreviate big time!).

Something else we knitters do: we Stash. My stash is contained in a hand-woven basket which overfloweth with what will someday be ear-flap hats (sans tassels, thank you), fluffy scarves, mittens, and now pair upon pair of wool socks. Since finishing the first pair, I've tried to occupy myself with housekeeping but at the end of the day, my hands begin to twitch and I can't walk by the needle jug without wondering if I'd get gauge with the size 3 DPNs or the size 4s. I know. I've got it bad.

According to Mr. Weatherman, the low this week in Kennett Square, PA will be 48. Here in LA the low will be 83. So instead of snuggling under a blanket with a steaming mug of cider, I'm sitting in front of the fan with a sweating glass of iced tea. But I'm knitting socks. Wool socks. On the size 3s. Bring on the weather, baby! Bring on the weather!