Not A Treeskirt*

Today is La Mamacita's birthday. I remembered this happy fact last Thursday and ran right out to the LYS to pick up some sock yarn. I was still desperately wanting to knit with the Regia Silk that I purchased earlier (but haven't yet gotten around to). What with all my other UFOs, that really isn't a big surprise there.

Fortuately for me, I knew exactly what yarn I wanted to use for Mom's birthday treeskirt socks: Regia Silk in a pretty, deep blue color. Also fortunately, I already had a pattern picked out: Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt, from Favorite Socks.

I cast on as soon as I got home. I only had 6 days to knit a pair of socks after all, and I am not the most monogamous of knitters. The first sock literally fell off the needles. It was finished in two days. The second sock took a bit longer. By about the middle of the foot I was ready to jab my eyes out with a dpn because I wanted to knit on something else really badly. But, Mom's birthday was just around the corner. I persevered.

There are two things I like a lot about this pattern. One: the pattern is easy to memorize and follow. Two: every row is patterned, so there isn't an oh-my-goodness-I'm-so-bored-knit-all-stitches-second-round syndrome.

There's no way I could have knit these in secret. It's summer, I knit while I watch TV, and I watch TV in the sewing room breakfast room, which happens to have all of Mom's sewing implements of destruction. Mom wandered into the sewing breakfast room a couple of hours into the sock marathon and said, "Ooo! Those are pretty! Are they for you?" To which I replied, "Yes."

She believed me. Bwehehehe! The first stage of gifting a treeskirt* is to convince the giftee that the gift is either A) not for them or B) something else entirely.

I knit furiously. I spent a greater-than-normal amount of time sitting still and knitting all day. After one session I had back spasms from sitting too much. That was fun! They didn't last long, fortunately.

Pattern: Embossed Leaves, by Mona Schmidt
Yarn: Regia Silk
Gauge: 7.5 spi
Needles: Fiddlesticks US 3 dpn
Start Date: Thursday, July 19, 2007
End Date: Wednesday, July 25, 2007
(6 days for a pair of socks. Not bad! I would've been done sooner, but I took a day off to hang out with some amigos.)

*Treeskirt Story: For Christmas/birthday present many many moons ago, Mom made a beautiful gold Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) dress for my older sister, CMR. Little CMR innocently asked, "Mommy, what are you making?" Sly Mommy answered, "It's a treeskirt, to keep the Christmas tree leaves from landing on the carpet." Little CMR was convinced and wandered away. At present-opening time, CMR opened a big box from the parental unit to discover the gold treeskirt! As I understand it, it took some explanation for CMR to understand that the "treeskirt" was just a cover story so CMR would be surprised by the Belle dress.