On Borrowed Time

The postman has come and gone for today and I am safe for another 24 hours. I must use that precious (knitting) time wisely as the stitches I am making now may be my last.

For those not familiar with Sock Wars it is a bloody fight-to-the death competition waged across the globe by fearless warriors armed with nothing more than pointy sticks and string. Those brave enough to sign on for the current battle received the previously top-secret pattern early Saturday morning along with the name and address of their first "target". The object is to knit said target a pair of socks according to the pattern and mail them off before being "assassinated" by someone else. Those killed off in the first round must then mail their socks and target to their own assassin for round two. Last one still barefoot is the winner.

Of course, those competing come from all walks of life and some are taking the little contest more seriously than others. The only relative certainty was that, barring a very speedy knitter willing to hand-deliver socks to Waterloo (or spring for Fed Ex) there was little chance of receiving anything before today. My killer has been eerily silent thus far, and I have no knowledge whereof my death socks will come. I do know that there are several competitors living in the Netherlands, so it is very likely that they don't have far to go.

As for the crafting and delivery of my own weapon, progress thus far has been slow. While many sock warriors planned to spend the entire weekend diligently knitting, I had several factors working against me doing the same.
1 - A beautiful, sunny weekend after a long and rainy week.
2- Three small children chomping at the bit to get outside after rain, school, and stomach virus had kept them in.
3 - A work-weary husband also eager to spend some quality family time.

Fortunately for me, our weekend destinations required quite a bit of driving and I managed to all but finish my first sock traveling as a passenger to Aachen, Germany on Saturday (further fueled by the Starbucks they have there!) and to Bellewaerde Amusement Park on Sunday (with some additional insomnia-induced knitting early Sunday morning - thanks AGAIN Starbucks!).


Now I need to cast on the second sock and, as Brenda Dayne would say "knit like the wind." My target can sleep soundly for another night.