Tornado Socks

I'm home today with a migraine while the rest of my family is out helping with the tornado damage.  So many people were affected by these tornadoes, so many have lost their homes, so many are without.  It's sad. Overwhelming.  But encouraging, too, now, to see all the people from around the state and even from other states, coming together to help with the clean up and relief efforts.  

I received several emails and messages asking how my family weathered the storms.  I'm so grateful to report that we are all fine.  Two of my married daughters were closer to the tornadoes than I was, but they both were in shelters with their families during the worst of the storm.  It's especially during times like this that wake me up to a new awareness of how precious are my family and loved ones, how fragile is life. And I am thankful, so very thankful.

While my daughters were holing up in storm shelters, we sat in our living room watching the news on TV, following the path of devastation as the tornado worked its way some 40 miles to the east of where we live.  As I watched the news, my hands were busy knitting.  Because of the tense moment, my stitches were tighter than usual and my fingers flew faster. But I finished a pair of partially completed socks that I am dubbing as my "tornado" socks. 

Green Tornado Socks

Pattern: Charade (a free Ravelry download)
Yarn: Bare Sheep 100% merino, fingering 
Needles:  Size 0 (2.0 mm)
 
This next pair of socks was finished last week, and it's the start of a year-long KAL (knit-a-long).  The goal is to knit all 17 pairs of socks from the Soctopus book by the end of October 2014. The Soctopus group on Ravelry is the place to be if you want encouragement and help while knitting the beautiful socks from this book.

 

Pattern:  Totally Vanilla, from the Soctopus book
Yarn:  Felici, from Knit Picks in the color Putty
Needles: Size 1 (2.25 mm)