ODD SOCKS

As a brand new sock knitter, I am intrigued about socks, of course -- their colors, construction and other properties. But, even as a professional writer, it never occurred to me that socks tell stories. I was wrong.

I was invited to a book launch a week or so ago, and the name of the book is 'Odd Socks.' How could I not go? Written by a local 'Spoken Word' performer by the name of Missie Peterson, it is a small book of poetry -- all about socks.

Missie's thesis was that we all have a sock story ... so she interviewed people she knew to get their sock stories, and then wrote poems about those stories. So, for example, we have...

In the aftermath of first time
To third base
And spending the night at her place
Secretly
And scrabbling at sunrise to dress in the dark
And sneak away
Breathless and triumphant through automatic sprinklers
To the bus stop
The thought finally occurs that
The socks on your feet
Are not yours.

The book launch was totally fun, too! There were sock displays...


And sock photos ...

And there was sock art...


And sock stories...


And then there was a table set up with several plain white tube socks and a huge pile of embellishments, and folks were invited to get creative -- presided over by Missie herself. (I couldn't get near the table, it was swamped all night!)

It was a fun evening, and you can find out more about 'Odd Socks' at Missie's website.

Meanwhile, back at the knitting, I'm STILL not done my 'weekend project,' but it's coming off the needles TODAY, I swear. And I'm on my way out to the Beacon Yarn Cabin in Sidney this morning to kick off our local version of the Knitting Olympics! My goal? A Michael-sized pair of socks!