20 grams a day

My younger daughter, who covets everything I knit, will turn 15 on Friday. My husband asked her today what she wants for her birthday.

"Socks," she said, her eyes fixed on the Sidewinders on my feet, "nice, warm, cozy, colorful, substantial, long socks."

I thought immediately of the socks on my needles right now, Cherry Hill socks in blues, grays, purples, and aquas with solid blue heels and toes. She'd love those, for sure.

My inner knitter sighed. I've been making great progress on the round-yoked Cat sweater for my older son. I've knit most of the yoke and done some of the duplicate stitch for the yoke pattern. I was just getting into the swing of things, knitting six rounds and then doing some duplicate stitch. A little more knitting, a little more duplicate stitch.

Instead, I picked up the socks. The blue heels and toes, along with blue ribbing at the top of the sock, are meant to stretch this skein of sock yarn to make extra long socks. I figured I'd used about half the yarn, maybe a bit more.

I picked up the socks and started knitting. I knit between exercise sets. I knit in odd moments during the afternoon. I knit while my children listened to Teaching Company calculus and science lectures. I knit after dinner, listening to Says You on the radio. I knit as we watched the latest installment of the BBC Planet Earth mini series.

Early in the day, I weighed the two balls I was using to knit the socks. Before I packed them away for the night, I weighed them again. Each ball was 10 grams lighter.
I have about 20 grams per sock to go, plus the top ribbing in blue.

If I do nothing but knit, I should have the socks done by Wednesday. Even if I live my life along the way, I should still be able to finish the socks for Ms. Sock Magnet's birthday.