Gone Clubbing

The wine industry regularly markets "wine clubs" to those winery customers who are (as the marketers would say) highly involved in the category. Generally, this means they want the scoop. The story. How the vineyards are doing. Did the grapes get enough sun and cool nights? It's all about origin and scarcity. Wine Club members have two bottles of an exclusive vintage delivered to their home each month along with tasting notes and perhaps a recipe from Chef. I became intrigued when so many yarn retailers started "sock of the month clubs" but was very interested in the infamous Rockin Sock Club from Socks That Rock. So, in the interest of consumer research (clearing throat loudly) - I signed up. The first shipment came this week and I must say, it appears to be a very well thought out program. Here is the "exclusive" colourway for the first shipment. It's called Monsoon. I've taken the picture outside to truly show the beautiful charcoals blending into moss green. It's military but much richer than normal camouflage colours.

The binder is branded nicely and contains a welcome letter describing the theme for this year's club which is "celebrating the foot". Facts and figures about feet in general and the beating they take on our behalf. So far so good - this is the detail highly involved consumers go for. The pattern is nice. It's a reversible sock - the toe and heel are garter stitch. The leg is a reversible ribbing. I'm eager to start this sock. I'm a bit of a "sock virgin" having only knit one pair of Regia self-striping socks 6 years ago. I gave them to a friend as a last minute birthday gift so I've never worn a pair of hand-knit socks myself.

I was planning to liberate my rosewood double points from this Opal sock using Wendy's toe-up pattern. I started it about 5 years ago and then stopped before the short row heel. I've discovered that I often abandon projects when I'm nearing a point where I have to do something I've not done before. If I'm feeling bold - I go ahead but if I'm not in the right mood, I put it down. There's no comparing the STR with the Opal for tactile stimulation so rather than bash away at the Opal sock, I picked up a second set of dpns from Crystal Palace from Julie today. My ball winder and I have a hot date planned for tomorrow.

Poppy continues to rock into the home stretch. In my never-ending quest to seek out new ways to show you my knitting - I present Poppy sleeve 2 with Cabernet Sauvignon. Let's face it. EVERYTHING goes better with wine and luxury fibre.