These socks are haggis throwing socks

Finally I am bringing you the report on the specialty Scottish-ish socks and their mission. These socks were knitted from Socks That Rock mediumwieght in the Scottish Highlands colorway. I used Knitpicks size 1 circular needles and knitted them both at the same time. They were cast on using a Figure 8 cast on and knitted toe up. The heel was the one as described in the Summer '07 issue of Interweave knits. I did increases in the calf as necessary to accommodate my anatomy. The Thistle cable pattern at the top is from Vogue Stitchionary Volume 2, and the ribbing as tassels were done according to Eunnie Jang's instructions for finishing the Entrelac Socks in the Spring '07 issue of Interweave Knits.



On Saturday, June 16th I attended the St. Andrew's Society Highland Games with La Petite Tricoteuse and The Captain. Long story short, we listened to odd music, ate strange foods, and watched extraordinarily large men hurl heavy objects. The highlight of the athletic competitions was as always the caber toss, an event in which men toss a telephone pole. The Wikipedia article gives a good description and photos of how it's done. Basically, a man leans a 20 foot long 115 pound wooden pole on end against his shoulder. He them picks it up into his cupped hands and tries to heave it end over end. Here is a shot of the caber landing on its end. Remember, the end in the air had just been in the man's hands.
Later in the afternoon was the big event: The ladies' Haggis Hurling competition. This event was the occasion for the socks, and I used them as my athletic intimidation factor. Most of the other women demanded that I remove the specially knitted socks, as they were clearly unfair advantage. Bah! So I made sure to do a sock showing-off dance atop the barrel when I mounted it to hurl the dinner. In case you have no idea, haggis is a Scottish dish. It's basically a savory pudding of sheep innards and oatmeal boiled in the stomach. I find it quite revolting for the eating, and rather disgusting to touch. Throwing a haggis from atop that barrel is probably the best use for it I can think of. Here is a picture of my throw. The Captain did a fine job of capturing the action. My throw was about 39'. Not bad, nor good. But I did get a participant ribbon. I'll have to post that another time.