'Socks' is a 5-Letter Word

• Posted on 13 July 2022
• 0

Like so many others, I've been swept up in the "WORDLE" craze. But unlike the rest of the non-maker world, I've found a way to include my other addiction - knitting (of course) - in my daily brain exercise.

6 chances to make an educated guess at what 5-letter word the New York Times is thinking of?  At first, I didn't get the hoopla.  Why would I want to do a puzzle rather than knit?!  I resisted, while my kids, favorite celebrities, people on the Today Show, . . . pretty much everyone else dove in head first to this new daily brain teaser.  But alas, as with many other current crazes, I took the bait.  And actually found I was kinda good at it.  Have never gotten the word of the day on the first try, but have gotten it on the second guess a half dozen times, and only missed it once.  Go figure - the word was 'Lager', and I do like my beer.  Jay and I discovered that it's even more fun when you do it together.  On our recent anniversary trip to Hawaii, we'd pass the phone back and forth while hanging by the pool.  And it's a great way to endure a traffic jam (while the passenger, at least).  A TV interview with Martha Stewart introduced me to the fun offshoot, Phoodle - 5-letter food related words.  And my daughter Julia is now hooked into Quordle - you have to guess four 5-letter words, and you get nine tries to solve all four.  Kind of like those video poker games in Vegas where you play multiple hands at once.  So far, I haven't gone down the Quordle rabbit hole.  But I do look forward to my daily morning word game.

How, you say, does knitting come in?  Well, in two ways.  The first is that I've let Wordle join my morning routine - piping hot cup of coffee with my dogs (3 of them) cuddled up around me, and latest knitting project in my hands.  Now, my laptop is perched on the coffee table in front of us with the puzzle of the day on the screen, and I contemplate letter combinations as I knit.  The distraction of playing with pretty string actually helps my brain open up to new letter options more easily.

The second is even better, though.  Yarn.  And knitted socks.  Madelinetosh recently created a new colorway - "5-Letter Word."  A white base with pops of neon green, bright yellow and black.  Not my usual fave pink, but pretty none the less.  I snagged a skein of their sock yarn, Twist Light, and am about to start yet another pair of socks during my morning ritual.  And I discovered a lovely little pattern on Ravelry today that perfectly fits the bill.  Summer Lee's "Shorty Sock Set" is a threefer - three fun-to-knit ankle high sock designs in one pattern. 

So there you have it.  All my favorite things rolled into one - knitting, knitting socks, snuggling with my puppies, and the solitude of first thing in the morning.  Now with a little mental calisthenics each day.