The socks are finished!

And I've started a new pair, even though I wasn't really feeling it.

But first, the socks I've finally managed to finish: I got the Rick socks off the needles and into a cold bath on Wednesday night. It seems like once I was able to get past the frustration of having had to rip out a week's work made the second time around go a whole lot faster. It also helped that I followed the freaking chart. The best thing about those socks, though, is the color. I had no idea when I bought that yarn at Sock Summit (two years ago!) that I would love the color so much. I'm sure it has to do with their being dyed with indigo and other natural dye colors. There's a softness to the colors that I find really appealing. Since I have to send these socks away, I'm determined to have something for myself in this yarn. As soon as I have a few bucks, I'll order some more from the folks at A Verb for Keeping Warm, maybe in DK-weight, and make myself a cowl or a shawl or something. I also like how squishy & soft these socks are after washing and blocking. I think my aunt is really going to love them.

The new socks are Stephanie van der Linden's It's Tea Time, knit from the skein of Sanguine Gryphon Skinny Bugga that I purchased at Sock Summit (actually, all three pairs of socks my mom guilted me into making came from yarn I bought there). The color is Golden Orb Weaver, which I knew I had to buy as I had just seen that cool tapestry at the Art Institute of Chicago at the beginning of that trip. These socks seem to be moving along quickly due to the simple knit/purl patterning and absence of lace and left/right charts. The yarn is knitting up beautifully. One sock has a hint of pooling, but I think it will be alright. There's not much I can do about it anyway. It's not like I'm going to rip back 4" of leg if I don't have to. If I'm especially diligent, I could finish these in less than three weeks and then I can knit whatever I want with NO DEADLINES. Right now, I don't know what that would be, but I'm thinking it will be a new spring sweater for myself.

Anyway, that's all I have for now, Friends. Until next time.

The socks are done. Long knit the socks.

I finished the Elm socks last week and immediately cast on the Rick socks from Sock Innovation. I'm knitting the new socks from A Verb for Keeping Warm Creating sock yarn in color No. 9. The colors are a gorgeous indigo and lovely purple that's knitting up into beautifully mottled socks that I wish were going to be mine, but are probably going to belong to one of my aunts in Japan.

You see, my mother is pretty sneaky. When she was here for a visit last Thanksgiving she asked if I would make her a pair of socks, and I said I'd do it as soon as my Christmas knitting was finished. Then she asked if I would mind making a second pair for my aunt, who just loved the socks my mom had given her (that I had knit for mom). How could I say no to that? Someone who appreciates my knitting definitely gets more.

Anyway, I had happily finished the Elm socks, and happily started the Rick socks, when my mom called to check in. "Oh, I'm working on the second pair, and as soon as they're done, I'll put them in the mail to you."

"Great! Are you making a pair for me?"

I thought I had been making a pair for her. Turns out I was making a pair for each of her sisters, so now I'm on the hook for a third pair of socks. That will probably be knit from Skinny Bugga. That I'd intended to knit up for myself. But I like knitting. I like knitting. I like knitting even better when I get to knit for myself again.

Until next time, Friends.

This week on the needles:

It can't be any surprise that I'm working on a pair of socks now that the Christmas knitting is finished. When my mother was here for Thanksgiving, she asked if I would make another pair of socks for her. She couldn't have had any idea how under-the-gun I was feeling about finishing the gifts on time, but how in the world could I say no to my mother? I couldn't, so the two of us went through my sock yarn stash looking for superwash yarns that suited her taste. We eventually narrowed the choices down to two, but that was where she got stuck. She couldn't decide between a skein of Miss Babs Windsor (sadly, discontinued) in Light Clematis and the two skeins of A Verb for Keeping Warm superwash sock in color No. 9. Her solution? Would I make two pairs of socks? One for her and one for her sister?

So I've gotten started on CookieA's Elm sock, from The Knitter's Book of Socks by Clara Parkes. The nice thing about the pattern is that it's a relatively quick knit, with simple increases and decreases creating the interest on the leg and instep. I've been knitting these socks two-at-a-time, and after just two short weeks I've turned the heels and am nearly finished with the gusset decreases. Depending on how much time I have to work on them, I hope to have them finished by this time next week.

Another thing I have on my needles is the Sea Cucumber draftstopper from a blog called Jurisdiction of Nifty. It's a simple cable pattern knit a very tight gauge that I'm making out of some leftover Cascade 220 I've had in my stash for a long while. I expect to be able to finish it fairly quickly, but the tight gauge is a little rough on my hands, so I work on it intermittently and massage my hands right after.

That's all for tonight, I think. Until next time, Friends.