Socks, coming and going

At last, I'm finished with my sockapal2za socks! There were several crises along the way: the toe came out oddly the first time I worked it up, the heel increases didn't lie well at all, and the second attempt at working the toe out was worse. All problems on my end, sadly. This pattern (Sideways Sox Supreme) is one where it pays to read the directions and not think you can go galavanting off and do your own thing. Regardless of hiccups, knitting a sock from side to side was really interesting. What's on the needles doesn't look like a sock at all for the longest time and then, suddenly, a heel appears. After that the sock is almost done, which threw me for a loop timing wise.

Here's one sock before seaming...









...and the completed pair:









Specs

Pattern: Sideways Sox Supreme by Liz Clouthier of Pig Dog Farm, found in Socks, Socks, Socks
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock
Colorway: Old Rose
Modifications: I used stockingette on the back of the heel and bottom of the foot instead of continuing the seed stitch bands across so they would be more comfortable with shoes. Also used the Alternative Toe instead of cinching up the stitches at the toe - again, so they would be more comfortable and hopefully fit better.
Knit up on two size 2 Crystal Palace bamboo circular needles. I am now ready to get rid of these needles forever - the join drove me insane the whole time I was knitting these up. Otherwise they were a fun knit and really did justice to the colorway.

The color in the first picture is much too dark, but the second picture looks much more intense than this colorway. Old Rose is really difficult to photograph properly. It has a lot of deep rose tones with deep greens and the occasional bit of golden peeking through here and there and is just lovely to look at. Now off to mail these to my sock pal. I hope she likes them!

Look what showed up on my patio today! My very own socks, knit up by Julia Kalow, a sophomore at Columbia University. Once I saw yarn in the box I yelped and pulled them onto my feet immediately. So soft! I love the colors as well - beautiful purples, blues and some rose in there as well. Ah, hand painted yarn. My one big weakness. After admiring the socks for a while (and an awed "so soft, mommy!" from my youngest) I learned why they were so soft...these socks were made from Schaefer Anne, a yarn with 25% mohair. I see these getting a lot of use as I curl up, knitting something else and sip tea with a wee bit of milk. Pure luxury. Julia doesn't have a blog, so I'm adding another picture to show off just how lovely these socks are:

This shows the colors a bit better. Isn't it beautiful? The pattern is "Lacy Scallops" by Sockbug, one I think I'll have to make up on my own sometime soon.

Thank you, Julia! I love my socks :-)





Last, a picture of my sky for Sandy. It's a hot, slightly windy day in Diamond Bar, California. This picture was taken as I looked up from my patio at 3:00 this afternoon. You can't really tell, but the branches were waving around quite a bit. The boys ran around playing tag and picking flowers "for you!" while I tried to get a decent picture. Nice way to spend an afternoon!