Objects, finished and begun

The knitting goes on. Years ago, it used to be constant, too, but then I got the Shih Tzus in 1995, and for the first time, I had a dog who found yarn irresistible. I took the path of least resistance, and put things away. That turned out to be, more or less, for about a decade. And when I picked it up again, I rediscovered the zen of knitting.

Now, I twitch if there isn't a project on the needles. This year, apparently, is the year of the sock. I finally tried some self-patterning yarn. After working with wool and silk blend this past winter, I couldn't believe how icky acrylic felt in my hands. But, as with the book ethic (you start it, you finish it) I forced myself through. I wasn't in love with this yarn. But the colors are bright, and the patterns were sort of fun to watch emerge, and these will make a nice enough gift for someone as "house socks. I even have someone in mind.

While the acrylic socks were on the needle, I placed another order with KnitPicks for some more fingering weight sock yarn. I got some of the self-striping merino, and some more of the Essential tweed, this time in a black tweed, which should be really pretty worked up. While I was at it, out of curiosity, I ordered a book on doing two socks at once in the magic loop method, and a 47" inch size 0 circular needle.

Ok, I'm thoroughly in love with these colors, and these are going to be really fun socks. And they're going to be mine! This is inside-out, which is the way they're worked, so you're just seeing the backside of the left-twist faux cabling here, which just looks like ribbing. Aren't these going to be fun to wear? The merino is soft and bouncy. The socks are going to be nice and light weight, but warm. And bright - just the perfect counter for my Goth outfits, right?

Here they are, turned right-side out. It's a simple pattern, with just a little something to amuse your hands every third row. Before they're done, there will be more yarn to order and more socks to look forward to. I'm not sure if I love this technique - I've never been a big fan of playing with multiple balls of yarn at one time, and even though this only involves 2, that does mean a bit of untwisting to tend to, plus an awful lot of arranging cables and socks before beginning each round - and after steaming through a sock every two nights, I'm not sure that this is actually going to deliver me to a complete pair of socks any faster than doing them one at a time, but when I'm done, I'll be done, and I'll have a new pair of socks to put on. I have to say, it's a kick to work with the self-striping stuff, and I can't wait to wear these. Just another reason to hate summer!