so casting on for socks won.

and i knit the first one in 14 hours. which is super fast for me.



i think i was feeling a bit deprived.

it's some joann's sensations soles and more in the pink/grey/purple colorway that my inlaws got me for christmas. 75% wool 25% nylon. it's very nice in general and awesome for inexpensive sock yarn (well, at least i think it's inexpensive. it was a gift so i don't know for sure, but last time i checked joann's doesn't sell $20 sock yarn.) a tidge scratchy, but my feet don’t care….and it’s super warm, which i love. the colors go really well together (very me) and i can’t put the damn things down.

i've always kind of turned my nose up at plain socks in self striping yarn. my first sock was a pair of jaywalkers (that don't really fit well) in fake isle self striping sockotta. after i finished those, self striping yarn didn't really interest me. i think i had a block about it, that should've "moved on" past "easy" socks. besides, i can just buy plain socks. plain socks are boring.

yeah....turns out i love plain socks in self striping yarn. at least i love them when my brain is tired, which definitely was this weekend. my husband got in a car accident the day after christmas. he's fine (thank God) but the car, unfortunately, is not. needless to say i was really glad to have something soothing on the needles that i could just pick up and knit. and since it's terribly entertaining to watch the stripes appear, it made me happier. yes i'm easily amused.

mmmmm eating your words is yummy. :)

i've been on a bit of a podcast binge this month. the hosts of one of my new favorites, the knitmore girls, seem to knit a lot of these "vanilla" socks in self striping yarns. gigi talks about knitting her heels with the other end of self striping sock yarn balls. that way the patterns aren’t interrupted on the top of the foot, which appeals to her “design aesthetic.” :)

i didn't notice the pattern being interrupted on my first stripy socks so i didn't think it would bother me on this one. (i'm not exactly known for my attention to detail) turns out i didn't notice it on my sockotta socks only because the short row heel took exactly one pattern repeat to complete. with these, it's really noticeable (or maybe i'm noticing it because i've been listening to episodes back to back so it's been mentioned a few times). either way i'm going to try that on the next pair.

i've also had time to spin again. i'm 1/2 done with the merino madmoon sent in the cpaag swap.



it's getting easier and easier. i finally have the drafting thing somewhat down...i understand what's supposed to be happening even if i can't always do it, i'm not parking and drafting as much, and things are becoming more even. yay! i'm going to buy an ashford spindle set with some of my christmas money and ordered some fiber from the dizzy sheep the other day. i've definitely come to the dark side. i want my cookies!

otherwise i've just been enjoying not having anything pressing to knit. well, that's not entirely true. i found out on christmas that my SIL baby shower is going to be in the second week of january instead of february/march. my masochistic baby blanket (9 squares from the great american aran afghan) is kind of stalled right now....i burnt myself out doing four squares in a month. i informed her that her big present won't be ready by her shower. i think i'm going to make a ruby sweater to wrap up. or maybe just a hat and socks. we'll see how ambitious i get.