Obsession has reached a new level

If you've been reading my blog, you will probably know to what obsession I'm referring. I'll get into specifics in a bit. First, here's this (alluded to in my last post):

Pattern: Gentleman's Fancy Socks, from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential
Needles: US 1 circs (leg and foot) and dpns (heel and toe)
Mods: I did a doubled cast on to make the leg a little stretchier (J doesn't like his socks to be tight around the leg) and also omitted one pattern repeat in the leg because I was worried about running out of yarn. That turned out to be a good move, as I had just enough yarn. There's just a tiny bit left that I can keep for repairs.

So far the verdict is positive on these. J fell asleep in them last night and this morning reported that his feet were nice and toasty. Maybe not what he wanted for this time of year, but come next winter I'm sure they'll be appreciated.

I had several exciting surprises in the mail yesterday. My shipment from Knit Picks finally came, with my Addis for Forecast, another skein of the Essential in the burgundy of J's socks (so I can make a matching one for myself to go with the original attempt), and two skeins of Sock Garden (I think?) in the Morning Glory colorway to replace the two I traded for more Merino Style for Blanche. I also had this lovely package waiting for me:

Doesn't this just look luscious? This is the hand-dyed colon/lycra sock yarn I purchased from the Greenwood Fiberworks Etsy shop. The colorway is called something like Strawberry Milkshake, and trust me, it looks good enough to lick (although that might leave some unwanted fuzzy things on my tongue). It came with a very friendly, handwritten note from Carolyn, thanking me for my purchase and offering me a nice little discount on my next purchase as a thank you. My favorite thing about the packaging was that the yarn was neatly wrapped up in tissue paper (which you can see I mangled in my excitement), sealed with a little sticker reading "Thank Ewe." This woman knows her business, and she clearly knows knitters! I have yet to do anything with this yarn, but I love it already and I know I'll be a repeat customer!

Now, on to my favorite obsession. You guessed it, it's SOCKS. I decided to give both my mother and J's mom the same thing for Mother's Day: a hand-knit pair of socks, made to their specifications in terms of pattern, fiber, and color. I just measured my mom's foot a little bit ago, and showed her some patterns and let her feel some sock yarn. She went right for the good stuff, so it looks like she'll be getting a pair of Pomatomuses in Lorna's. While we were discussing this, my father just casually happened to mentioned that he wouldn't mind a pair of socks either, so I'll be adding another pair of Gentleman's Plain Winter Socks to my list of socks to knit.

In the meantime, I'm nearly done with the leg of my Child's First Sock, which looks nice but strangely doesn't seem to look like the picture in the book (is it possible I'm doing my YOs incorrectly?). I've also finished up the first sleeve of Trellis, and completed a swatch in preparation for Forecast. My WIP list will definitely be undergoing some shuffling this week in terms of priorities.