A Beginning, a Middle, and an End

I probably should have put the things in the title in the reverse order, because I'm going to start with the end -- I have finished my socks.

Pattern: a variation on my vanilla sock recipe (using a simultaneous heel flap and gusset) worked over 70 stitches
Yarn: ONline Supersocke Cotton Beach Color (45% cotton, 40% wool, 15% nylon) in color 945, one skein
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Sock Rockets, magic loop
Started/Completed: September 5/September 19

I'm glad to have these off the needles. They aren't anything special, and I'm sure they'll be perfectly serviceable socks. As you can probably see on the sock on the bottom in the photo, the spot where I cut out the knot is rather obvious because it not only disrupted the striping sequence, it actually reversed it. So the foot of that sock looks like a reflection of itself. Normally something like that would bother me, but I was so ready to be done with these socks that I really didn't care.

Meanwhile, my Rhinebeck sweater has grown a bit, and as soon as I post this, I'll be pulling it out to finish up the underbust decreases.

Before I put the sweater away last night, I measured the length from the back of the neck -- just to get an idea of how much more there was to do. It looks like I have less than 10 inches left of the body to knit, which really isn't all that much. I know the sleeves are bound to go much faster, given that they're worked in stockinette in the round and don't require me to check two charts every row. I plan to put in some serious time on this sweater this weekend, so I predict that there will be much more of the body the next time you see it.

As to the beginning, I have cast on a new project for my lunchtime knitting. I decided that the design project should probably wait a bit so I can do some proper swatching, so instead I pulled out one of the skeins of yarn that Rainbow bought earlier this year at Indie Knit and Spin that I said I would use to knit her an ear flap hat. I never got around to doing it when it was still winter, so I figured I'd get a head start on it for this coming winter. I haven't gotten very far (this is just one day's worth of knitting), but I think this should come together rather quickly.

This is a worsted weight from Youghiogheny Yarns in a colorway called Submerged that's very much a colorway I would have chosen for myself. I'm knitting the 1898 Hat, which I knit once before this year and very much liked. It has a clever but easy construction, so it's good for some knitting that's relatively mindless.

The weekend ahead looks fairly restful. Rainbow's got a birthday party on Saturday (which I'm hoping I can get the Mister to take her to so I can get some extra sweater knitting time) and then the Mister and I are running the 5K in the Great Race on Sunday. I expect there will be some naps taken on Sunday afternoon!