Finished: Mini Monkeys

These were finished last night, but too late to do a proper photo shoot or post about them.

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. (winter 2006 Knitty)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (80% superwash wool, 20% nylon), colorway 104/Uptown, one skein (yes, one!)
Needles: two US 1 (2.5 mm) 12" Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: June 3/June 5
Recipient: My Sockapalooza 4 pal
Mods: Shortened leg by only doing two repeats of lace pattern instead of six

Before anyone (ahem) suggests that I'm cheating by knitting another pair of ankle socks, I must tell you that my pal specifically requested crew-length socks. She also said she liked bright colors, but other than that she gave no specific requests or requirements. This yarn had been marinating in my stash for more than a year, as it was purchased along with the yarn for the Mother's Day socks of last year. It was definitely an impulse purchase on my part, as I had no particular pattern in mind for it at the time; clearly, in the time since, it hasn't called out to me to be knit. When my pal mentioned bright colors, I knew it would be perfect.

I selected this pattern chiefly because I wanted to knit another pair, having loved the quickness of it the first time around. I thought that this particular colorway wouldn't compete too much with the pattern and, aside from a tiny bit of pooling around the ankles, it worked quite well and striped ever so subtly:

You can see in this photo how well the color changes worked with the lace pattern:

Amazingly, I managed to get both socks out of one skein of yarn, with only a tiny skeinette of yarn left over of the size that I normally include in sock swaps for future repairs. So, I have a skein left, and since my pal's feet are fortuitously exactly the same length as my feet, that means I can use the remaining skein to make a pair of similar socks for myself.

Finally, J requested I post this shot as a reminder to all of you who might be swimming this summer:

Vacation Sock Count: five socks completed