Cause for celebration ..... or not?

I was lucky enough to pick up four Socks That Rock Rare Gems skeins at the start of the year (see here), and they had been languishing in my stash ever since. So in order to celebrate getting a temporary job (hey, when you're unemployed, even a days work is good news), I decided to celebrate by casting on a special pair of socks. The job fizzled out, but the socks turned out much better than I had hoped.

Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock Lightweight - Water
Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder
Duration: Started 28th August 2010 - Completed 1st October 2010

The colourway of this particular Rare Gem didn't initially appeal to me, but I'm really happy with how these turned out. Apart from some pooling on sock number one, the textured pattern really brings out the best of these colours. I'll definitely be using this pattern again for some of my other Socks That Rock skeins.

In other news, I had to redo the Smooshy Winter Gloves I made for my mother. It turns out that Sanguine Gryphon Bugga stretches a lot, and the pair I made for my mother's smallish hands now fit my father's giant sized ones!

Yarn: Sanguine Gryphon Bugga - David Attenborough

Pattern: Fingerless Gloves - One Pattern Three Looks by Clare Vallans

Duration: Started 8th October 2010 - Completed 15th October 2010

Modifications: Cast on 50 stitches instead of the 60 the pattern calls for. This way when they stretch, they'll actually end up being the perfect size.

Other than these, I've actually been working on some of my old WIP's, tyring to finish them so that I can start on Christmas knitting with a clear conscience. (I figure I might as well actually finish my niece's jumper while she can still fit into it.) We'll just ignore the little slip up I might've had with the latest installment of The Loopy Ewe sock club. Brown is not really my colour, but somehow before I knew it, this had happened....

Oops!

Father's Day Socks

Recently, my father who has always picked on me for knitting, decided that he wanted to see what all the fuss was about regarding hand knit socks.

When presented with such a perfect opportunity to convert him to the dark side (so to speak), how could I resist?

So I decided to knit him a pair of socks for Father's Day. Given that my father has huge, giant sized feet, I decided to use the Yarn Harlot's Earl Grey socks pattern, hoping and praying throughout the whole time I was knitting them, that they would fit.

Yarn: Patonyle - Grey
Pattern: Earl Grey by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Duration: Started 14th June 2010 - Completed 5th September 2010

I did my usual last minute rush on these, actually finishing them half an hour before my dad woke up on Father's Day. Talk about cutting it fine!

When I gifted these to my dad he was very happy to finally have his very own pair of hand knitted socks, and has already placed a request for another pair! The socks were pronounced as being "comfy", which coming from my dad is high praise. Having socks custom made for him means that he gets a perfect fit around the heel, which is something he doesn't get with store bought socks.

So now that these are over and done with, it's time to start knitting another pair for him for Christmas. Time to get started on all of the other Christmas knitting as well!