Finished Socks!

My socks for my sockpals are finished - yay!

spring prairie socks in their natural habitat

I'm so happy with the way these turned out - and I think my sockpal will really like them!

Just as a recap: Knitpicks sock memories in spring prairie, Cafe Curtains sock pattern

Now that these are finished, it's time for a new project: some lovely, light, summery cotton just arrived for an Orangina!

This is my first sock exchange (or knitting exchange of any kind), and so far it's been so much fun to watch everyone's progress and learn about so many interesting blogs, gorgeous yarns and fun patterns. Yay for sockapalooza 4!

For some reason, this picture reminds me of France. When I visited Paris, it was springtime and everything was so green and beautiful! All things French have been dominated my life lately - starting to plan for study abroad, the original soundtrack of Les Miserables (yes, in French - it's gorgeous!) and some simply fabulous cinema. Lately, I've watched Indochine, Chocolat (set in Cameroon - not the Johnny Depp/Juliette Binoche movie), and the just-released La Vie En Rose, a biopic of the ever-lovely Edith Piaf. The best part: Mlle. Piaf was a devoted tricoteuse - and there was a lot of knitting in the movie. Girl is totally my idol.

a second sock...and a winner!

The winner of the yarn contest is Gail! Congratulations!

Many commenters asked what pattern I used. It's the Cafe Curtains sock with 2 repeats for the leg, in Knitpicks Sock Memories in Spring Prairie (I'd link, but the sale on sock memories apparently wiped out their stock of this colorway! I must have grabbed it just in time.) By the way - is there any way to directly respond to a commenter with blogger?

And, just to ease your minds that second sock syndrome hasn't taken hold, here's the beginning of the second sock:

Yay!

Success!

I'm so excited to have finished my first sock for my sock pal!
Because my sockpal's feet are much longer than mine, I enlisted my placemat sock blocker (made using this fabulous tutorial) as a model. I'm very happy with the way this sock turned out - the colors, the pattern, and everything! My grafting has much improved since I started knitting socks. However, I'm still not completely satisfied with my grafting skills - anyone have any tips?

To celebrate the finishing of my first sock, I will be giving away this lovely skein of yarn:

Andes brand, 165 yards of 100% worsted-weight wool.

Want in? Just leave a comment by Wednesday June 13 at midnight and this fibery goodness could be yours!

socks and spring awakening

Before we get to the socks...I saw Spring Awakening this weekend!

Some absolute genius (and very kind person) once came up with the idea of student rush, a wonderful policy many shows on Broadway have. Basically, you show up at the theatre on the day of the show with your student ID and get a ticket for a very low price (usually about $26). My friends and I showed up at the Eugene O'Neill at 7:30 on Sunday for the box office to open at 12 - and by noon, the line was long. Spring Awakening is a popular show! However, we passed the time by painting our nails, catching up after a year apart, and, for me at least, knitting. Our seats ended up being incredible - fifth row orchestra - and all in all we had an amazing time.

What did I knit, you ask?

This is the Falling Leaves sock in that same cherry tree hill supersock yarn. It's still pooling, although not as badly as before. I personally don't mind the pooling, and I know a lot of people don't mind it, but I just don't feel comfortable sending it to my pal (who may be the type of knitter who avoids pooling at all costs and would therefore resent that I didn't take more care in her socks). So what's a girl to do? This yarn had been frogged so many times I couldn't bring myself to do it another time. So, while thinking about it, I finished my sock memories cafe curtains sock:

I LOVE this yarn (knitpicks sock memories) and this pattern, so I decided to order some more sock memories and make a pair for my sockpal:

This is the spring prairie colorway, and I like the way it's turning out. With my netflix queue ready to go, these babies should be no problem.

In other knitting news, I started my sunrise circle jacket - yay! No pictures because as of yet there really just isn't much to see, only a little beyond the turning ridge for the hem.

I hope other sockapaloozers have been having more luck than I with the socks - judging by all the gorgeous finished socks on the pligg, you've all been doing quite well!