I don't have pictures (but really, these are black socks, so you know how hard they are to photograph), but I finished the first of the pairs of socks for my mother-in-law last night. I knew I was close, and kept comparing one sock to the other to get the length as close as possible. And when I finished, I took a short breather and started the next pair.
My MIL is getting a pair of black Back to Basics (and I should have pictures up by the end of the weekend) and a pair of red Hedera. She told me a month or so ago that she wanted socks and what colors (and what materials), but I didn't ask her what she wanted for decoration. I didn't want to knit a pair of plain socks, but I didn't want them to be so complicated that I wouldn't want to work them on my commute after all. So, the first pair is done except for the weaving in of ends in just under 3 weeks. It's a good thing I started early, because there just aren't enough knitting days left before the holidays for two pairs of socks and a scarf.
Of course, I started the red Hedera last night and finished the ribbing this morning... and started something else. For myself, I started the February Lady Sweater out of the heathery blue wool I got at Rhinebeck. It is very organic yarn (maybe a better term would be rustic), a bit rough to the touch. The colors are beautiful however, so I am going to enjoy this. A sweater for under $30 that I can wear at work is a definite win-win situation.
Sadly, the rehearsal schedule (this week is M-T-W-Sat) and my gift knitting have wreaked havoc on the start for NaNoWriMo. I decided to sign up for this at the end of last month kind of spur of the moment, and more importantly without a story idea already kicking around in my head. Over the past few days of knitting and life, I have come up with an idea, but nothing has really gotten onto paper yet. I'm hoping to cobble together a few hours over the weekend (especially after rehearsal on Saturday) to get a start on it. I might not make it to 50K words, but I would like to have enough of a story thread to actually have a coherent beginning, middle and end. The last time I did this I made it to 50K, but my story had no conclusion, no feeling of coherence and had sad to say gotten much smuttier than I intended. Apparently smut is much easier to write than plot! If you are doing NaNoWriMo and want to buddy me, I am signed up as qarylla. Now, life will be much easier if I learn to write and knit at the same time!
