Out with it, then

I think I've finally realized why I've been so reluctant to blog about the knitting I did on vacation. I mean, I did finish a pair of socks before we even finished driving to the cabin!

The FO:

K's Clown socks.

But here's the honest to God truth: I don't like them.

They were fun to knit -- feather stitches are always fun, especially with shaded yarns, because you never know where the pattern will land. And I like the yarn. I just don't like the socks.

The good news is I have half the yarn left over, so I can make K the ankle socks she really wanted in a simple stockinette. With a ruffled cuff or picot cuff? Hmmm.

On to more pleasant topics. While on vacation, I also knit about a sock and a half for myself in my last ball of cotton/wool yarn:

I was able to make amazing progress on these with odd bits of time -- an inch while we ordered and waited at a restaurant, a couple of inches while everyone else still slept in, a couple of inches under a tree while the kids skipped rocks and I talked to the locals. A whole foot while we drove back to Spokane to fly home.

I am now about 3 stripes shy of being ready to bind off both socks (I waited on binding off the 1st until I got home and could look up suitable bind-offs for toe-up socks.) I'll probably power through it this weekend, because I can't wait to wear them And since I can't be without socks to knit...

I'm swatching for Dipsy's Dunes socks. I swatched the main stitch pattern last night, and today I've been fiddling around to see if I can do better than my usual on the 2x2 rib cuff. I've found the right trick, which I will share later -- too late to write it up tonight. For now, one last picture, Dunes at Midnight: