Socks on the Beach

One pair of Monkey Socks, done. Amazing what you can accomplish in a few long car rides! These kept me busy the whole way to Virginia Beach, where I finished them off. I didn't do a huge amount of knitting in Virginia because of, you know, the beach (and after seeing how long it is taking me to get the sand out of my daughter's swimsuits, I'm glad my knitting went nowhere near the actual beach!) We had absolutely perfect beach weather, and I actually did some reading for a change.

Auden entered the world of knitting in Virginia, courtesy of a Mushroom Knitter from her Aunt Kathy. She caught on right away, made several I-cord necklace thingies (Kathy and I quickly got her to appreciate the advantages of Socks That Rock over the cotton yarn the mushroom came with - it's never too early to create a yarn addiction!) and is already bugging me to teach her to "knit with needles." Personally, I love the Mushroom. It is a version of spool knitting, which I had never done, but I find very soothing and addicting. I had to stop myself from picking it up and knitting on it after she went to bed at night!


I got started on my baby sweater and made some serious progress on the way home. I'll try to post a picture soon, because I need advice on the border.

There was also one quick trip to the delightful Ewe Knits where I picked up a new (to me, anyway) sock yarn, ShiBui.
It's much more vibrant than it looks in the picture ... I guess one of these days I should learn how to tone my photos, *sigh*. The color is called "Wasabi" and it has a beautiful spectrum of greens.

Monkey Socks details:

Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight, color: Fire on the Mountain. Less than one skein.
Pattern: Monkey Socks, from Knitty.
Needles: Susan Bates 1s and 2s
Modifications: Picot Edge, from January One. I knit the edge and the toes on 1s and the rest on 2s. I decreased one more time before kitchenering the toes. I think if I did these again I might do a different heel and toes. The heel in particular looks strange to me, kind of poofy, though that mostly disappears when they're on. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this pattern!