Socky pictures :)

I'll save the babbling for tomorrow. :)  For now, I have two completions to report!! :) 

First off, I've completed weaving in ends on the crocheted afghan.  :)  I'm not taking more pictures of it, since the ones I took when I'd done the crocheting show it well enough.  You'll just have to trust me that I've woven in all the ends.  I'm not too terribly impressed that one of the cats snagged some of the yarn in the middle before I'd officially finished it.  I mean, I know it is eventually going to happen, but dang it, would be nice if they at least waited for me to enjoy the project a little first!!  Oh, well... the afghan is for me anyway. :)  To recap - I fell in love with a particular red variegated yarn at Wal-Mart one day, and they only had three balls left.  So I got some off white to stretch it.  Then I wanted to make sure that the variegated wouldn't pool, so that meant crochet.  I felt like having a ripple, but not a chevron - to some, those may be synonymous, but to me, the chevron has sharp zig-zag points, while a ripple is softer and more curvy.  I wasn't sure exactly what kind of pattern to use - I did try searching myself, but found the synonyms were too much of a drawback - I was finding too many sharp patterns.  I put out a request on a Ravelry group, and a nice Raveler suggested a pattern from Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet.  Since I'd just purchased the DK Encyclopedia of Knitting, I headed off to the library to get the Ency. of Crochet.... Have since bought that book, too.  Anyway - ended up with a very lovely afghan done in a crochet stitch that ended up looking a lot like the feather and fan knitting pattern - really, that was exactly what I'd wanted, but didn't realize until I'd finished, because the little swatch picture in the book really didn't do justice.  I also used a hook larger than recommended for the yarn.  Phew!! 

Ok, so now all I need to do is write out all of that in pattern form! :)

My other completion - I told you about already.  I finished the toe-up socks, called Woollie Wellies.

(note to self - next time I take a picture of socks on the foot, on my chair - first sweep the kitchen floor)

This morning, when I gathered my other projects for pictures, the two dogs were sleeping on the couch.  When I took the camera out of my purse, Miss Lady hit the kitchen chair with tail wagging.  I don't know what it is about the camera - I used to think it was the little beeping noise it makes when I turn it on.  Now, I believe she is just a ham.  The two kitties are nearly as bad - I do tend to have a lot of cat parts or dog parts in my pictures....  Anyway, I waited until the dogs were outside to take the following pictures -

First up - Hermione progress:

A very enjoyable knit so far.  The heel flap is different, but I can't say anything about any differences in comfort until I finish the socks and actually wear them. ;)  I'm about halfway down the foot now.

Next - the new socks, Sea Cruise, from the Six Sox Knitalong group.  I have a blog button thingy on the side bar that should still work, to take you to the group's yahoo page - you do have to be a member of the group to access the patterns.  They are offered free for the two month period that they are the active KAL sock - after that, the designer decides to either leave the pattern in the group for free (new members can then knit any of the past patterns that are available that way) or they may take it down from the group and either offer it for free themselves, or offer it for sale themselves.   Members are asked, of course, to respect that, and not share the patterns. 

So, if you want in on the Sea Cruise socks for now - head on over!!  In the meantime - I started these on Friday while waiting for an appointment.  I did the cast on and first six rounds.  I worked on Hermione Friday and Saturday nights, but Sea Cruise on Sunday night.  I meant to watch something that had been recorded, to free up space, but found a Pirates of the Caribbean movie I hadn't seen yet.  (Love Johnny Depp) Dead Man's Chest was the movie.  So, I watched that, and knit the sock - - Just hit me.  I was knitting a nautical theme sock while watching a pirate movie....   Anyway, I knit the rest of the hem, turned it, knit the rib, then completed one repeat of the first motif - an anchor.  Took three pictures, different angles, to be sure it would show up, even a little - turned out better than I thought it would!  So, here are the best two.

You can see the anchor, and the cables on either side.

It does show up quite well, despite the dark colour of the yarn.  I'll try to remember to throw the other hank of yarn I bought for the second pair on the table for the next progress shot. 

So, tonight's plan - work on Hermione, and maybe try to get some more rows done on the mystery socks.  And find the scrap of paper I made notes on for the details on the blanket!! (or did I use notepad on the netbook?  Hmm....)

Oh, right - I still need to write up the baby blanket directions from before!  And I have to write up and decide where I'm going with flora/fauna socks.... But, I'm on a roll here with these socks, and I want to get finished/caught up while I'm still enthusiastic! :)   And before something new comes along to woo me away....