2006 is Winding Down

I fully intend to post again before the year ends, but good intentions oft go astray so I'm making sure that the last pair of socks of 200Sox is up before the end of the year.

Pattern: Gentleman's Socks in Railroad Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks, by Nancy Bush

Yarn: Trekking XXL in 290 and KnitPicks Essentials in Dusk (for toes and heels)

Needles: US0 DPNs

Notes: Fabulous socks! My modifications were to go with solid heels and toes as I was worried about my quantity of Trekking. I also only decreased 5 stitches for calf shaping and made these a bit longer than the pattern. The recipient is a US size 11 so I needed a little more room. These went to my next door neighbor. He has been quietly watching his wife and others get socks from me. He didn't complain, but he was extremely happy when he saw that the latest pair was for him.

These are definitely the last pair for 200Sox. This makes 15 pairs started and finished in this year (and they are my 26th pair over all)! That is a few less than I had hoped, but I think my expectations were, um, over-eager. Considering that I also finished three pairs of slippers, two scarves, two shawls, two hats, and three sweaters (plus some miscellaneous items) this year, I am very happy! In the rush to finish these socks (they were still damp on Christmas morning, but ready for wrapping by early afternoon), I managed to slightly injure my right ring finger. This is the finger that steadies my DPNs and now the knuckles are very sore. I took two days off and now I can knit again with circulars, but I'll wait a bit before casting on the next socks.

In other news, Young Man's azalea is blooming! This plant was a gift from the in-laws when Young Man was born. I've never been quite sure why an azalea was picked. At the time, we had a plant-eating cat so the plant stayed in our bedroom until we could plop it into the ground. We planted next to some other azaleas and hoped for the best. A few years ago, two of our azaleas died and we thought that this one had also departed. On Tuesday, Young Man came in the house extremely excited by the really pretty flower that he found. We were all quite surprised by the bloom.