As it seems that most of my friends are living in cold places, I've been making warm fuzzy things for people.  If you are my friend and are reading this and haven't received a warm fuzzy thing, all you have to do is ask.  The list is getting longer, but that doesn't mean that every item won't get checked off.  In the spirit of checking things off my list, here are a pair of socks that I've just finished for my friend who lives in chilly Chicago.

Unfortunately I had to be the foot model, as they are being mailed, and so my feet don't quite fill out the toes.  They came out nicely, though on the side there were times when I had to carry the colored yarn behind five stitches, so the white stripe where the instep meets the sole has a slight pucker.  Unfortunate but certainly not project destroying.  The colored yarn is variegated which accounts for the color changes.  The tiniest section of it was a beautiful olive brown, which was my favorite part, leading me to believe that I should just quit with the variegated, but I do keep coming back to it.  It is always an interesting surprise to work with, and I've heard people say that they just can't give up control to the variegation, but as a confirmed control freak, I find it a little relaxing not to have to think as hard about one aspect of the project and just let things flow organically. 

And speaking of organic flow, and releasing control, a sneak peak of some socks I'm working on for my mother.

An so, not only variegated, but a purple so bright I might go blind.  This picture is pretty accurate color wise, I didn't mess with the exposure.  But they are perfect for her, she picked out these colors, and the pattern is this neat mosaic pattern that is worked one strand at a time, slipping which ever color you aren't working with for two rows  It is awesome to work.  The author says "Mosaic patterns are magical." (italics hers) and she is right.  Both sock patterns from this post are in Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.  My mom's birthday is on February 14th, and I plan to send them to her then, and I'm pretty confident that I'll have finished them by then, at which point I plan to make something that isn't a sock.

After being pretty sure and everyone in the world now has a blog, and that there are enough craft blogs in existance to ensure that even if every one else who had a blog quit, there would still be an extremley populous blogosphere, and after creating two blogs and not posting on them at all, and then feeling bad for taking what I considered to be reasonably good blog names out of circulation, I am now inspired to share my own little crafting adventures with the world.  

Part of the inspiration is my most recently completed project, a pair of socks made for a gardener friend of mine.   I had given her a card with one of these little slug guys on it, and as I described my desire to make her a pair of socks (with my crafting urge constantly saying "FEED ME" like Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors I'm always fostering new recipients of my projects), she promptly asked for socks covered in slugs and snails.  

The trickiest part by far was figuring out the "EZ-Shaped Instep" (what I've come to think of as V-sole) because the way I think that knitting directions should be written is often just slightly different from the way they are written.  On future socks I think I would start the V-sole sooner so that it created a little less of a diamond shape in conjunction with the toe.  Speaking of which, the toes came out a little more pointy than I would have liked, (and then the photos in the book lead me to believe they would).  My friend, however, is very appreciative and forgiving and found the point to be a wonderful ergonomic accomidation for her pointer toe.  

These cute little slugs and snails came from the briliant mind of Anna Hrachovec, the patterns are available free on her blog, and the sock pattern is out of Charlene Schurch's book More Sensational Knittend Socks.  These socks were knit on size 2 needles with Kertzer "On Your Toes" and Lana Grossa "Mega Boots Stretch Softcolor".