So, I actually finished my mom's socks a little while ago.  Maybe January 24th?  Her birthday is on Valentine's day, so I'll be mailing them off soon.  Here are some pictures of the finished product:

The best part of making these by far was learning how to do the mosaic pattern.  I love Fair Isle type patterns, and enjoy the challenge of working with the multiple strands, but I have to say, I think once you go mosaic, it is hard to see why you would want to go back.  All that being said about multiple pattners and strands etc, I also love the way the heel of these socks came out, (eye-of-the-partridge).  The texture is lovely, and the natural inconsistency of the dye on the yarn lends some depth without being overbearing.  It may just be that I'm saying that because it is juxtaposed to the rainbow (which I secretly came to like, shhh.)  They are perfect for my mom though.  Anyone who knows her would tell you so.  I feel a little bad because she keeps hint-asking if I've been able to start them and I keep saying how busy I am.  But she loves surprises, so the thrill of the surprise will cancel out the disapointment.  But I still feel a little like a tricky jerk.

At any rate, onward, and away from socks for a while.  Though there are a few different heels and ribbings, and they are really so practical, there isn't so much techinque once you've mastered the basics.  Therefore, onward to a gift for my mother-in-law.  I wanted to make her something that looked like it could be bought in a boutique.  A lacy beaded scarf is what I chose.  This was supposed to be a Christmas present, and then turned into a late Christmas present when my husband was going out to see his parents in January, and now will just be a mid-February/early-March present.  She lives in a very cold climate, so it will still be a useful gift when it finally arrives at its destination.  With 10 of 15 repeats finished, I should be done pretty soon. 

The beads are all pre-strung and then pushed along on the yarn until they are needed, so I string on about 5 diamonds worth of beads and then when I've run out, I cut the yarn, add more beads, and get back to knitting.  It is a lovely process and the yarn is lace weight on size 5 needles, so it goes pretty quickly.  There are four colors of beads, which you may or may not be able to see in the detail picture, a matte brown, a shiny brown, a pearl, and an iridescent white which comes out almost lavender.  The original pattern which I really love, used only one color of bead.  It looked too stark to me, and so with the help of friends, one visionary in particular, I became convinced that not only was it not insane to use multiple colors (I had great fears about stringing them in the right order, but it turns out that once you have done it a few times and messed up once, it is pretty simple) but also a slightly more muted palette was devised.  I happened upon the "Beadwrangler" who has the most beautiful treat for the eyes of a website you've ever seen.  Also the yarn is baby mohair and silk, so it is like knitting with what you wish spider webs felt like.  Once I'm finished I will block this beast, something I never do with my knitting, so I would imagine will post some pictures of that as well. 

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".