Keep your eyes on the post, lovely sister-in-law! These are on their way...
I Kitchenered the second toe, just an hour ago, and they are now having a nice soak in a bowl of warm water and Eucalan. I will dry them on my sock blockers and then they will be winging their way to their new home.
The pattern is Reginald from Rachel Coopey's A Knitted Sock Society, published by Quail Books and distributed by Rowan. If your local yarn shop doesn't stock the book, ask them to get it in! It's a lovely collection of patterns, all using Rowan's Fine Art Sock Yarn. The original shades of Fine Art were mostly quite variegated, which is generally not my preference when knitting patterned socks, but I'm told that the latest shades are a bit calmer. I've got a skein in my stash, and I'm looking forward to trying it soon.
I used some Opal for Bergere de France Monocolor sock yarn in this great shade of green. It shows off the lovely pseudo-cables brilliantly, and has great definition in the twisted rib as well. A good workhorse sock yarn. It won't need handwashing, but should avoid the tumble drier like the plague. :) You can see more information about my project over on my Ravelry page: JenACKnitwear's Reginald Socks
I may have mentioned a few times how much I love Rachel's designs, so I won't bang on about it too much here. I loved knitting these, and I'm looking foward to casting on Calla or Conina, or maybe a pair of John Huston, the Tarnished Hero socks for Jim. I just have to choose now...
As well as being a great designer, Rachel is also a sock yarn enabler of the first class. She's been waving her Blue Tit sock yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners under my nose for days, knowing that eventually I would have to give in and buy some (despite needing new sock yarn like a hole in the head!). I ordered on Thursday and it arrived less than 24h later on Friday lunchtime. It's ACE and looks recognisably like Blue Tits - the children identified it straight off, but then they are bird geeks thanks to this brilliant board game (also from Rachel): Bird Bingo
I'm not sure what will be my next knitting project. I've been burning with a desire to get my sewing machine out. It's been far too long, so I'm hoping to fit in some quilting over the holidays. Just a little bit.
