Another week, another finished object. You’d think that I wouldn’t be complaining, but well, I’m going to.

The Reikasai Socks seemed to fit the bill perfectly as I looked up children’s sock patterns online – the pattern looked easy to memorize and predict, and looked like it would flow along just fine, work up quickly, and hopefully, use up a good quantity of the Maizy that I had left over from finishing Socks for Little Witches last month. And despite the fact that the pattern was easy to memorize and predict, these socks did not amuse me. They did not charm me. In fact, I kind of hated them. But by the time I realized how much I hated them, I was already at the toe on the first sock, and I didn’t feel like ripping it out and starting again, so I slogged on, finished it, and then cast on for the second sock right away.

And today, I finished that second sock. And boy, was I ever glad to be rid of it! I kitchenered that toe and wove in my ends so quickly that I think if you had blinked you would have missed most of it. AND, I promptly gave the remainder of that second ball of Maizy to my friend Chelsea, who you will remember I taught to knit not that long ago. It’s now in her little stash of yarn that she doesn’t know what she’s going to do with yet, but will get around to some day. Her stash still fits into a vintage glass vase, but I predict that this will not be the case for very long. Chelsea is a knitting success story; she learned how to knit from a right-handed person even though she is very much a left-handed person. And teaching her to purl? Well, it took seconds. Literally. She watched me for two stitches then took over the needles and has been at it ever since. She’s working on a scarf right now, a 4 stitch seed stitch border with stockinette in the center, and it’s beautiful. She makes me so proud (and look good too!)! Next up will be teaching her how to knit a hat – we’ll be tackling knitting in the round, then when it gets to the top, I’ll be teaching her the Magic Loop technique so she doesn’t have to buy DPN’s for the project too. I’m hoping that this will lead to a sock knitting lesson a little ways down the road, but don’t tell her that. 😉

And for those interested, I have an update on my Snowdrop Shawl. I started it Tuesday evening, and it’s now Saturday evening, and it looks pretty much like what you saw in the photo from my previous post, only in bigger gauge. That photo, if you’ll remember, was taken back in February, when I was knitting it the first time during the Ravelympics, and before it took a trip to the Frog Pond. I have really enjoyed knitting it again, it’s a pattern I loved from the first time I saw it, and kept in the back of my mind everytime I looked at lace weight yarn, and I waited until I found the perfect one before casting on. Only about 9 rows remain in this 16 row repeat, and then I have to knit 8 rows of another repeat before I will be casting off with the I-cord edging. I feel confident that I can have that completed before I go to my parents for Thanksgiving dinner on Monday, unless I get distracted by my newest project, the Helix Gauntlets.

This pattern was featured in the Interweave Holiday Gifts 2008 issue, and I’ve literally had my eye on them ever since. They’ve been sitting in my Ravelry queue for quite awhile, and I decided that I would finally bite the bullet and buy the yarn when I was at the yarn shop today. I found some beautiful pale blue Dale of Norway sport weight wool, and I scooped up 2 50g balls and cast on when I got home this evening. The construction is very interesting, and I highly suggest this pattern if you are looking for quick knit with some interest thrown in there. The only trouble I forsee is finding the right buttons to finish this project off, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. My LYS has a decent collection of buttons, as does the local Fabricland, so I feel confident that I will find it at one of the two places. And if not, well, there’s always the Button Box antique shop downtown, which features a huge box full of antique and vintage buttons, and I’m sure I could find something interesting in there.

My yarn for the German Stockings still hasn’t arrived, and I’m sure it won’t until either late this upcoming week, or even later, because of the long weekend. I’m glad I cast on for that new project so I would have something to keep my interest until my latest love affair arrives! Pray that customs doesn’t decide to hold my package for an indecent amount of time, and that it gets here soon, I’m itching to cast those stockings on! I’ll be sure to share when my yarn comes, so until then, happy knitting!