December 1

So, I missed a lot the last month. I've been traveling, knitting, frantically working, thinking and worrying, and that brings us to now. I guess I'm not going to try to recap it all. I'm just going to move on from here. There are finished knits to document, big things going on in my life, and lots to talk about, so three things for today, and then I'm going to sleep:

1. My assistant just got a promotion, which means that he won't be working for me after the end of the year. Mixed emotions about that one. He's earned it, deserves it, and it is the best thing for him. For me? Not so much. Although it will all eventually work out, and I'll have someone new to work with, there are other circumstances that make it less than ideal for me as well, including the impact it is going to have on my travel schedule for next year. Whew. There is still a lot to work out, but this sort of feeds into my resolve to make 2010 a better year than this one. I just know it is going to be a good year.

2. Thanksgiving was good! I was down in Florida for a week, visiting with my family and just relaxing. The Thanksgiving dinner turned out amazing--we did roasted vegetables, and sauteed the string beans with shallots and lemon zest instead of the heavier string bean casserole.



My sister brought my niece, but her other two children were with their mom. It was a quiet day, but a good one. It was nice to be all together.

I also got to visit Spanky's family overnight, and we went to see her brother at the treasure museum where he works down at the beach.



3. I finished the Mystery Socks 2009 (FO #36). This was my Socktober contribution. I would have posted about the process a lot more, but life has just been so freaking crazy. I did enjoy Socktober, and I am definitely going to do it again next year. I also really enjoyed the process of the mystery sock! Getting a clue per week really allows you to do a prescribed amount of knitting at a time, which works well with my schedule, and you can also then afford time to work on both socks at once. It was so much fun. And the pattern is so pretty!



Pattern: Mystery Sock 2009
Yarn: Louet Gems, Fingering Weight, 100% merino wool, probably 300 yards total--this was not the ideal yarn for these socks. There is no nylon, so they sag a bit, and the yarn isn't really all that squishy. I probably should have used it for a lace scarf or shawl of some sort rather than socks, but I was sick of looking at it in the stash (YES! Two skeins of STASH down!), so I just grabbed it. Also, the yarn is a really rich purple color (#1452-Violet), and I thought it would be perfect for showing off the lace of the pattern, and it does! They're really pretty socks, and I've already worn them.
Needles: US 2 bamboo DPNs. I have two sets, so I was able to work each clue for each sock as they came out. So much fun!



Notes: I did the smaller size pattern. I was originally going with the larger size, because I have big honking feet, but the people in the Through the Loops group on Ravelry who were posting as they went along said that the cuff was big, so I ripped back what I had and went with the smaller size. They're still a tiny bit baggy, but I also attibute that to the lack of nylon in the yarn.



I found this color impossible to photograph. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with them. Next up will be the socks for my mom out of the crazy sock yarn she picked out when I was in Florida back in October. More on my WIPs tomorrow!