Mean Green Jellybeans are Done!

I bound one off using a size 2 [2.75mm] needle, but it was not quite stretchy enough. So I bound off the other sock using the sewn cast-off and liked it much better, then unpicked the bind-off on the first sock and finished it the second way. Finito!

Two long, skinny, very stretchy socks, much in need of a soaking and a good blocking. And it occurred to me yesterday that the pattern would work very well as wrist warmers, so once this pattern is proofed and perfected, I will want to work out that variation. As my visiting teacher said last night, these are too pretty to be hidden away in shoes. [And I didn’t even pay her to say it.]

Can you see why I like her so much? We had the best visit last night. We usually bypass the formal message, because my VT companion and I teach it to the sisters we visit. Instead, we sit and talk about life, about our blessings and challenges. Thankfully, regardless of recent upsurges in drama within the tribe, my life is generally peaceful and crisis-free. I plan to savor that for however long it lasts!

She likes to come to my house, because it is quiet and peaceful. [I like to spend time at home for the very same reason.] Middlest made a similar comment when she spent the night at Christmas. After umpteen years of raising kids, I still love spending time with each of them, and with my grandkids.

And I love coming home to my nearly-silent house. The quiet tick of the ceiling fan here in the living room. The soft hum of the CPU on my computer. An occasional random flush from the bathroom. Beams creaking overhead, up in the attic. The whoosh of the wind in the trees outside my bedroom window. Train horns a mile or so south of me, and the cars clanking around in the train yard in the middle of the night. The occasional sound of children in the neighborhood. This is pretty much a middle-aged neighborhood. The little girls across the street are well-mannered and cheerful.

I do appreciate well-mannered and cheerful, I do!

I am back at work on the January Mystery Socks. I like the fabric that 3x1 ribbing produces on the non-beaded portion of the cuff. I think it will be just about perfect for my ankles. And I think that with this yarn, it will be much too airy on 00’s on the sole of the socks. So I think I will work both socks to the heel flap and then work that and the soles on 000’s and the insteps on 00’s. I did that with those turquoise socks a few months ago and really liked the outcome. I will get to learn the Eye of the Partridge pattern on the heel flap for these socks, but other than that I foresee no surprises or challenges, and I am starting to feel the teensiest bit bored with the project, although I still love the yarn as it passes through my hands.

I spent a few minutes on Ravelry this morning, perusing my queue for the next pair of socks to cast on. Maybe instead, I will whip up Fetching in my red Cashmerino Aran.

@ my Knit Night sisters: I will endeavor to have the pattern ready for you to proof, next Tuesday night. I’m looking forward to seeing this sock in other colorways and yarns.