The things I wanted to show off but didn’t…

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m horrible at self-editing and not posting current projects as they wind up becoming gifts for family and friends and I never want to either get hopes up or ruin a surprise.  I’m hoping to stop that practice come the New Year, as I’m going to try spacing my knits out throughout the year.  My yarny goals for 2015 are as follows:
– 1 pair of socks per month
– 1 pair of mittens per month. Possibly lined
– 1 4oz package of fiber spun & plied per month.

That gives me a pair of socks to take with me wherever I go (#projectsockdrawer), a pair of mittens to go nuts on the stranding (#projectmittenbasket), and a bit of an excuse to delve into the fiber stash (#fiberpalooza).  I’m hoping that by the end of the year I’ll have a few more handspun items knit, and a topped up sock drawer and mitten basket.  I like the idea of a mitten basket. Some days you want more variety than the same old mittens you’ve been wearing out for 3 years. (The Hashtags are mine, btw…inspired/purloined by other knitters’ projects, but mine nonetheless)

The family will just have to guess which knits are for them!

Maybe there will be some other items throughout the year, like the long-awaited Bigger on the Inside shawl that I’ve spun the yarn for — I just need the time to devote to knitting lace.

So now, after all the wall of text, I should probably break it up with a little eye candy.  Today’s choice is a lovely pair of socks that went t my Mother-in-Law, Sheila.

Robin and I were taking a poke through one of Calgary’s many fine yarn stores (quite possibly Pudding yarn) when we spied this really lovely skein of pink-and-grey Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi,  I loved it, but didn’t think I could justify the expense, when Robin mentioned that it would make some lovely socks for his Mum.

Bear in mind, when I think of Sheila, I think in terms of vibrant Autumn colours. Forest greens, bright and burnt oranges of falling leaves….it offsets her strawberry blonde quite nicely.  Apparently, though, she has a secret liking for lighter colours that her son is aware of, so we bought the skein, took it home, and I cast on a pair of Hermione’s Everyday Socks with it.

I wish I could remember the colourway, but the ball band has gotten lost in Crafting Central down in the basement.  Eventually I will find it and add it to the Ravelry entry for this sock.

Sheila also scored a pair of Fiddlehead mittens I’d been working on for myself as a heavy-wool / extreme-cold-weather project. I really do need a pair of deep-winter mittens for scraping the car’s windshield on those days when it’s -20 or colder, but even as I was knitting these, I didn’t feel totally in tune with them for myself. They were telling me they were going to belong elsewhere.  I think they will keep her nice and toasty.  As it was, my Dad was eyeing them up.  Good thing his hands are Inhumanly Large and require Custom Fitting, otherwise she might have lost them to him!