I know knitting is supposed to be immensely spiritual and life-transforming according to all the books but I knit for very un-spiritual and boring reasons like cold feet. I'm embarking on a series of Fireside socks for myself and DH. The original pattern is in the Spin-Off sock book but essentially you grab a few different yarns and cast on in big dpns. I don't refer to the original pattern anymore and just eyeball it depending on the size needles and the yarns I choose.
The socks I'm working on now (in the photo above) are done with two worsted weight yarns and one sock yarn on 36 sts on size 7 dpns. I usually finish a pair in a day or so. They're perfect for padding around the house and I don't even bother with ribbing anymore - they're thick enough they just stay up on your leg. They're also a really good project for using up weird handspun tidbits of yarn.
Here are two previous versions of the Fireside socks using wool and handspun alpaca:
I also finished another sock pattern - a multi-colored men's hiking sock. I have to get photos but I'm going to add it as a single pattern for sale. My goal is to get $100 a month to donate to the HRS shelter in Denver for use in food and veterinary care for the abandoned rabbits . I'm not quite there currently but if I add a few extra patterns for sale I should be able to make it. I have decided I need a lot more photos of my patterns for the web site so that is my project for this weekend.
