Brooklyn Socks and Village Progress

When my friend Alison and I got together a couple of weeks ago for some knitting, the subject of sock clubs and Socks that Rock came up. I was considering joining one, but Alison had a great idea -- we could have our own club. We'd decide on a pattern and yarn and have a sock knit-along. Since Alison had just been to Maryland Sheep and Wool ("Brief Report" post on May 7), she had some delicious yarns to choose from. And she had a pattern for us in mind. So off I went to buy some yarn. At Alison's suggestion, I choose the Soft Touch 100% Wool Ultra Fingering Weight from Shelridge Farms. With such beautiful colors, it was difficult to choose one. So I bought two -- Pumpkin and Clover Flower. Alison has Azure, I believe. We both like knitting toe-up socks with short-row toes and heels so we decided that's how we'd do the first pair.

As soon as Alison sent me the sock pattern, I got started using the Pumpkin. Over the last week, I was able to finish the toe and one and a half pattern repeats. Alison came over yesterday and started her sock, completing the toe shaping. Here's are progress so far. Alison's yarn is more blue than it appears in this photo, and mine isn't as red. By the way, I really don't have giant feet. It seems I'm loose, er, I mean "relaxed," with the knitting needles. My stitches aren't very even, either. Alison's are so neat and tidy. I'm using size 0 dpns ,and Alison is using size 1s.

This pattern has a bit of an unusual twist -- the sock can be worn knitted side out (as you see here) or inside out which reveals a completely different, very fun design. I'm going to keep the inside design a secret until I finish the first sock. So stay tuned.

Under Construction -- Village of Hawk Run Hollow
Itching to Stitch commented on my last post that I hadn't updated my progress on Village of Hawk Run Hollow recently. I'm still working on the church block, but I'm missing some NPS. Until I get them, progress will be a little stalled.

Make sure you check out Itching's blog. She does beautiful work. In addition to VofHRH, she's also tackling Chatelaine's St. Petersburg White Nights -- gorgeous.