Weekend Knitting

So this is what I worked on during my long weekend of visiting family. I employed my strategy of bringing my knitting into restaurants to keep from eating too much - it worked occasionally. First up - Happy Socks for JB, basic toe ups, 2x2 ribbing on the top, after thought heels. When we started the weekend I was barely past the toe box, now the waste yarn is in for the heels. These were easy to work on while we were going over the pass - no pattern to pay attention to. Unfortunately these do not count toward my 12 pairs from stash yarns.

Next - another pair to be gifted Christmas 2009. These are a learning process. They are the strong heel which is a top down heel and is new to me. It was designed to let self-striping yarns continue their striping. I had just started the increases when we left. I have now finished the decreases and completed half of a pattern repeat down the foot. The pattern is 6 stitches and 8 rows. These are stash yarn so they are pair 3 toward the 12 pair goal. Finally, a stretch to get these to count toward the 12 pair goal. I have been wanting to try the Red Heart Hear & Sole sock yarn. I know, but still. A week or so ago it was on sale at the local buy everything here store - buy 2 get 1 free. So I bought 4 balls, but not for myself. I sent it off to friends. Since my goal is to use yarns from stash or not actually purchase any new yarns - I'm counting this because technically it was free! I'm doing something new on this pair. I cast on way more stitches than I normally do so the toe box looks really wide. I started with 24 stitches on each needle. I increased every row to 36 stitches and then every other row to 44 stitches. I've just started the straight rows. I'll use the toe-up, slip-stitch heel and gusset and do a little picot hem at the top. These will be dropped into the purse for downtime knitting since they are so thoughtless. So - lots of driving and downtime, but not much to show for it.