September Sock a Month Early

I finished the first of the ninth pair of socks I've knit this year. I am using Lang Jawoll Color Aktion yarn from my stash. This yarn comes with a spool of reinforcing yarn which I forgot to use - d'uh! Instead, for the heel I used a combination of eye of partridge and a shadow wrap heel. I extended the reinforcing on the sole for another centimetre beyond the heel.

It was getting dark when I took these photos but you get an idea of the colours.

Using 2.25mm needles, I did a tubular cast-on of 68 sts and knit 2 x 2 ribbing for an inch then 3 x 1 ribbing for the rest of the leg - 7" including the cuff. Then I knit 1" of stocking stitch before starting the eye of partridge heel on half the sts (34). I then knit the rest of the sock in stocking stitch, sizing it for a man's medium size foot - around size 10.

For once, I'm not starting the second sock right away. Instead, I'm starting a sock version of Fiona Ellis' Ruddington cardigan. The stitch pattern will work well for socks and I'm adding 4 sts on each side for a 2 x 2 cable. I found a ball of handpainted yarn in blue-black tones with a nice twist in my stash. Unfortunately there was no ball band.  There will be photos as I progress.

On the butterfly front, I found yet another egg today. So we have 2 pupae with one of them due to emerge within the next couple of days and the other will follow a day or two after. The third larva didn't make it. It did adhere to the top of the Bug Bottle but didn't form the chrysalis. Skip thought that because of the injury to its midsection, perhaps it couldn't get its last skin off. It just died up there.

There is one larva which has almost doubled in size since it's emergence from the egg two days ago. And with today's found egg, there are a total of 3 eggs. I would be so pleased if I could get all three eggs through the larva stage.