Socks for Bill

Last year I pledged to always have some socks on the needles in an attempt to whittle down my sock yarn stash. Many years ago, a friend gave me a ball of sock yarn which disappeared into my stash. I unearthed it and knit a pair of men's socks. I asked the donor if he wanted the socks and he said yes.

There wasn't a ball band but I'm guessing it was a good quality sock yarn. It was easy to knit identical twins.

A couple of weeks ago he dropped off a couple of blankets for me to donate to the chemo department at our local cancer centre. He also asked if I'd mind knitting him another pair of socks. I had several skeins of yarn for him to choose and he, being of very discriminating tastes, picked the lovely Fleece Artist Kidazzle yarn - 70% merino, 20% kid mohair, 10% nylon. I remember purchasing it at the first KnitEast at St, Andrews-By-The-Sea NB back in 2011 on the recommendation of Cat Bordhi (RIP). She raved about this sock yarn during the Insouciant Sock workshop I took with her. 

I finished the first sock a couple of weeks ago. He requested a longer cuff so this has an 8" one.

I used my favourite Eye of Partridge heel,

and continued it on the bottom of the heel to provide extra thickness in this area that wears out the quickest. I generally do it on all the decrease rounds for the gusset.

I have started the second sock and have about an inch and a half done on the cuff.

I've been doing some stitching when I get a chance during the day but am generally too tired at night to do much. I really want to get the model for Teresa done by the end of April. I haven't touched Winter Rose Manor nor finished the Rudolph ornament. And you know what? I'm OK with that. I accept that I'm a process stitcher.

I do have a project that I want to do, possibly as a prototype for a program for our guild. It's a box made out of embroidery hoops.

Vonna Pfeiffer has a great tutorial on how to make these: 

Basically you glue 5 embroidery hoops together, glue them to a wooden base, and use the 6th hoop as the lid.

A round piece of stitching can be used on the outer lid or like the printed fabric inside the lid above, another piece of stitching inside. Then a hinge is added. Poppy saw another example where ribbons had been added to each side of the lid and attached to the 'box' to prevent the lid from flopping all the way back.

I've ordered a bunch of 4" embroidery hoops, bought the 5" base, and now need to decide what stitched piece I want for the outside of the lid. Poppy gave me some stain for the bamboo hoops. Once the hoops arrive, I'll set to work on assembling the project.