Socks socks and more socks

It's been about a week and a half since last posting, and just when I was getting good at this, oh well :P This has actually been a really productive week knitting wise for me and I set a personal record for sock finishing so I can't complain at all.

First and foremost, I finally settled on a pattern for my Sockapalooza4 Pal and have started knitting it up. After all the talk I've heard about them while pattern searching I decided to try my first pair of Jaywalkers by Grumperina. My pal specifically requested no lace so I think that this pattern satisfies that requirement perfectly and it seems to show off the yarn quite well so I am happy. I just wish slipping those two stiches over was a little easier on my bamboo needles... Here's what the sock looks like with the yarn attached:

I'm actually surprised at just how dominant the brown is. I didn't think the brown to other colour ratio would be so high before I wound it. But it's definitely on the brown side. The picture clearly doesn't capture this but what is so nice about the Fleece Artist is the gorgeous sheen to the yarn. It just seems to radiate so I'm very happy with it.

On the finishing socks fast front, with all the Monkey fever that's been going around, I decided to cast on with my new Claudia Handpaint in Jill's Pink. At first I was being selfish and wanting them for myself but after seeing the colour knit up, I know that they're destined to be sent to a dear dear friend of mine for her birthday next month. There really couldn't be a sock better suited to her. I'm just in love with the luscious softness of the yarn and can't wait to finish the second.

How could anyone not just fall in love with Monkey socks? How I do wish these could have been destined for me though *sigh*

And it seems that I somehow managed to not have a FO shot of the Hedera socks so here they are:

I am exceedingly happy with how they turned out. I was wearing them last week to university with a skirt. There was just no way I could hide them under pants all day. Though I must admit that I spent most of the day without the shoes on and was happily getting out of my shoes to show them to fellow knitters and fans of knitters in the math department. Who really needs shows anyways?

In the interests of full disclosure, the baby blanket hasn't been touched. This has now become exceedingly alarming as I just found out that a friend of mine from school is also having a baby in September so she'll absolutely need a baby blanket. Right... My cousin better not be having twins or I am seriously screwed. Perhaps all my built up sock karma will make the knitting Gods smile in my favour? Maybe?

Oh! On Sunday there were two new additions to my family. After the long anticipated death of my over 3.5 year (extremely!) old betta fish, two new goldfish joined the house. Pythagoras in tan and Hypatia in orange:

And just so that Mittens doesn't get jealous of the fish :) a pic of kitty in the knitting