Time Out For Knitting

In the midst of this crazy season that is spring planting, as well as planning and shopping in preparation to build fences and stalls to finally bring my horses home to this little place here, I have been taking a little time out to do some knitting.  Knitting is a relaxing activity; it's repetitiousness is soothing to an active mind (a mind which is juggling quotes on wood fence posts versus t-posts and non-climb mesh versus electric horse tape, discounts by the pallet of posts and how many posts are in a pallet. . . ) while at the same time accomplishing something amidst the relaxation.  Plus, it's portable.  I can knit on the living room couch during a downpour.  I can knit in a chair out by the campfire on a warm Saturday evening.  I can knit on a stool at the kitchen island while keeping an eye on dinner simmering.  I can knit sitting on the retaining wall behind the house while grilling a venison loin.

Currently, I have two knitting projects on the needles.  On my circulars, I have a cowl in the works for DD1's birthday in July.  I am making it in her favorite color, and in the pattern Milanese Loop from Ravelry.  (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/milanese-loop)

The second project is a pair of socks on size 1 dpn's.  I just couldn't hold off starting another pair of socks any longer (I hadn't knit socks since finishing a pair in late March/early April).  My local yarn shop is having a Sock of the Month Club from April to October, and I just could not resist getting in on their May sock.

It's is the pattern called Circle Socks, also from Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/circle-socks), and I am working it in Plymouth Yarn's Neon Now in colorway 003.

I am loving the way the circles form themselves in the leg of the sock.  It looks so complicated, but it is really just knitting six stitches, slipping a few stitches, knitting six stitches, slipping a few stitches, around and around, with 3 rows of purling between each set of knit & slip rounds.

I am almost done with the leg of the first sock, and from there on out it is just form the heel, then knit, knit, knit, with no slips or purls.  I started this sock on Thursday, May 8th, so as you can see, it works up pretty fast.  The pattern says it fits a women's small/medium size foot.  Once this pair is finished, I will decide who they are for.  I wear the smallest shoe size at this little place here.  If they are looser on my foot than I like, they will probably become a birthday present for DD2 this fall (she loves blues and is totally drooling over the neon yarn).  If they fit me well, they're mine all mine!  And if they are a bit tight on me, I will give them to my mother, who wears a women's small.